Pinterest Pain

As I am sure many of you out there reading others blogs and being naturally creative yourself, or at least able to copy things from Pinterest, have at least once had a little creative failure or at least a huge learning lesson.  I too join the ranks of the "lesson learned" category.  Maybe I should make that a board.  Earlier this summer I decided that I would like to have a bigger kitchen table.  Our previous table only sat four and because we do have people over quite often I wanted to have a table that could accommodate all of us at one time.  Enter Pinterest...  I was searching all the different looks of tables and saw that there was a French country design that really appealed to me.  It was a little different from everything else in my home, but I thought that it would add a little character and ultimately fit right in.  I was taken by a certain pin that said that there table only cost around 31 dollars!  Yes you read that right!  With a little help from Home Depot and a little elbow grease I could build a table for under 100 bucks!  I was sold,  and the beautiful (and slightly edited) pictures that were on the site were quite convincing!

It is beautiful is it not?

I decided that I might not be able to build the entire table with my limited knowledge and collection of tools.  With that in mind I decided to start browsing craig's list.  I found what looked like a perfect table.  It had 8 chairs and was approximately 72 inches long.  It would fit perfectly!  I jumped in head first and bought the table.  (David is now slightly concerned and rolling his eyes a little).  I asked a friend to borrow their truck and went to pick it up.  I was so excited, that I went home immediately and began to sand the top, so that I could strip the paint and begin the process of refinishing.  I felt wonderful, and so stinking smart.  I would purchase this table (a little more than 31 dollars :)) and refinish it, still, quite a bit less expensive than buying a new table that seats 8.

As soon as I started sanding I knew I was in trouble.  The top of the table that I had just bought was made from particle board!  Ugh, obviously I am not going to be able to "antique" and stain particle board!  I was scrambling!!  Well, OK, no problem I think that I could build at least the top of the table just like the one in the picture,  the blog did a great job of describing the ease of the project.  Needing a little support, I took David and went to Home Depot.  We went straight to the lumber department, completely confident in my ability to rise above a little hic-up.  We started to lay a bunch of 8 foot boards on the ground looking for four or five boards that are not that warped.  Warping is not very good when you want to rest a dinner plate on the table and not have the contents of the plate sliding into your lap.  I realized that I might not be as confident as I thought when a sweet gentleman came around the corner in an orange apron and gave me a very wry look.  I "confidently" asked him for his advise.  He tried to gently tell me that the "vision" that I had was not going to be quite as easy as I had hoped.  David took this opportunity to jump on the "it is going to be too hard / I told you so" wagon and said that I should probably listen to the professionals.  After about 45 minutes talking to this man, and picking his brain I learned that there was quite a bit more to building a table than just gluing a few boards together, sanding, staining. sanding again and then enjoying!  I left Home Depot angry at Pinterest, my own foolishness and that silly picture that made everything sooo easy.  I decided to call the only person who would not only know my "creative uniqueness" but also has a thorough knowledge of wood for some advise.  My Aunt Karen did her best to not fall out of her chair laughing at my impulsiveness.  (Thanks Karen).  She too agreed with the Home Depot professional, but did her best to try and help me still achieve my goal.  Through her connections and a little research I found a company that would build me a table top.  Gluing, sanding and alternating the boards so that they will not warp.  Thank you Austin Hardwoods, you are the bomb!  I left their place of business completely confident that I would get a great product that would last for years, with out warping and falling apart at the first dinner that we sat down to.  I do need to let you know that I am well above the 31 dollar mark now, but David has acquiesced a little and let me try and make this right.  (Also because he too thought that the big ugly particle board spot on the table was not very attractive).

After about two weeks, Austin Hardwoods called me and let me know that the top was ready.

I was again excited and my vision of a beautiful kitchen table had returned and I was now just a little wiser and maybe a little more skeptical of the beautiful images on Pinterest.  

I began the process of sanding the corners (I did not need any more kids with stitches in their heads) and staining the top to the color that I wanted.  I found that working with wood was very soothing to me, almost to the point of hypnotic.  I asked David to take a few pictures just to prove that I did the work.  

Now I must tell you that all this work has gone on in our garage and I had actually kicked David out of his parking spot.  (If any of you know David, you know how not happy he was at the time I was taking to finish this project).  I did get a little distracted with coaching and directing a kids running club for 5 elementary schools.  That being said it took a little over 3 weeks to finish the table top and a few more months to refinish and recover the chairs.  Please understand that you need to let each layer of stain/paint and tongue oil dry completely before adding another coat and I took a little time to find the perfect fabric to compliment the dark top.  Well to be fair I probably could have pushed a little harder.  I finally finished with the top and began the process of refinishing the legs of the other table, to be used with the top that I had just finished.

  Again I asked David to take a few more pictures.  You can tell that he was completely tired of this whole project so I think that he purposely took the ugliest pictures he could of me!  I am however assembling the base of the table legs and frame to the top, carefully drilling pilot holes and being as exact as I could to ensure that I did not split the top.  (I did work really hard to get it just right, I did not want another "learning lesson" just yet)  I finished in one evening assembling the legs and the base (also I had heard from my Dad that he was going to be in town the next day- that gave me a little push too).  So the legs were still a little tacky from the last coat of pain that I had put on, but dry enough to be put together I thought.  As many of you know once I get it in my mind to have a project completed, there is very little you can do to stop me.  However my sweet and a little annoyed husband dutifully helped me with lifting and assembling the legs (I wanted him to feel like he helped too).  So with smile on my face, a little tear in my eye and an aching back I finally have a completed kitchen table!

I walked around the entire table quite a few times rubbing my hand on the soft and warm grain of the wood, completely proud of myself and my ability to defeat the Pinterest plague of perfection.  Until wait, what is that?!?  I had drilled a tiny pilot hole right through the top of the table!  What the >%#@#!  Ugh, I think that was the Lord's way of keeping me humble.

Pinterest... lesson learned!