Samantha from Fabule$$ly Frugal Mom wrote me the greatest email when she submitted her Favorite Find! I love her dedication to bringing home this beautiful dining table and her husband's willingness to indulge her tendency to bring home wayward furniture! :) Read the story below and remember - I would love to feature your own favorite find - just email me!
What is your favorite find and where did you find it?
My favorite find is actually a dining table that my husband and I found on the side of the road with a "FREE" sign on it. We were driving home from a friend's house, had both kids in the car, and my husband thought I was nuts for wanting to stop and look at it!
What all was involved in getting it home?
When I finally convinced him that grabbing that table would be a good idea, we unloaded the back of the car and tried to get it in upside down with the legs still attached. That obviously wasn't going to work so we sadly set the table back down, put the free sign back on it and drove off with me looking longingly out the back of the car! My husband, being the saint that he is, actually pulled off at a car repair store, bought a small tool kit and drove back to take the legs off! I bet the original owners were watching out their window cracking up at us coming back a 2nd time for their free junk! It finally fit in the back and away we went with a huge smile on my face!
How could you tell it would be worth all the extra trouble to take it home?
When I first saw it I knew it had potential just by the shape and size of it even though it had deep scratches and children's stickers all up and down the legs! I had to get out of the car to make sure it was solid wood and once we saw that it was we knew we had to take it home.
Did you have to do any restoration/repairs?
We sanded and sanded and sanded to get all the old color off the wood and buff out the scratches. Once we did that we stained the top in a cherry finish and painted the legs an heirloom white. I think it needed 2 coats of stain and then 3 coats of Poly Urethane to get the pretty shiny top. This was definitely a fun project for me and my husband to complete together and I LOVE the outcome of our little table. The chairs in the photo were actually a garage sale find also: $2 per chair! We may eventually refinish the chairs to match the table but for now, they work perfectly!
Why do you love secondhand/vintage?
I grew up going to and having yard sales, I was born with the thrift bug, and I love the thrill of the hunt! It's hard for me to buy things at retail stores at retail prices! When we bought our place we decided to decorate as much as possible with second hand and vintage items. Its been a fun summer so far finding some great pieces that have a history and a story behind them rather than, "Oh we picked this up at (insert big chain retail store name)!" Everything in the after photos came from garage sales and thrift stores, with the exception of the big old dog that is!
Samantha - I love that story and your table! Thank you so much for submitting your favorite find!
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that looks great! when i saw the first picture i couldn't believe someone put it on the street! I'm glad your hard work paid off.
ReplyDeletewow Samantha! What a beautiful table! I love a great curb find, but this is one of the best I've seen! Super job with the re-do!
ReplyDeletegail
Thanks Ladies! It was a fun project for us to accomplish, thanks again to Jamie for the fun post!!
ReplyDeleteThey did a great job on that table! It's gorgeous.
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