A recent overhaul of our living room left us with an awkward space in the corner by the sofa. We looked around at our favorite stores, and even at the thrift shop for a diamond in the rough. Nothing quite fit the size, style and finish that we were looking for.
You see where this is going, right? Yeah, I saw it coming a mile away too. My husband found to this table and announced: “You could just make it!”.
So off I went to purchase the lumber. With the materials list in hand, I picked up the listed 4x4s, 1x2s, 1/4s, and the square dowel rods. It came out a bit pricier than the plans had indicated, but not too bad.
I broke my usual protocol and made all of the cuts upfront according to the cut list. I did this because there were so many cuts to make, I thought it would save me time. I am a directions-reading, plan-following kind of girl. Lesson learned–I believe the material list and cut list in the plans are for a larger coffee table. It kinda explained the price discrepancy. One of my favorite quotes from the show Home Town is: “Directions tend to limit creativity.” I embraced my creativity, figured out exactly what materials were needed and reconfigured the plans a bit.
The result is the perfect table for our space. I finished it with a custom blend of grey-brown stain. I love the way it blends with our existing furniture, without being “matchy”.
My take away from this experience? Plans are imperfect. Life is imperfect. But it can still be fantastic!
