Guest Feature – DIY Upcycled Occasional Table Makeover & Thrift Store Finds

This is a first for our Lil’ Suburban Homestead today I am featuring my first Guest Segment because I knew you would all love this DIY Upcycled Occasional Table Makeover.   You know I have a passion for “Making Your Home A Haven” particularly because this is an area I struggle in.  I would much prefer to play with the chickens, can tomatoes and the like over the detailed work that is involved with decorating and adding those nice touches to your home.  So recently my Mom Celia was telling me about her latest Do It Yourself project she was working on in her family room.  She decided about a year ago to hire a decorator for the first time to get some help with re-doing her family room.  She is retired now and had the time to really dig into this project this past year I am not going to share all the details about this family room makeover however if I get enough blog reader response we can share the entire makeover with all of you.    It is so extensive it would have to be shared in separate segments however I think my Mom would me amenable to this….you gotta’ love your Mom 😉

Here are the before photos:

Here is a picture of my Mom…I found one where she is posing with my kids so you can see who I am talking to!

Me: “How come you  hired a decorator for the first time to help you with this project? ”

Mom:  “My husband recently passed away and we always worked on our decorating projects together…he had great design sense.  I felt completely at a loss in what direction to  go with the room and the room was very nautical as my husband was  retired navy.  This was his room so it had kind of  almost like a man cave feel and I wanted to make it more like me.”

Me:  “Let’s face it we all know decorators are not inexpensive however since you made this leap to get an expert  what was most helpful to you about this process?”

Mom:  “My decorator recommended color and furniture design and she was able to stay within my budget for the basics that were needed in the room.”

Me:  “What did you do to finish the room and not go over the budget you had specified?”

Mom ” I had allocated a budget for the designer so that helped me get a rug and some larger furniture pieces however I wanted to finish the room and not go extensively over that amount.”

Me:  “So what did you do to make sure you did not go over your budget?”

Mom:  “I repainted my tv stand and my desk and I needed some tables so I visited thrift stores and flea markets and I found three tables.  Two tables I found at a flea market for $25.00 each and they needed no work done on them this was a true treasure!  One table I found at a thrift store for $9.99 this one needed the makeover.  I have included pictures for you to share with your readers.”

Me: “So what was involved in the DIY Upcyled Occasional Table makeover?”

Mom:  “I had to fill some gouges with plastic wood putty, lightly sand the entire piece with sandpaper and steel wool and then put on two coats of Home Depot high gloss black enamel and then the corroded brass drawer bracket I removed and spray painted it black with spray paint.  When the weather cools I am also going to spray the top of the table with some polyurethane.”

Me:  “How long did this project take?”

Mom: “It probably took about two days because I had to put two coats on it.  I had to keep a fan on it because its been so hot and muggy lately.”

Me:  “Thanks so much for sharing your thrift store finds and DIY Occasional Table Makeover with us I know everyone enjoys a Before & After.”

Mom:  “Thank you for your interest in this project!   This project was very gratifying in terms of recycling an old table that I bought for $9.99 and I was able to make it over so it looks classy and elegant was a fun project!”

Here is a close up of the After Photo:

Here is a picture of one of the Thrift Store Find Tables:(they are matching)

I have really enjoyed listening to my Mom’s journey in decorating this room…I also now love hearing her say how delighted she is with it.  When we personally invest our time and attention to projects it shows and she certainly is pleased with her new room and her new tables!

Thanks so much for stopping in at our Lil’ Suburban Homestead this week!  Have a wonderful Thursday!  By the way today I listed a bunch of related article type links most of these blogs were hand-picked by me and they are some of my fabulous blog world friends…these folks are clever and they know their business so check them out!

Fondly,

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