Seawall, Living Room And A Homemade Sofa Table

 

Pergola, poogolla....geez. Who knew it would open up such a seawall can of worms. I'm really excited about the whole backyard project. But, I have to say ever since I've heard the first bid on this seawall reconstruction all I want to do is sit around and do nothing at all. Maybe if I ignore it the whole seawall thing will all just go away. Right? It wasn't just me feeling the air leave my sails, Mi Miguel was feeling a lack of motivation too.

Step away from the pergola project until we can get a handle on it, that's what we'll do. Change our focus to much needed furniture for the living room.  Wow, sticker shock again. For the price, the quality just isn't there. You want how much for that leather blend sofa? It's leather blend not leather!

Feeling frustrated about the house, rather than going after each other like a couple of well trained gladiators, we decided to chill out and look for a gas fireplace until we're capable of getting a handle on the seawall and the furniture situation.

What I'm looking for and what Mi Miguel wants are two different things. This is what I want. A casual gas fireplace with a small shell motif.

Mi Miguel wants this media center gas fireplace. So, we put the fireplace shopping on hold until we can decide on a happy medium. 

Meanwhile over the weekend, as we both sat stubbornly at our home computer, him researching seawalls and me scouring the net for furniture. He found more options for estimates. I found just the thing on one of the many selling sites. (Image from clipart)

Because I hit the local social media selling sites daily, we stumbled across this sofa bed and a matching love seat. It was incredibly low priced. I just saw a similar set in a local furniture and wanted it for the coastal look, but it was way too much. This set was purchased by the owners for $1700, it won't fit in their new condo, we bought it for $275. Now our spirits were starting to feel lifted. 

Mi Miguel didn't want to pay the $300 for the coastal living sofa table I liked so he said he'd make me one. He doesn't make furniture as a rule. I wanted it to be beachy but have the elegant coastal living look about it. He said he could do that. I got my gladiator gear back out because I was pretty sure this was going to go south quickly. Instead, off to Home Depot we went.

Home Depot employees were just putting flawed lumber on a cart marked 70% off when we entered the store. I grabbed a piece that was six feet long and had them cut it in half for us, we grabbed four spindles and we were on our way.  I got on board with Mi Miguel so that he would feel confident in making this table, "You can make it however you want. It doesn't matter to me as long as it's plain and simple."

To keep from micro managing Mi Miguel's project I decided it was high time I started a mural. We had a dull wall that needed to match the furniture and the rug. The pitter patter turquoise color I painted the entire living room and dining room with,wasn't going to sit well with the soft indigo furniture. 

After much painting and a lot of work, the wall is finished. This is a sneak peek, we're not ready for the big reveal yet. Big difference from the pitter patter wall, huh? Mi Miguel loves it and that's all that matters to me. If he's happy, I'm happy.

This is what Mi Miguel came up with for our table. It's perfect for between the wall and sofa. I got up this morning and painted it and washed it over and then rubbed it down.

This is the effect I got from my technique that I used. You can see the difference in the two photos directly above. I made the plain wood have a distressed driftwood look.

This is the finished sofa table. I love it and I've already found a great purpose for it. 

This is eventually what we'll be using the sofa table for, these colorful glass vases. When we get our new window coverings, the sunlight will come in and hit the glass creating a beautiful kaleidoscope effect.

Now about that seawall...