I need a coffee table...

But I already own 3.  Ever had that problem?  My basement has a room where coffee tables go to die.  See the following examples:

The table left by our homes previous owners.  Cheap wood that can't be sanded down.  And its huge!  Like nearly dinner table size.

The hand-me-down set of 3 matching tables.  Possible redo project down the road, but currently too long for my living room.

And last but not least, the old semi-failed DIY table from 5 years ago.  Too frail to withstand the abuse/weight of Little Man.

And there you have it- I collect coffee tables that I can't use.  So what do I do, but go to Goodwill and buy another table that I can't use as is.  

I forgot to take a photograph of the before table, but lets just say it was a kid's play table that had been used and abused.  Similar to this image I found on google-

                       

So first things first, let's take the legs off and sand the wood down to see what we are working with.

Had to measure the legs and cut them down to coffee table height.  Originally the table legs were about 20" long.  I used our table saw to cut them down to 16".  I wanted to play it safe and not go too short.  I may end up cutting these more.

After some serious sanding, I found some incredibly beautiful wood underneath all the stain, paint, and grime.  

This was the underside of the table, where you can clearly see the "Made in the USA" stamp.  Excited to bring new life to something of good quality.  But as you can see the black paint would have been incredibly hard to sand off with all of those crevices.  So I decided to use black spray paint, and give the bottom, side, and legs a new coat of paint leaving the wood on top ready for stain.

I chose to use some of our leftover Verathane Woodstain in the color Kona.  Most of our living room furniture has a finish in a similar shade.  And here's my wood staining tip: save your socks with holes in them.  These make great one time use staining cloths.  Simply follow Mr. Miyagi's insturctions, "Wipe On, Wipe Off."  And in my opinion circular motions work the best.  

This particular stain takes about an hour to dry.  I also recommend sealing any stained wood.  This will help prevent water rings or juice box squares. ;)

And here is the finished product:

Have fun with your next DIY project!
KL