She's Crafty!

Another guilty pleasure of mine is design shows on HGTV. (Congratulations to Jen for winning season 3 of Design Star. She was my pick from the very beginning. I can't wait to see her show!!) I love watching people far more talented and artistic than myself (which isn't saying much -- artistic I am not!) take things and make them spectacular. After watching many hours of Color Splash and Myles of Style and Junky to Funky (which is actually on DIY) and their brethren, I decided this week to tackle my own project.

I have this old wood side table that I inherited from my grandmother. Once upon a time, it was part of a set of three nesting tables. Over the years, one of the tables broke, one of the tables was "donated" to my theatre department, and the third ended up sitting on the front porch of my old apartment for many years being battered by the elements. Structurally, the table is still in decent shape, but exposure to rain and snow and wind has left it looking pretty icky and in need of some TLC (Tender Loving Craftiness!).

I came up with a plan -- I would paint the table and refinish the top of it with more weather-friendly ceramic tile. (Okay, I'm sort of copying a table I saw in the Pottery Barn catalog, so it's not exactly an "original" design.) Today, I sat outside on my patio and began the project by painting the table with some white interior/exterior paint I found in my garage. I've decided to go with blue ceramic tile along with some lovely painted tiles I found at Lowe's this weekend. (I wish I had the artistic ability to buy cheaper, plain tiles and paint them myself, but alas it's not going to happen). All told, the refurbished table will end up costing me just a little over $20 (closer to $30 if it hadn't been for the "free" paint in the garage) -- a slight savings compared to the nearly $200 table in the Pottery Barn catalog. I'll try to post a picture of the finished project when it's all completed.

Design Star Season 4 -- sign me up!