House*Tweaking: Table for Three

If you've never heard of Young House Love, now you have. They are pretty much my idols and Steve thinks I stalk them. But seriously, they are great. I 'borrow' ideas from them all the time because 1) I like them and 2) I can afford them. They really know how to design on a budget.

Here's a little DIY inspiration from the Youngsters:

See that small pedestal table for two in the corner? It's so freakin' cute and white and all things adorable, so I totally had to have one. I ran with their idea. They bought the pedestal base from a thrift store and added a precut tabletop from a hardware store. It all got primed and painted white. Voila. A Pottery Barn look-alike for cheap. (They already had the chairs and just painted them to match.)

Well, I was starting from ground zero. I had no base, top or chairs. But one day last spring while I was scoping out Craigslist, I found my pedestal base...for $15!!!!! (Somehow I talked Steve into driving to Cincinnati in the pouring rain to pick it up for me... I must have had my fluttery eyelash thing going on that day.) I landed a tabletop from Lowe's on sale at $35 and a few weeks later scored 3 chairs for $50 from Craigslist. This is the before priming and painting shot:

The original plan was to invent a makeshift computer desk out of it all by cutting a small hole in the top of the table to run the wiring down through the pedestal base. But the more I looked at that sweet little round table, the more I didn't want a monitor on it. (I ended up making a desk out of an old IKEA console seen here.) So, it's now our card table/extra dining table/eating-Cookie Monsters-on-after-the-kids-have-gone-to-bed table.