Refinishing a Mid-Century Coffee Table

I had refinished a small Lane table before, but sanding down this new coffee table was quite a lot of work. Those spots I had mentioned earlier were very deep stains, so it's taken a good couple hours to sand it down (me and Ely together). It looks like it is almost ready for the first stain, and we have never stained furniture before, unless you count Restore-A-Finish. So here it is now:

Basically, we used that Zip Strip paint remover there and then sanded it down 'til it looks like this. Tomorrow we will finish it up, and pretty soon hopefully I'll have some successful "after" photos to share!

Meanwhile, I do have some other successful "after" photos. It is Ely's compact stereo! We used the dark walnut Restore a Finish and some  Feed 'n Wax. 

Beautiful! 

We also did some thrift store shopping today, and came out with some really good deals.

A great little ashtray I will use to put my keys in.

Pillows! Ely will try these on his new sofa. Such amazing vintage fabrics on these.

Fransiscan ware 'Madiera' glasses. Ely has a collection of Madiera at his house but has never found the glasses 'til today at Value Village. 

And finally, a large C. Jere wall hanging from 1971. Not bad for $7. We were leaving as I saw a store worker outside throw this into a sorting bin. I would have prefered a C. Jere from '61 but this is cool!

 TTFN

A Weekend of Finds!

Ely found a couple beauties for his apartment last weekend- A mini stereo and a coffee table.

Both needed a little love, but they were too good to pass up.

That is the coffee table outside of the Goodwill thrift store we bought it at for $7!

Ely informed me that he tried to restore-a-finish it, which unfortunately caused the worn parts to become too dark....  We will have to go at it with some sand paper this weekend and start over. Still, it will be amazing when its all finished.

The stereo is tiny! Only a few feet tall and perfect for Ely's apartment. We will post photos later on when we finish cleaning them up.

TTFN!

Brutalist Bedroom Set Find on Craigslist

http://seattle.craigslist.org/est/fuo/3166703758.html

What a steal!!

According to Furnish Me Vintage this is a "Canadian made" bedroom set, designed in a brutalist style. $150 in the Seattle area. We love Brutalist- But already have enough furniture as it is.

Refinish a Lane

We have been a little busy the last week with our friends and family and we haven't had time to post anything about our latest adventures.

In his spare time Justin restored a Lane side table that we found at the Goodwill.

BEFORE:

 AFTER:

It had some structural damage that I wouldn't know how to begin repairing but it looks pretty good! I used some finish stripper and then simply sanded it down, which didn't take very long. I have seen various blog posts about refinishing mid century furniture- and it's really a LOT easier if you use a finish stripper. The whole process only took a couple hours. This was my first time refinishing anything.

I also found a chair which I plan on attempting to reupholster... which I also have never done. We'll see how that goes.

A Thrift store find. This sofa was in amazing condition- except the fabric... it was very faded, and smelled like smoke. For $40 this could be an amazing find for someone who could reupholster it. Unfortunately, we wouldn't know where to begin.

We also came across this Broyhill Emphasis look-alike bookcase. Similar in design but incredibly low quality. Plastic!

TTFN