Thursday, February 23, 2012

diy: coffee table

so where have i been you ask?!

we have been revamping our tiny apartment.  for those of you that live in paris or have been to europe, you know how small apartments can get.  the biggest problem with our living situation was that our 'living area' in our 2 room apartment, was not a great 'living area'.  i would come home and go directly to the bedroom, ultimately feeling 'blah' about the main room in our home.
after falling asleep way too many times from sitting in bed right after work and not feeling happy, my husband and I have been working hard to make that 'blah' feeling go away.

the main problem is that my taste is way different than my husband's, so we have been spending the past couple months picking up things here and there (butting heads, but making great compromises)!

for example, when i told him i wanted to make a coffee table out of a pallet found from the parsian trash, he did not seem overly excited.  when i called him from outside of our apartment to have him help me bring one in, i think he realized that that point he didn't have a choice and thought he'd give it a try.


the finished result is exactly what i had envisioned.

i thought of this idea, but then later found some online being sold (for 300+ euros)!
please feel free to use it for your apartment too... cheap and easy! the total cost was about 65 euros, but this could very depending on where you live (paris is a bit more expensive than other cities).

i first found this pallet on the street.  i was sure to take one that wasn't damaged and strong enough to handle the wheels to be screwed on the bottom.  you'll definitely need help to carry it inside!  they're heavy! 

my husband and i spent the afternoon sanding and filing off the dirt and splinters.  i wanted a rugged look, so i didn't bother getting off all the paint, markings, etc. 

i then marked where i wanted to screw in the wheels and we used a drill to make holes for the screws. 


the pallet looks really dirty here, but we decided after to sand on the inside of the pallet after this photo was taken.

my husband decided to surprise me and do the rest on his own, but we had already bought precut glass. we were lucky not to have to get the glass cut because the pallet was a standard size.  so the glass didn't slide around, i bought little plastic suction cups and my husband put them in the wood before setting the glass down on the top of the pallet. 

now that we've got got the table taken care of, i'll be working on new cushions to replace those ugly ones on that beautiful chair in the corner... updates to come soon!

5 comments:

  1. Love Love Love!!! Tres chic et inexpensive!
    --julie

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  2. How pretty! What a great idea! I miss you :)
    Did you ever get the Valentine card I sent you?

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  3. Wow! I love this! What a cool idea! Love the old wood pallet and the wheels. Very, very cool!

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