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Okay let’s get one thing clear: I’m terrible at “befores.” It’s not that I don’t appreciate – or want to share – a dramatic transformation. On the contrary – but sometimes I forget to take the before picture!

So for this before/after project, please imagine if you will… a tiny, dark brown side table complete with spider egg sacs on the underside, missing its center support and crying out for rescue like the sad puppies in the ASPCA commercial. (I’m pretty sure Sara McClachlan would spontaneously start singing “In the Arms of an Angel” if she saw this table.)

I acquired my little table at an auction several weeks ago… I won’t tell you what I paid for it, but I will tell you that I never… EVER… pay more than $10 for a table at an auction. (Except for that one time I did, because Greg thought he was being helpful by waving his hand with five fingers displayed, thinking he was bidding five dollars… and turned out he was waving affirmative at 25. I was the lucky winner of THAT table too, because no one in their right mind would’ve paid that much for it. Ahem. I will show you that project another time.)

So anyway, the table was cheap. Which is good, because it was awful. Greg redeemed himself (mostly) for the $25 table because he did a LOT of work to this piece. He pulled out all the wobbly bits and re-glued them, AND he rebuilt from scratch the v-shaped support in the lower part of the table using dowel construction and a hand saw. He tied and weighted the whole thing down with heavy books and some sort of secret sailor’s knot (because we didn’t have any clamps), and we left it alone for a few days. When the ropes and weights came off, it was a sturdy little table once again.

Now it just needed paint, which in this case meant two coats of “Romance” chalk paint by Americana (now called “Rouge”). And – voila – no more sad puppy!!

Isn’t it adorable? Look at that sweet center support!

That little shelf is perfect for CDs, Little Golden Books, Christmas greenery, or… or… or even plain!

At this point the only problem that remained… was that the top was a beautiful, but rather boring, expanse of red.

Now let me tell you I debated on what to do about that for a couple more weeks. I considered adding a vintage label graphic, painting roses on it, painting a Union Jack, leaving it plain, and all manner of other ideas. I finally decided to go for the roses.

So there we are, at long last, the “afters” on a poor little sad table that certainly isn’t sad anymore! In fact, I daresay that if Sara McClachlan could see this table today, she would likely change her tune to “How Much is That Doggie in the Window.” Arf arf!

I will be linking my sweet little cottage table at these parties, so be sure to click through for oodles of inspiration!

Make It Pretty Monday at The Dedicated House
A Round Tuit at Creating My Way to Success
Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life
Home & Garden Thursday at A Delightsome Life
Flaunt It Friday at Chic on a Shoestrong

I’ve been on a mission to find some cottagey storage to hold my cookbooks, and recently came upon this little cutie at the Valley Junction Antique Jamboree here in West Des Moines. She was, of course, a tad over-priced – especially given that, upon close inspection, every leg was loose and there were some obvious places where the top had been filled/repaired (poorly) around the edge.

But still, she had a lot going for her, including the pretty legs, dual doors, and also perfect height for her intended spot in the kitchen. So I haggled a bit and got her for a much better price. I did not even have to pay extra for the few tiny spiders I found on the underside. Which is good, because if there’s one thing I never pay for… it’s spiders.

I am not a professional furniture painter by any stretch… I know enough to follow the grain (mostly), tape off the glass, and gob it on to create that “this thing’s been painted so many times over the years I lost count” look that is sooo critical in a cottage piece. (That IS critical, right? If it’s not, I’ve been doing a lot of gobbing for no reason. And that is worse than paying for spiders.)

And, although I do plan to try both chalk paint and mineral paint on upcoming projects, for this project I stuck with good old latex house paint – a used half-gallon I picked up for $3 at my local Habitat for Humanity Re-Store.

Here she is completed and sitting in her intended spot. I think she looks adorable!

I also sprayed the original hardware with a pretty aqua blue. It looks okay, but as you can see it doesn’t even really fit. On second thought, perhaps that is NOT the original hardware. It is simply the hardware that was on the piece when I bought it. Anyway, I think I will be trading that out for some smaller knobs. Maybe glass or frosted pink.

Here she is with a soft bit of scented drawer liner inside, loaded with cookbooks and sporting some Autumn-themed pretties on top.

All set for cookbook storage duty in my cottage kitchen!