Before and After

One of my absolute favorite things to do is take pictures. Anything interesting that I notice I immediately snap a picture. Before I begin nearly any project I enjoy taking "before and after" pictures just to see my progress and remind myself how rewarding it was. I love showing others the differences.

Another favorite thing of mine is the local Yard Sale pages. I have always been interested in Craigslist so when the "County Yard Sale Page" came about on Facebook I was hooked. I enjoy stopping in at yard sales on the weekends but with my work schedule now I am never able to make it to Saturday morning yard sale. With the Facebook yard sale page I can find one mans junk virtually at any time in the week. High demand items such as Window Air Conditioning units, name brand clothing, and cell phones have been known to sale quickly. Cheap items that need a little TLC are more of my style.

This particular table was posted on the yard sale page for $35 along with a stove and refrigerator. Due to the fact that my boyfriend owns rental property, he is always interested in any stove and refrigerator for sale for a decent price because he finishers his properties with the two. When I saw the post for all three of the items for sale together I immediately began bargaining with the man selling the three items. He originally wanted $35 for the table alone, I got his price down to $15. Which was a steal in my eyes. This was the photo attached to the advertisement:

When we reached the mans house where he had the three items I began to carry the table and two chairs to the truck. This antique table seemed like a really good deal but as I was carrying the table I noticed scratches in the wood, rust on the metal, a brace missing from the chair legs, stains in the cloth seats, and crayon marks everywhere. The picture he had posted must have been from years previous. 

I took the table home and started sanding it down for its new "face-lift". I had some black gloss spray paint from a previous project. I painted all of the white/rust after sanding it down.  I sanded the top of the table and re-stained it, and washed the cushions. 

This was the end result. I had had my eye on a two-top table for quite a while at a furniture store. The store had been asking $219 which was way out of my price range. Big Lots had one near the style I liked for $100. In the end I saved around $80.