by cgod

I swore I took a before picture of this before I started it but I can't seem to find it now.

Anyway. We have an oval coffee table that I've grown fond of. It's junky IKEA with a shitty wood laminate on the surface. After many years of use the shitty laminate was cracking and peeling off.

I'll never own a square coffee table again. As a big guy I tend to fit into the appropriate spaced couch coffee table set ups a little less gracefully than some other people do. After we went to an oval coffee table I tended to bash my shins and knees a lot less. If you are going to have kids, let me tell you, they are going to bash their heads on some stuff. If you don't have sharp edged corners it's going to be a lot less hideous. Kids always seem to be able to earn a shiner or a goose egg the day before a pediatrician visit.

So anyway, I cut a blank from a sheet of maple veneer, just a bit bigger than the table itself. I glued, clamped and sanded it down to size.

Here it is with the first coat of stain.

It than polyurethaned it and buffed it out with fine steel wool.

Here it is in the living room, same stain as I used on the entertainment center.

I suppose I've been subconsciously preparing for the rainy Portland winter, when I'll be chased off my deck and into the living room. If I had it too do again I would have used an oak veneer but the oak was three times as expensive and I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out.