New House Update and Ikea Hack Sofa Table

We’re finally starting to feel settled in the new house.  The mile-long “to do” listing is slowly but surely getting projects ticked off. I love all the space and openness in the new digs and am savoring the design process, making the house into our home.

I found some great bar stools at an even greater price at a new wholesale to the public type furniture store in town.  I have some plans to add some dark stained, thin wood and some white trim in a board and batten type treatment below the breakfast bar.  It’s on the list. ;)

I started painting Behr Wheat Bread, a perfectly dreamy warm gray in the main living areas.  (You can get a glimpse of it in the background there.) It’s a two-story living room, and there was no way I was going to paint all the way up, so I picked a point to paint to (try saying that 5 times fast) but STILL there was a lot of up and down and moving the 12 foot ladder between taping and painting.  I was sore for days.

Since our sectional is now floating the in the middle of the room instead of being against the walls, I needed a sofa table.  I came up with a CHEAP option that I ended up really liking using 2 Ikea Dalfred Bar Stools that we had from our old house but I wasn’t going to be using for the new place. 

This was extremely simple! Just a 6 foot long 12 inch wide pine board for the top and an 8 inch wide board for the bottom.  The top board is screwed right on through the bottom of the stool seats.  The lower shelf is just resting on the foot rest bar thingy (the technical name for it.)  I sanded, did a quick application of some Dark Walnut Minwax stain, and Tung Oil (my favorite top coat for wood surfaces!) and voila! (Still want to get some baskets for the lower shelf.  That’s on the list too.)

Have you tried Tung Oil on wood finishes?  It’s really amazing!  I love it!  It’s a really hearty top coat, water-resistant, heat-resistant.  Just really great!  I use the Minwax stuff you can get at HD.  I have the pure Tung Oil too, but I love the Minwax so much I’ve been hesitant to try the other stuff. :) I just used one coat on this sofa table, because I wanted to keep a more subtle, rustic sheen, but the more coats you add, the higher sheen you get and the heartier the finish.  Try it!  You’ll love it too.