Things Are Coming Together!

With the sofa taking up it's footprint in the living room, it was now time to decide on the coffee table. I designed one and had it 3d printed, but I wasn't sure I was going to use it. I had to see the space first. I purposely left it without a top, so I could decide to use either plexi, or wood once I saw it in the space.

After reading a post on Pepper's blog, I found a Rustic Live Edge Spalted Maple bookmark on Etsy.  I just loved the beautiful pattern, plus it came with a little piece of wood that was meant to stick out from the book. A perfect little chopping board for the kitchen. If a thing has multi purposes, it sells me on it every time! I found several good candidates just by searching for 'wood bookmark' or 'wood slice'. When I saw the table with wooden top in the room, the decision was made! I had to cut it shorter and round the edges, but that was easy!

I got really excited when I found the inspiration photo! The rustic wood, tray, flowers, books. glass buoy float, and jacks! Surely I could source or make all of these!

I found a really cheap set of jacks on eBay, with free shipping! Score! I liked the metal finish, so I didn't even have to paint them!

For the glass buoy float, I was able to find clear glass one hole beads on eBay, as well. I wanted the glass float to be similar in color to the inspiration photo, so I painted a few of them with Gallery Glass.

I globbed a good amount on, and when they dried, the finish was perfect! Much like sea glass! In the photo two of them have dried a bit, and the third has just been painted.

Here are all three after drying. Sticking the toothpick in the hole to paint them worked great! I stuck them in the foam to dry.

I had a fisherman's net set left over from making my dad's fishing cabin lamp, so I decided to use the netting for the glass buoy. It was a little too vibrant, so I dabbed on watered down white latex paint to dull it a bit.

Once both the netting and buoy were dry, I attached the netting by using a toothpick to stuff the excess into the hole in the bead. A dab of clear drying glue was used to secure it.

To finish off the details, I made a jar full of sea shells and tiny starfish. They are on the metal tray (recycled from an old electric razor and painted chrome) with a candle and a bud vase. There's a basket on the shelf with pine cones, and a book covered in a bit of a pretty coral cardboard package.

I love the look, and it is really perfect for the small space! I'm so glad I took the time to space plan the project before I got started this time!

The interior door trim has been affixed to the wall, as well as the wall sculptures that I made and had printed from Shapeways. I found that getting the spacing perfect was just a matter of inserting wood spacers while everything dried.

It's getting exciting now that all of the little details are coming together! Next, I'll be working on the bedroom area. No sew bedding is going to be challenging, so send good wishes my way!