Living Room Coffee Table Sneak Peek (Work In Progress)

Y’all, I love how my living room is shaping up now that I have the new pink curtains in there. If you missed that post, you can see it here…

It’s amazing how much more “finished” a room feels once the window treatments are installed.

I still have two major projects — reupholstering two chairs and building a coffee table — and then I can do the small finishing touches and it’ll be done! So I spent all day yesterday working on the coffee table.

My choice for my coffee table will probably surprise most of you, and disappoint some. I’m sure of this because after all of the comments about my living room being “elegant,” and “calm,” and “soft,” I’m about to throw a wrench in the works both with the coffee table and with the reupholstered chairs.

If y’all know me but at all, you know that the fastest way to get me to want to make changes to a room in my house is to call it “elegant.” I’m so not an elegant person, and I don’t want an elegant house. Same with those other descriptions — calm, serene, soft. Nope. I want bold, colorful, eclectic.

The chairs will be reupholstered with bold and colorful floral fabric on the back, and a bright raspberry velvet on the front. I showed y’all the fabrics a while back. Here they are draped over the chairs a couple of months ago…

Living room chairs draped with new fabric - raspberry velvet and colorful floral

So when it came to the coffee table, I didn’t want anything predictable, like a glass coffee table with gold metal frame, or something with turned legs, or an upholstered ottoman.

Instead, I opted for an unexpected material used in an unexpected way. And I spent hours and hours yesterday cutting and sanding about 580 pieces of this material. Can you tell what it is?

edge grain plywood herringbone table top

Yep. It’s plywood. 😀

I know you have your doubts, but withhold judgement until it’s finished. I used the lightest and least yellow or red plywood available, which was maple. And I plan to use a whitewash stain on it once all of these pieces are laminated together. I want the herringbone pattern to be light and bright. I also want it to be subtle but unmistakable. I’m still not certain about the design for the base, but I have a pretty good idea of what I want.

Anyway, there’s probably no way I’ll get this done this weekend. That’s a LOT of gluing that needs to be done, and then it’ll take at least 24 hours for it to dry completely before I can cut it down and route the edges. So it’ll probably be the middle of next week before it’s finished.

After cutting and sanding those 500+ pieces, I desperately needed time to play with some paint. I did four paintings, but I only ended up liking three of them. These two mini canvases turned out to be my favorites. I love these tiny gallery-wrapped canvases.

new artwork - liquid acrylic
new artwork - liquid acrylic - 1
new artwork - liquid acrylic - 3

I think I’ll put a coat of resin on these and then add them to my Etsy shop for next week’s grand opening.

I also did this 20″ x 20″ canvas. It’s still pretty wet, so I can’t get great pictures of it just yet.

new artwork - liquid acrylic - 4

I did a video of that one, so if you’re subscribed to my YouTube channel, I’ll have that video up soon.

 

 

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30 Comments

  1. That is going to be stunning! Can’t wait to see what the bottom is. Maybe some sort of black? But that’s because I love black hardware, lights, etc.
    You must absolutely love your work tables.

    1. Oh wow, that is looking stunning! You are so creative Kristi. Can wait to see it finished and what the base will look like.

  2. Oh my gosh, I LOVE the future coffee table. Your attention to detail never ceases to amaze me!

    Can’t WAIT to get one of your gorgeous resin petris!

  3. Yasss! This is going to be the best living room evah!! Loving the colors and how everything is coming together. Anxious to see how the coffee table comes out cuz I need one too and I’m all about unpredictability at this point in my life.

  4. The chairs are going to be amazing! I love the colors and it will really play well with your art above the fireplace. I am sure your table will be stunning. I love all the whitewash you have done so far. So much talent in one lady!

  5. Wowie Zowie! lol LOVE the idea of the herringbone plywood striations thing.(for lack of better words). It’s perfect. It’s amazing how your spaces evolve and transition. I love being able to tag along on it. Thanks for sharing. It’s very inspiring, in more ways than one. I am not just covered in pet hair, I’ve added sawdust to the mix. lol

  6. Hi Kristi! Such a “wow” the coffee table will be and I love that you want to avoid simply the “elegant” in order to embrace the lively, eclectic and colorful! Can’t wait to see that beautiful table when it is finished!

  7. I cannot wait to see this top finished. What a fantastic use of all those little leftover scrap pieces. You are an artisan. I purchased epoxy for a bathroom counter. Going for a honed soapstone with subtle green tones/veins. It’s to darn cold here in the PNW to start it. In truth I’m a little apprehensive for some reason.

  8. You would disappoint me if you went “ elegant”. I love your bright and bold style. Can’t wait to see the finished project!

  9. Love the herringbone pattern. I don’t even have to see the finished coffee table to know that it will be fantastic. Please do a full video of the process.

  10. Cool! Did you need to sand the edges before assembling? I think a tabletop belt/disc sander should be in your future, you do a lot of sanding😋. Would have been a true timesaver on this project.
    These canvas art pieces are my fav so far!

    1. I found it necessary to sand. I tried putting the pieces together with out sanding, and found that all of the little hairy wood fibers that you get on ALL of the edges when plywood is cut (even with my brand new 90T ultimate polish finish blades) got in the way of the pieces fitting closely together. I need these pieces to fit together as closely as possible, so those little hairy wood fibers had to go.

  11. I am in LOVE! I’m usually all about traditional decor but I can imagine by kids loving this! I’m excited to see how it turns out…a copy cat may be added to my to-do list! Cutting is not my happy place – but unlike most, I actually find sanding soothing 🙂

  12. As soon as I saw that first picture, I remembered the herringbone driftwood coffee table that Dorsey Designs did years ago. If you’ve never seen it, you should check it out!

  13. I love this . It is going to pick up a little hint to mid- century modern you have going in the lines of your room. The couch style the round chairs the design style of your spoon art. No it does not scream mid century but has a lot of the elements that make everything cohesive without matching. I hope you continue that theme wit the legs

  14. Cant wait to see the table when it’s done. I love this pattern. I’m curious though, if you are gluing the pieces together, will you need to clamp them so they are tight? How would you clamp them so they don’t come a part?

  15. I’m loving your coffee table and paintings. I think those chairs are just the pop your room needs. This is coming from a person who hates pink!!

  16. Love it when you have fun and shake it up! (Yes, I have the Cars song in my head.) I saw your “mixing metal finishes” post from October 2013 featured under today’s post. That is the first post of yours that I read! I’ve been hooked ever since.

  17. Kristi, you always make me laugh! Did it ever occur to you that, if so many followers call your decor elegant, there may be some truth there? Maybe you are confusing Elegant with Formal. Your style is a lot like my own. Maybe not in colors or furniture pieces but in the overall feel of the design style. I usually call it casual elegance or comfortable elegance. And not all elegant styling mean formal, stately designs and furnishings. I tend to mix pieces in my somewhat transitional style. So do you. If you feel a piece will work, go for it. You will know whether it does what you intended in the room when the piece is finished. Your attention to detail, the adding of moldings, trims, and beautiful accents are often what make your rooms elegant. I can only pray that as I complete my redecorating that someone sees some elegance in my rooms. Yet my family and friends use most all the of the rooms in our homes. I want mine to be fully functional where people are comfortable but still with a touch of elegance. My home tends to be colorful and, hopefully, with a touch of the unexpected. So, go for what you like and what makes you happy. You can’t help it if it also comes out a bit “elegant”. (PS, I’m still chuckling.)

  18. Have you considered staining that coffee table a warm or natural wood tone to bring some warmth to the room? In the pictures when the rug was absent the wood floor really added that warmth and while I love the rug I think adding that wood tone back in with the coffee table would look great. I feel like whitewashing it will make it fade into the rug instead of the visual pop you are looking for….and the different tones you would get from the layers of plywood would look so cool.

  19. When my husband and I went to see Frank Lloyd Wright Taliesin in Wisconsin he used a lot of plywood turned on its side to make floors, FLW loved sideways ply like what you’re doing.