Look what we DIY'd!

Sometimes I get fidgety and restless and just want to 'do something'. This normally means travel somewhere or buying something for myself or the house. For KC, it's wanting to do something sensible around the house or to our cars. A couple of weekends ago, he decides he wants to do something and was down to work on one of the projects I had waiting for him. I jumped at the opportunity and we started working on it the next day. We aren't made of money (who is?) so we don't get to do a lot around the house often, especially if we want to do things like travel, so it's little baby steps and things like this that make it all come together. It's easy to get overwhelmed and discouraged with how much you have to do (or want to do, more like it) but just focusing on the baby steps makes me feel better. Anyway, I couldn't wait to share it, but first a back story!

Right now we have a couch that has recliners on the ends, and end tables next to it. We have never had the need for a coffee table, or ottoman. However, I kinda hate our couch with a passion and one day we will be replacing it with either 2 couches or a sectional.. One day. When we do that, we won't have the recliners anymore, and since we both love to put our feet up, I thought an ottoman was the way to go. However, I really love the idea of a coffee table for storage.

And then I saw this pretty little thing:

buy here, if you're a billionaire

Unfortunately, the price tag - not so pretty. Funnily enough, I found it when I was googling ottoman / coffee table and the link lead me to Kristi's blog where she basically made her own. Totally badass, and you can check it out here.

I am not as badass, but I thought we could take some parts of the tutorial to make it work for us. I pinned it, thinking it would be ages before we would get around to it because we didn't actually need it immediately. But then I found the perfect coffee table on craigslist for $15. So, I had to get it. KC was not on board with this project or driving 30 minutes to pick up it up. We had to wait like 20 minutes for the guy and KC was not happy - the guy finally arrived, we put the coffee table in the truck and KC said "holy crap, this is a great piece of furniture. Great find babe!" which never happens so I felt like I should share it with the world. It has some nicks and marks, but overall in great condition for what we needed, not to mention $15.

ignore the marker, I was trying to show KC what we were going to do

Anyway, I'm not gonna do a tutorial because there are a zillion of those around, plus we basically followed Kristi's to a tee, tufting wise anyway.

The tufting is definitely not perfect, but I kinda love it. It's just resting on top in that photo, it's not finished yet, and I haven't done the buttons. The 'fabric' is a $15 drop cloth from Home Depot. Overall, it cost about $100 total - coffee table, foam, plywood, supplies... We have a lot of things left over, like the plywood, that we'll be able to use for future projects.

So it's not completely finished - I'm not sure what to do with the coffee table part. Stain it? Paint it white? My first instinct was to paint it white. We have white bookcases, and one day will have a white TV stand.. we have a black entry table, and a black computer desk that will not stay in the living room forever. Or should I do an off white, or a lighter wood like the inspiration picture? Or 'distressed'?

The reason I'm hesitant about staining it is the floors - will it clash? We need a rug, but that's a bit further down the line. And can you have 3 different things in one room? White, wood and black? I want to replace our end tables one day (they are currently black) but not sure what with yet.

Would love to hear your opinions about what to do with the coffee table part! Help!