Thrift Store Score: Round Coffee Table

Thrift Store Score: Round Coffee Table

Ever since adding a sectional to our family room, I’ve had my heart set on a round coffee table. I just felt like something round would suit the L-shaped couch so much better than a rectangular one because we could scoot around it easier when we wanted to have a seat on the sectional.

The problem was that we were already using a rectangular ottoman as a coffee table, and I was having a lot of trouble convincing John that we needed to get rid of it. The ottoman was in fine shape, but I still felt like the space could look and function better with something different.

After months and months of dropping hints, I finally figured out a solution. I was able to “get rid of” the ottoman simply by moving it into the room that John uses to tie flies and listen to music. That way he gained the perfect spot to lounge and read his fly fishing magazines, and I now had a blank spot for a new coffee table—win, win!

Thrift Store Score: Round Coffee Table

Thrift Store Score: Round Coffee Table

As you probably already gathered from the post title and photos, I ended up finding the perfect new-to-us vintage coffee table for the room. It came from a semi-local antique store (in neighboring Staunton, Virginia), and cost $135.

I had actually gone to the store planning to purchase a different retro round coffee table that had been in the lower level of the shop for over a year. I remembered seeing it there ages ago, and thinking back then that it could be just right for the family room. I couldn’t recall the price, but I thought it was something like $125. When I finally got to the antique shop and was able to take a closer look at the price tag, though, I found out that it was listed for $175. That was a little out of my price range.

I thought about asking if there was any wiggle room in the price, especially since the piece had been there for more than a year, but this particular store isn’t very amenable to haggling, so I pretty much decided against pursuing the table within a couple of minutes.

Thrift Store Score: Round Coffee Table

Thrift Store Score: Round Coffee Table

I headed back upstairs from the lower level of the store with a pretty dejected attitude, but decided to press on and wander through the rest of the space to see if anything else happened to jump out at me. And there she was! The perfect mid-century round coffee table with an even better silhouette and gorgeous finish. The one I had been considering downstairs had metal legs and a tile top, whereas the second one I found was solid wood and coincidentally stained to match the paneling (which we love) in our family room.

I felt like it just had to be too good to be true, but a quick peek at the price tag showed me that it was well within budget—marked $135, down from $165. Sold! Within 10 minutes I had paid for the new coffee table and packed it away in my car destined for the family room. Luckily, it fit perfectly into the blank space left behind by the old ottoman, and it’s now one of our favorite pieces in the house. Even John agrees that it was the right way to go now that he can see it all together.

Thrift Store Score: Round Coffee Table

Thrift Store Score: Round Coffee Table

Isn’t the finish just beautiful? It’s a Lane Furniture piece, which is another serendipitous detail in the story because we have a small collection of vintage Lane furniture scattered throughout our house. I especially love the two-tone wood look, and the angular support underneath.

I couldn’t be happier with what we ended up getting, and am actually really glad that I had to wait as long as I did to convince John to let me look around for something new because that’s how we ended up with this beauty. Got a Thrift Store Score story of your own to share? Do tell in the comments!

Thrift Store Score: Round Coffee Table

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How To Install & Style Open Kitchen Shelves

How To Install & Style Open Kitchen Shelves

One of the very first things I hung in our house when we moved in three years ago was a set of open shelves in our kitchen. There was this one section of cabinetry and countertops off to the side of the space with the perfect patch of blank wall above that practically screamed for open shelving. Luckily, I had a set from IKEA that I had previously used in my old studio, so it worked out really well. The only problem was that the shelves were on the smaller side and not the same width, so they ended up being a little more decorative than functional.

It worked for several years, but this fall I found myself craving more. I wanted to be able to load the shelves with extra plates, bowls, and glasses, not to mention canisters for dog treats, coffee pods, and other kitchen-themed goodies so we could make more room in our overstuffed cabinets.

Well, three years later, and we finally managed to cross “install bigger open shelves” off our to-do list. You may have seen the full reveal of our mini kitchen makeover earlier this month, complete with that brand new set of upgraded open shelves, and today I’m back to talk about how I actually installed them. Scroll on for the full step-by-step tutorial, and then feel free to head over to Hunker where I’m offering a numbered guide to styling kitchen shelves, too.

How To Install & Style Open Kitchen Shelves

How To Install & Style Open Kitchen Shelves

Here’s What You’ll Need:

1. Level

2. Stud-finder

3. Pencil

4. Power drill and bits

5. Heavy-duty screws

6. 6 metal brackets

7. 2 1-inch-by-12-inch-by-48-inch wood common boards

How To Install & Style Open Kitchen Shelves

How To Install & Style Open Kitchen Shelves

Step One

Start by using a stud-finder to locate the studs behind your drywall. If you plan to load your shelves up with heavy dishes and glasses, like we did, you’ll need to attach your brackets right to those wood supports behind the drywall to ensure a strong hold. Mark the studs with a pencil, and repeat for however many shelves and brackets you plan to install. For this demo, we installed 2 shelves over 6 brackets—3 brackets apiece.

How To Install & Style Open Kitchen Shelves

Step Two

Hold your first bracket up to the wall over the marks you made at the studs, and mark through the screw holes onto the drywall with your pencil. Repeat again for however many shelves and brackets you plan to install, using a level between each bracket before making your marks so you know you’ll have an even shelf when finished.

How To Install & Style Open Kitchen Shelves

How To Install & Style Open Kitchen Shelves

Step Three

Drill through the marks you made using a power drill and bit that matches your screw width. Then, hold the bracket up over the holes, and use the drill again to screw the hardware into place until the bracket feels nice and snug. Repeat across all brackets.

How To Install & Style Open Kitchen Shelves

How To Install & Style Open Kitchen Shelves

Step Four

Lay your wood common boards across the brackets so that they’re centered across the brackets. You may choose to screw yours into place, but the weight of your dishes and glasses should keep the wood from shifting in the end. We still haven’t screwed our boards to the brackets, but they haven’t budged.

How To Install & Style Open Kitchen Shelves

How To Install & Style Open Kitchen Shelves

As you may have noticed, we decided to leave our wood raw for now, but will eventually give it a clear coat stain to make it water tight. There’s no big rush on that now, though, since they don’t come into contact with much (if any) direct moisture.

These upgraded shelves feel so much more grown-up and functional than the old IKEA set ever did. If you want to learn more about the reasoning behind my styling choices and how I managed to maximize our new storage square footage, click over to Hunker here where I break it all down into seven steps. Let me know what you think in the comments below!

How To Install & Style Open Kitchen Shelves

*I earn a small percentage from purchases made using the affiliate links above. Affiliate links are not sponsored. Rest assured that I never recommend products we wouldn’t use or don’t already love ourselves.

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