Coffee Break

Well, it lasted eight months.  The painted coffee table, that is.  The white was refreshing at first, but I painted it quickly and improperly and peeling white paint was not refreshing.  And I was ready for a change - the table's always been a few inches too tall to be a comfortable coffee table. 

Plus, we have a good number of friends with toddling toddlers and when they're over I cringe whenever a head gets too close to a table corner.  Add to that the fact that my niece is mobile now - and I love her precious head and don't want Auntie Em's coffee table to be the story behind her first scar - and that Thomas will be mobile in the blink of an eye - and that I love his precious head and don't want to add any more scars to it - and I figured that going with an upholstered coffee table was not a bad move.

I had grand plans - transforming a gross old coffee table into a beautiful cocktail ottoman that the world would ooh and ahh over.  I told B about my plans, and Mr. Coupon responded, "We have an ottoman, Em" and pointed at the green storage ottoman that matches B and Casco's belfoved big green chair and was currently residing in the office.  I was dismissive.  "Noooo.  That's not what I'm talking about - I don't do matchy matchy."  Well, I hunted Craigslist and Thrift Stores for the old coffee table that I could alter to no avail until I decided to just move the ottoman in one day to see what it looked like.  Perfect height.  Perfect shape.  Pretty perfect for my imperfect taste.  I vow never to dismiss Mr. B's decorating advice again.  Hold me to that, interpeeps.

But, I still don't do matchy matchy, so I turned to fabric.  I was determined to go bold - to move out of my solids with the occasional stripe comfort zone.  And bold turned out to be an octagonal green.  I'm in love. 

For about $28 worth of fabric, we have a whole new look for the room.  The sewing was a simple box slipcover - no sweat for a good sewer, a few naptimes long project for me.  And I can switch it up pretty frequently at that price - a slipcover for each season if I get bored.

The best thing about it is that we can just wheel it up to the couch or chair to serve as an ottoman when it's not needed as a coffee table - we never had room for it to be used as an ottoman when the old coffee table was in the room.  The McKevitt boys are big fans of this new functionality.

An area rug that's the appropriate scale for the room is next on the neverending list of things to do for this room.