I have a deep and profound love of furniture.

I think it started when my mom got a subscription to Dwell magazine. I'm looking at a November 2007 issue right now and it features lovely articles about going green, low-income housing in Brooklyn, and the renovation of an LA warehouse into a loft owned by a fashion photographer and his husband. That article in particular doesn't even mention how much the build cost them, but I know for a fact that the sexy lounge chair in their living room costs $3,699.
In every issues they run ads for stores like Modernica and Hive. $1,645 for an end table? Bullshit!

I got this two-tier end table at my local Goodwill for only $2.99


Then a few weeks later I found another two-tier end table for $9.99. This one is a beauty, and it's made with real wood!

When I bought this one it looked as if someone had been murdered on it. So my dad and I spent a few days fixing it up. I really should have taken a 'before' picture of the table. It looked awful and I didn't anticipate my dad's intentions to fix it up so thoroughly. When we finished I asked him to make me a list of what exactly we did and all the materials we used...
1. citrus strip, to take off the old finish.
2. scape the old finish off with plastic scraper.
3. sand using 320-400 sand paper. also use steal wool.
4. spray the legs and stretchers with flat black spray paint.
5. finish - tung oil or spray.
Then he signed and dated the list.