From Barn to Beauty...

I visit quite a few reclaimed lumber yards throughout the year and there is one in Old Saybrook that is particularly special to me. It's like a candy store that has hundreds of different clear bins, all beautifully filled with every kind of candy you can think of. This place has all its various planks and beams organized and laid out. There are even pieces that are cut and oiled so you can see what the final grain and coloring might look like. Due to, or rather thanks to, the fact that I do not own a U-Haul or a storange warehouse, I cannot hoard all of these pieces, nor will I find myself in bankcruptcy. Though if I did, I could probably build a nice little house if I were to ever find myself on the streets...I digress.

On one particular trip to Old Saybrook, I was picking through some red barnwood planks and grabbed enough to make a few benches and the featured 36x36 tabletop. Now, all I needed was the perfect base...which I'm all about ;-) Luckily, the same week, I was having brunch at Vinager Hill House in Brooklyn (one of a thousand 'best' things the borough has to offer), and, on our post-bruch "I'll-never-eat-again walk" around the neighborhood, I spotted it; A scratched-up, unloved, aluminum table base on the side of the road with its left thumb out in the air saying, "pick me up!". The rest is all paint and nails.