Coffee table restyle

When I first moved in I was using my lego table as the main coffee table in the living room. That was great, except that my coffee cups were always fighting with AT-STs and ewoks. So I watched craigslist, looking for a quirky table to fit my quirky space. My living room is connected to the entry, stairway, and dining room. This means it's as much a hallway as a room. I've worked around this by positioning the chair on an angle, effectively closing in the seating area and leaving room behind it for walking. 

This coffee table works perfectly with my funny angles. There's enough space to walk around it, but it's within reach of each couch. And here's the cool part:

Yes, it lifts up. Perfect for lazy nights when I just want to eat dinner and watch a movie on the couch. The table had been living in someone's garage, and it wasn't in great shape. And I already have a lot of different wood shades in the house. (Several people have complained that I ruined a perfectly lovely piece of furniture, but it's just composite wood and was kinda ugly. I have no regrets.)

I sanded it down and lugged it outside for a few coats of spray paint. This is 6 cans' worth. (You don't want to know how my trigger finger felt.) I wanted to bring yellow into the room as a bright focal point and play up the hints of yellow in many of my pillows. At that time I thought I would keep the peacock rug, and I was worried about having too much going on visually. 

I toned down the yellow with a few coats of Behr's Lemon Sorbet, and tested out the chalkboard top. The chalkboard paint was in a spray can, and I'm really happy with it. I now have a surface for fun notes, Scrabble scores, and doodles. And it breaks up the yellow, which would have been really overwhelming. 

I replaced the peacock rug with this striped one. It's neutral, which lets the yellow pop. I try to do 80% neutral and 20% bright colors in my rooms. It's easy on the eyes and leaves lots of room for playful furniture.

Just another secondhand piece made my own with a little bit of work (ok, a lot--getting it back up the stairs and into the house after spray painting was horrific. The dumb thing kept opening up every time I tilted it to get through a doorway).