Goodwill Goodness

Who made out like a bandit at her local Goodwill store on Saturday?  This girl, that’s who!  I have never in my life had the luck of the thrift like this folks.  I went in looking for bookshelves or some sort of storage for my office, really it’s a room full of piles upon piles in dire need of some organizing but we’ll get to that in a different post, and walked out with a new dining table for…..$6.50.  Seriously.  Originally priced at $12.99, a steal at that but this happened to be 50% off Saturday. 

I was so nervous that someone else would see the potential in this piece that I whipped out some random receipt from my purse, wrote “SOLD” on the back of it then wedged my newly made sign under the price tag.  Hey, it’s every thrifter for herself, right?

The secret to successful thrifting is to keep an open mind. You might walk in with your heart set on finding one particular thing and find yourself walking out with something entirely different but equally fantastic.  Take your time to really look at everything because, as this weekend has taught me, you really never know just what you might find.

Enough yapping, here’s my new table:

The years and her previous owners have not been kind (don’t even get me started on all the food remnants I had to scrub out – super nasty!) but I have big plans for this beauty.

Originally I was thinking I had no choice but to paint it and the search was on to find the perfect color.  However, the more I looked at paint samples…the less in love I was with the idea.  See, everything I have in my great room is shiny and new.  The room lacks a little of that “lived in” feeling and adding one more piece of freshly painted furniture isn’t going to help.  Plus, I won't get bored with a wood tone as quickly as a paint color.  So I’m thinking it is finally time to try my hand at distressing and staining. 

The Carrol Farmhouse table from West Elm is my inspiration: 

The new table's existing finish is nearly identical to our kitchen cabinet color so I know that will work.  I’m thinking of adding in a darker java tone to tie in the table stain with my chairs.

Here’s my plan:

Lightly sand the entire surface, just enough to rough it up so that it will accept the new stain.  Add a few more dents and dings to give it some charm, then apply a darker finish and top it off with a few coats of polyurethane for durability.

What do you think?  Paint or Stain?