green with envy --> with green. (envious?)

so, the apartment we live in now is our second brooklyn place.  the first one was a super small place we got on a very big time crunch.  we didn't have much money, so it was a bit out of the way, and TINY.  it had doors separating rooms but it may as well have been a studio.  and undoubtedly it was filled with furniture that was cheap and about as inspired as the structure of the place was.

when we moved last april, i was hellbent on having an exciting, cool, we're-twenty-five-no-kids-live-in-brooklyn-fun-place apartment.  you know what i mean, right?  it's your second place - your first "real" place - it's gotta be one of the photo albums!  the one about which you say to your kids "oh, i LOVED our place on 18th street..."

before...
ikea's $99 BJÖRKUDDEN table

BUT!  being ThisAgeGroup means we're on budgets, right?  ones that don't generally allow for one's own home, which means renting a space, which means no painting walls.  fine art is out too.  and that budget also usually points to craigslist or [dare i say it] ikea when it comes to furniture.

i wanted a tall kitchen table with cool chairs around it.  the chairs i found on craigslist - the table... i could feel it coming the second i thought "tall table"... sent me to... yes... you guessed it: ikea.  against my hopes and dreams, i caved, ate some bbq spare ribs (which came with fries, and a drink... for only like $4.95. damn you, ikea!) and looked around for a table.

see, what i wanted was an awesome, artistic looking, green table.  which, at an upscale furniture or antique store could cost me upwards of $300.  ikea had a tall table, but all they had was tall tan wooden ones.  the price, however... $99.

after!  my green table with cool chairs.

end of the world?  no.  there happens to be a hardware store down the street.  i went there and picked out the perfect green, and got the smallest can they had.  that cost $15.  the guy at the store recommended using a primer if i was painting wood.  "the thing is, over time, it'll chip off if you don't."  over time isn't necessarily of my utmost concern currently (ah, twenty-five year olds. do we see permanence in nothing?)   "it's a cheap table," i said.  he let me go with just the paint.

the painting couldn't have been easier.  i sanded down the table a bit, threw a coat of paint on.  i let it dry and then went at it again.  by the end of the day, i had a green table, and my kitchen was a little bit more 'me'.  grand total: $114.



lesson learned:  as long as you're willing to spend a little time (and what else do we really have...?), there's no reason why cheap furniture has to mean lifeless dorm room furniture.