Repurposed: Of Coffee Tables And Lives

My woodworking work is a work in progress.

For the past few weeks I've taken on a project that is challenging me in ways I'm not used to being challenged. I'm dabbling in woodworking and making a coffee table -- that you see above -- out of 50-year-old white oak wood flooring we yanked out of our kitchen during a remodel. I'm not sure what got into me. I'm partly blaming Pinterest. Yes, Pinterest. I saw some things on there involving creative uses of reclaimed wood that caught my eye and thought, "I could do that."

Or could I?

We shall see.

I came up with this idea to stain the old tongue and groove hardwood flooring different hues before reassembling it into a table. Perhaps the fact that I rendered our previous coffee table virtually irreparable during our last move has something to do with it. Perhaps a few stresses of life contributed. For example, with 13 people living in a 1,600-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bath home, certain stresses can arise. Just think about the meals for a moment. Every breakfast, lunch and dinner involves 13 meals. That's 39 per day, or 273 per week, without including the obligatory snacking that goes on. Does that sound like a lot? Imagine that level of meal planning ... interested in becoming our chef? Imagine that level of dish washing ... come to our house to practice dish washing and you'll leave with a Ph.D. So yeah, maybe I needed a creative outlet for something that didn't involve cooking 4,732 dinners over the course of a year.

So naturally to unwind and get my creative juices flowing I decided to manufacture a coffee table out of the old hardwood flooring in our kitchen. As you can see, I am well on my way. Truly, I am not sure what got into me to tackle this. I've dabbled in woodworking over the years as part of our various home remodels. From crown molding on cabinets, to manufacturing an entertainment center, to a fireplace mantel, I've tackled a few projects that involve wood, nail guns, wood glue, a table saw and a compound miter saw. Nothing along the lines of this, though. Here's what I love about it, though. I'm taking these old, tired, worn down pieces of wood and breathing new life into them in an altogether new life and purpose. This project is coaxing a fresh, striking vibrancy out of the pallid and listless. Hmmmm. Maybe it's just me, but this project has the makings of a metaphor. Followers of Jesus Christ know what I'm talking about, eh?