As much as it will no doubt miss our food scraps, I am happy to report that we are no longer dining on our couch. Our eatery table is finally complete. It was quite a process considering we don’t have access to a garage or workspace complete with power sanders and planers. Also, as we are still without a vehicle, all materials transportation (and the many trips to ACE Hardware) had to be done on foot or bike. We knew what we wanted: a rugged reclaimed wood tabletop with hairpin legs.

So, about three weeks ago, from a tip by fellow Texas-Transplant, Will Bryant we headed out to The Rebuilding Center to take a look around. It’s this incredibly huge warehouse(s) full of used building materials and a friendly staff of volunteers. Reclaimed windows and doors, kitchen and bathroom tile, light fixtures, and a vast lumber yard (where we spent most of our time). It took awhile to find the wood we needed. Most of the reclaimed members were upwards of 6 feet in length, and they don’t cut it down to your size, unfortunately. We were looking for 2×4′s and 2×6′s that were roughly 42 inches long. Once we found what we needed, we told a staffer our sad story – that we don’t have a car, rode the bus over here, don’t have access to a wood shop, just need it cut down to 42 inches, etc. He kindly cut it down for us with his power saw (our alternative was to use a manual saw – which I did try, but I would’ve been there all night). Anyway, after a lesson in shrink-wrap and $10 later (yep, a table on the cheap!) we were happily on our way home with our treasures.

We later ordered the hairpin legs online and got to work sanding the wood. We worked outside while serenading our neighbors who face the inner-courtyard with the sweet sounds of sanding. Quite a task, but it gave us a chance to get to know the pieces of this tabletop really well. We began with 100-grit paper and will later finish it off with 220-grit and a few coats of polyurethane. For assembly, we found a nice 1×1 strut piece that is used to hold the tabletop together and then the hairpin legs screwed into the bottom super easily. Done and done.

Above are the progress shots via Instagram.

If you have the app and aren’t already following us, our profile names are “jacobspence” and “themodernmrs”.

The finished table looks really great in our small space. It’s about 40×33 inches and 29 inches off the floor. I love the juxtaposition of the reclaimed, who-knows-how-old-or-what-it-was-used-for, wood with the modern hairpin legs below. Exactly what we were looking for. Now we just need to find the right chairs for the sitting. Currently we’re using some old favorites, a JEFF and a SNILLE, which are great…but we’re hoping to get something a little more matchy-matchy. More on that later.

Its definitely not perfect. Party due to the nature of the very affordable wood we chose and partly due to my limited (but growing!) woodworking skills. But it should serve us well for the next few years! It’s also perfectly sized for a dinner of 4…so feel free to stop by!

Here are a few shots around our apartment as it is now. Lots has happened around here, but there’s still a bit to do, ie. getting rid of the remaining junk. The storage closet is organized, but pretty much stuffed to the brim. And I still need to deal with the nightstand situation, in that I need to build it. Our dining table is nearly complete, so get excited about seeing that here shortly. And we finally have art on the walls! A few prints, a postcard from our road trip and a couple thrifted photographs (the one on the bottom is actually a crowd at a UT football game – I liked it more for the nostalgic-Texas enthusiasm, not the patriotism to the other team). Tracy also brings the outside in with some dried flowers she saved from Dallas, plus a few new acquisitions.

Our apartment is really starting to come together. It has been the biggest challenge trying to fit all of our things in this small space. In Dallas, we had 1000 sq ft in which to spread out, with a large kitchen, full closet, and huge storage room (where everything got thrown). Here, we have just about 450 sq ft and it has been a struggle. But with such progress as above, our spirits are lifted to continue on.

Let’s start at the bottom. We’ve had this EIVOR rug for a couple years but adds a nice graphic touch over the wood floors. The incredible dresser / credenza was snatched up for a mere $145 at Lounge Lizard on Hawthorne. It’s walnut and the drawer handles somewhat relate to the bed frame (which you can see a little bit of here). It’s a really great piece.

Above all this is the crowning jewel: a 1950s schoolhouse wall map! We found it on Etsy for a great deal. It includes 7 detailed maps full of data and color. Behind it is our TV, mounted to the wall. You can see the sneaky cord covers below. Yes, I painted the cord covers and the actual cords you could see to match the wall color. Nearly invisible. We can’t claim this hiding-the-TV-behind-a-gorgeous-wall-map idea as our own. We first saw this at Adam & Alicia’s (of Bows & Arrows) home in Dallas and knew we had to imitiate.

I was pretty squeamish about the idea of mounting both a TV to the wall and a map to the ceiling. This 1930s apartment has proven to be a pain when it comes to mounting anything to the wall. Good news, I have become pretty familiar with lath & plaster wall construction. And after 61 pre-drills and a lot of ear-to-wall sonar tapping (stud finders are pretty much useless on these), the 30lb TV (it’s not that big) is safely and securely affixed to the wall. The map was a little less challenging but I also am fairly confident it wont be falling down.

We have a few projects left to complete around the place, after which we can post more revealing photos. Stay tuned.

From the limited pictures we had seen of our apartment before moving in, the walls looked to be a fresh shade of white. There would be no need to change it as white makes everything look better. However, upon entry, the white was more like chalky-pink. An off-white, to be sure, but not a shade we would ever have decided upon. Even the light bulbs were against us as they were the cheap, “blue light special” fluorescents that made the apartment feel like a sterile operating room. We changed the bulbs to the warmer, yellowy fluorescents and lived with it for a month or so but enough was enough. We decided that a fresh coat of paint would be the best way to make our apartment feel more like home.

Since we only intended to paint the main room and to leave the others as is, we chose a nice warm grey. Specifically, BM AF-675 “Fusion”. It was in the brown-grey family which we figured would go nicely with our newly acquired furniture and bedding (which you can see bits of below)

So, being such a small space, painting was a snap. Hence the limited progress shots. Excuse our mess…

See, isn’t that better? It really makes the existing woodwork and trim pop.

The best part of course is pulling off the blue tap. So liberating. Instant gratification.

This evening we had the pleasure of experiencing a free waterfront concert put on by the Oregon Symphony on the Tom McCall Waterfront Park. The event officially kicks off the symphony’s 2011-2012 series and also features the Portland Youth Philharmonic and the Oregon Ballet Theatre. We had no idea as to how many people would show up. It was apparently between 10-15,000! All those people, picnicking along the Willamette River and enjoying classical music. A pretty great evening.

This was the line-up for the Oregon Symphony:

John Stafford Smith (Leyden, arr.) The Star Spangled Banner

Richard Wagner Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Sympony No. 35 in D major, “Haffner” Allegro con spirito

Jean Sibelius Finlandia

Kenneth Alford Colonel Bogey March

Arturo Márquez Danzón No. 2

Morton Gould American Salute

George Gershwin (Hershey Kay, arr.) Who Cares, The Man I Love, Embraceable You, Who Cares?

Daniel-Francois-Esprit Auber Overture to the Crown of Diamonds

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 1812, Overture

Click here to listen to the dramatic ending: 11_0901 1812 Overture

The finale, the 1812 Overture, is the standard ending for this 16-year tradition, made complete with the incredible cannon-fire (see the smoke above!) by the Oregon National Guard Alpha Battery 2nd Battalion 218th Field Artillery (quite a title). While they orchestra was performing, one sailboat raised a huge American flag (much to the audience’s delight) and afterwards there was a great 10-minute long fireworks show!