My very dear friend and neighbor called me the other day to tell me she was sitting in my driveway with a surprise.  Was it a Starbucks gift card?  Was it a bottle of wine?  Why, no!  It was something even better!  It was a little side table in need of some TLC.  Does my friend know me or what?

Here is the table before I got my hands on it:

I just love that the lid opens up to a small storage compartment.  What a fun surprise!

After sanding, priming, painting, sealing and a lot of elbow grease, here is how it looks now:

Okay, okay, so I don’t really drink coffee out of that fabulous little teacup (although I should).  And who has time to read hardcover books?  I guess this is more realistic, but it doesn’t look near as fancy:

The table is the perfect size to sit next to your favorite reading chair.  Use the compartment to store your favorite book, the TV remote, your glasses or anything really.  It could also work as a night stand next to a bed.

And here is my own version of a surprise:

I love the unexpected pop of color.  The friend who gave me this table has touches of lavenders and violets in her house, so she was my inspiration.  She is also super smart and suggested the table would even make a great jewelry box for a little girl.  Additionally, I think it is an excellent way to store the multitudes of hair accessories which seem to invade houses of little girls (don’t worry, one of these days I will paint something more gender neutral).

The nice thing about this piece is that it is painted off-white, so it could work in any room in the house.   I thought about trying to figure out how to embellish the exterior of the table, but I decided I like the clean look and simple lines.  It makes the table more versatile, but who says you can’t leave the lid open at times to show off the color?  This table might be small, but it has big possibilities.

As much as I hate to see it go, this table is for sale.  If anyone is interested in buying it,  please contact me soon because I don’t think it will last long.  My neighbor told me she loves it so much, she just might snatch it back!