Free is my favorite word.

Howdy.

So here in Philly, it's time for all the college kids who live scattered throughout the city to move out. It's been funny watching people roll a giant mattress down the street. And watch the parents try to figure out how to park in a city where there's no parking and Parking Wars is a thing.

But this also means that people are getting rid of stuff! As one who enjoys 1) getting things for free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, 2) getting cool new things, 3) new projects, and 4) being lazy and not having to transport stuff far, I was really glad when my next door neighbors were moving out on Monday and left a nice pile of junk-to-them-treasure-to-me on the sidewalk. I dug through a few things, most of which were not that exciting or not my style (giant "OPEN" sign, anyone? Actually I saw a bro walk by with that, he can totally keep it.) but there were two gems just full of potential.

whatup

One is this low entertainment console/coffee table. I'm going to use it as a coffee table, because we need one. I am a person who likes to sit with my feet up (it's a hard day's work, after all) and there's only room for one little bitty end table by the couch, so if you're on the other end, where are you going to put your plate/glass/computer/stuff?

I dusted this new friend off and killed a few spiders (muahahaha!) and now it's chilling in the living room. Banged my shin on it a few times because my muscle memory is like "whaaaaaaat is this doing in the middle of the floor? It has sharp!" but, I learned. Even the cat has gotten used to it.

"yum, coffee table"

But unfortunately, it's kinda ugly and looks like a terrific example of bad furniture decisions from decades past. I wish it was wood, because then I could sand it and stain it and it would be awesome, but I might as well be wishing it was made out of solid gold, because it's not. It's covered in wood-grain laminate and that's yucky.

So I need to paint it. Blue would be awesome and go really well with my decor. Problem with that is that my entertainment center, which is totally awesome and I love it, is blue and I don't want to a) overwhelm the room with blue, b) be all too matchy-matchy, or c) end up with a slightly different shade and clash.

I could do orange, but the couch is orange. Red would clash, so that's a no.

I could do white/cream, but the rug is cream.

I could do brown, but that would look kinda weird if it's painted brown and not wood brown, I think.

So it looks like my options are green and yellow.

This is kinda what I'm thinking:


from: 540mercantile.com

or:


from: lilaspockets.blogspot.com

or yellow, like the yellow in the couch:


from: missmustardseed.com

or stick with the turquoise like my entertainment center (and hope that I can remember what color that was...)

So these are my questions:

1. What color should the coffee table be? Blue, green, yellow, other options?

2. What do you call a coffee table if you don't drink coffee? Am I allowed to call it a tea table? Or is that something different entirely?

3. What color do you think would be easiest to re-sell if I decide to?

4. Distressed, or smooth and sleek?

Also DID YOU KNOW YOU CAN BUY PAINT SAMPLES FROM HOME DEPOT AND HAVE THEM SHIPPED FOR FREE?!!!! This is majorly exciting news for a girl without a car who kinda has a thing about not wanting to take buses in Philadelphia despite the fact that they're probably very convenient but I'm afraid I'm gonna lose my token or not have the correct exact change or lose my change and end up getting yelled at by the bus driver and booed at by the passengers or end up missing my stop completely and getting really lost and then having my phone die while I'm at the final stop of the bus route in a bad part of town and I am token- and cash-less and I have no idea where I am and I'm hungry and it starts to rain and there are no cabs and the subway is too far away. But that's a topic for another time.


Oh, and the other thing I got is this giant heavy mirror. Not sure what to do with it yet, either. I was thinking a metallic? Opinions? I'm gonna sell this one since I don't have wall space.

sorry for the awkward side pic. it's like the picture version of an awkward side hug.