Quarantine project

I have a soda table that supposedly came from my grandfather's ten-cent store. As kids, my grandfather's soda fountain, candy cases, and books were my must-go-to sections. My brother and I would climb on the soda fountain counter's stools and order anything we wanted. Sometimes my grandfather made it. Sometimes my mom. 

I have no memory of tables. But, this one came from the store when my grandfather closed it, so after my mother died, I insisted on bringing it home. With iron legs and a marble top, the piece is HEAVY. I put it in my Steelers room. 

Over our first quarantine, Oleg set a cup down on the table, and the marble top split in two. No warning. No noise. It just broke. Tom, who loves getting rid of our belongings, was ready to toss out the table before I intervened.

Me: "Absolutely, not. This thing came from my grandfather's store!"

Having never been to that store, he could have cared less. In Tom's mind, the less stuff we have, the better. His motto? If you bring something new into the house, something old better exit it.

One day, while he and I were shopping at Home Depot, I noticed a woodpile cut into circles. I told him those were the perfect size for fixing the soda table and explained my idea. I'd paint the wood, slap on a Steelers decal, and mod podge it. It'd fit right in the Steelers room. So, I bought one, came home, and put it directly on the broken marble. 

Where it has been sitting for months, driving Tom insane. Anytime he enters the Steelers room, he remarks on when or why I haven't gotten to this project.

Tom: "This is huge. It's going to take you at least a week. You have no idea of the magnitude of this project. First, you have to buy paint. This wood will soak it up, so it'll need several coats. Then you have to figure out how to attach it to the legs, and that's not going to be easy." 

I'd roll my eyes. It was a one-day project at best. I kept telling him to quit worrying. I'd get to it.

Two weeks ago, I got to it. Madison and I stopped at Lowe's and picked up paint. Too much, as it turns out because it only needed two coats. I painted it outside, and by the time I finished washing my brush, the piece was dry. I applied the second coat, and after the clean-up, moved on to step two.

I turned the table over and unscrewed the nuts that held the legs. There were three of them. Two came off easily. The third required a wrench. From there, I searched through Tom's stuff until I found three screws I thought would work, and I screwed on the table. This proved to be the hardest part of the job as the angle was tricky, and I had to use some muscle. It probably took ten minutes.

Next, I centered the decal, and then because I knew my husband would check, I measured it. For some reason, I have a good eye when it comes to this sort of thing. It used to drive my father crazy because I'd hang pictures without measuring, and for the most point, when he'd bring out the level to check my work, it was dead-on. Tom is like my father in second-guessing my abilities.

Then, because my mod-podge was old, I spread contact paper over the top of the table, and Madison cut it with an Exacto knife. The project took me a little over an hour from start to finish, and I have to say, it looked damn good. It pops in the room!

Madison: "It looks SO good, Mom. You did a great job."

I set a small lamp on it and left it on so that when Tom came home, I could casually ask him if to turn it off, thus letting him see that I had completed the task.

He was not complimentary. Or rather, he was impressed, but he kept asking me who had done it. 

Tom: "Oh, wow. Wow. This is nice. Who did it?"

Me: "What do you mean? I did it. Just like I said I would."

Tom: "No, you didn't. Who really did it? Is the top secured to the legs? Wow, it is. You didn't do this. In a day? No. Who did it?"

This went on and on, with him telling me how impressed he was and then in the second breath, asking who did it.

Madison: "You're not very nice, Dad. Mom did do this. I watched her!"

I had to go through everything I had done before he claimed he believed me. I'm still not sure he does. But the table looks damn good. I asked my cousin Jaimie for advice on the topcoat as I wasn't sure about the mod podge. She suggested polycrylic. I should have stuck with the mod podge. Because when I coated it with the polycrylic, the red in the decal bled. Still, the tabletop looks awesome. Now, I just need to spray paint the legs.

And buy a soda fountain.