Trash Can Turned Side Table {31 Days: Day 11}

One of my favorite things about being in DC is the ability to escape the city and get out to "the country" quickly. While I love living where all the action is, sometimes it's nice to get away and enjoy wide open spaces, rolling hills and pretty two lane roads with a red barn or two along the way. Breathe a little, you know?

{Nice view of a horse bottom, huh? :)}

That's exactly what I did last weekend, and I had a good excuse for it: the Hometalk Halloween Hunt hosted by Sweet Clover. This event was basically a barn sale "hop," where local bloggers were invited to meet up and shop at several barn sales near Frederick, Maryland and Leesburg, Virginia. These places are awesome, y'all. Each location was packed with vintage-y goods, painted furniture, handmade items, home decor, etc. etc. The only requirement to participate was to buy one thing and blog about it. So that's what I did.

{Side note for my 31 Days series readers: you might be a little surprised that I'm talking about buying something in the middle of a series on using and loving what I have, but I promise this fits the theme. Patience, my friends!}

What item did I buy? Why, an old yellow wire trash can of course! Ok, so maybe that's not exactly an obvious purchase, but hear me out. I bought this so-called trash can for $21 from one of the vendors at Chartreuse & Co, but I immediately thought side table not trash can when I saw it. It was exactly what I had been hoping to find to go next to the slipper chair in our living room. I've been making do with another side table that I love, but that's too tall for the chair, for months now. I needed something shorter and this guy fit the bill.

I loved the patina (some may call it rust...) - all I needed was a top for it. Initially I was thinking a glass top would be nice, but then I had an aha moment. I remembered that I had a polished stone lazy susan that I wasn't using...

I placed it on top of the trash can and it turned out to be the PERFECT size. I couldn't believe it. It was like they were made for each other.

Tada!

I'm smitten with the rustic mixed with refined when these two are together. Gorgeous.

To secure the stone slab to the old trash can, I just put a few dabs of hot glue on several areas on the underside of the stone where it would come in contact with the metal.

{It's hard to see, but there's a dot of glue where that table leg meets stone.}

And it was ready to go!

Now, the reason I'm blogging about purchasing this little gem of a find during a series on using and loving what I have is that I'm always on the hunt to make our home more functional and comfortable. This means making our "big pieces" of furniture work even in our unusually shaped space. Adding this one small thing to our living room makes me love the room overall even more and I got to put something to use (the stone lazy susan) that was previously just taking up storage space. A new side table is a small price to pay to help me love what I have - in a big picture kind of way. Sometimes you gotta fork over a little bit of dough to make your home a place you really love. Boom. Lesson of the day :).

I think it looks lovely next to my comfy slipper chair:

If you'd like to see the full living area, take a look at the "loving what you've got" home tour I posted earlier this week.

While I didn't do much in the way of purchasing at these barn sales last weekend, I did take lots of photos so I could share some lovely eye candy with you. When I go to shops/sales like this, I'm always so amazed at how many creative people there are out there with a great eye for making and curating some beautiful things. (Warning! low quality iPhone photos ahead!)

I started at Sweet Clover, where I met Cassie from Primitive and Proper and Karen the Graphics Fairy. They were lovely hostesses!

Next, it was off to Chartreuse & Co (the barn I talked about in this post back in February):

My last stop was the Old Lucketts Store. This was my first time here, and I wish I had taken more photos but I was pretty wiped out by this point :).

So who's ready to go shop these barn sales with me? I'll go back anytime!

Read the series from the beginning...

linking up to: Primitive and Proper, DIY Showoff, Rain on a Tin Roof, Home Stories A to Z, Uncommon Designs, If It's Not Baroque, Liz Marie Blog, Blissfully Ever After,Design, Dining and Diapers, Crafty Scrappy Happy, Craftberry Bush, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Tatertots and Jello, Serenity Now, It’s Overflowing, House of Rose, Love of Family and Home, Dear Creatives, Madigan Made, First Home...Love Life, Simply Dream and Create,Whipperberry, Sparkles and A Stove, Making Home Base, Naptime Creations, Southern Hospitality, Remodelaholic, Living Well Spending Less