After getting back from a few days in San Marcos, Texas, with my mom and sister, I thought it was time to get back to work on a long overdue DIY project: A $10 garage sale coffee table we found over a year ago.

Since then, it's been sitting in my future craft room collecting junk my crafts. I knew all along I was going to use it outside on a covered patio someday, and now that the patio–or rather, pergola and deck–is coming to fruition, I got to work on it!

Here's what it looked like before (notice all the raised water spots, scratches, dents, chunks...this thing was put through the wringer!):





Here it is now:






A few coats of aqua paint and some hard core sandpaper and voila! A brand new, perfectly functional coffee table! I think the scratches and dents give it some character, and I can't wait to see it sitting out back on our deck in the next few weeks!