Did I get your attention with, “A $10 Antique Farm Table?” Well Today I am going to share the true story of how my husband and I lucked into this authentic antique farm table for only ten little buckaroos at a yard sale on one glorious fall morning in 2013! I was looking at some older photos of my farm table for Thanksgiving tablescape inspiration, and I thought you might enjoy them too. Hopefully this post will give you yet another reason to want to decorate your home with yard sale finds and to start saving those extra quarters for junkin’ adventures! You just never know how lucky you may get! The farm table is truly our family’s best yard sale find so far… such a steal at only $10.00!

Back in 2013 “farmhouse style” was just starting to become popular. I have been incorporating  vintage country farmhouse elements in my cottage style decor for years, but I wasn’t really on the lookout for a farm table when we found it. I was actually just wanting a table to use for folding laundry in our basement. One day while my husband and I were out junkin’ we stumbled upon this gem at a yard sale. The top was covered with a cheap veneer and the legs were painted a dreadful shade of brown. Nevertheless it was sturdy and big, so it would serve me well in the laundry room. My husband looked it over before purchasing and he noticed that there were huge wooden planks under the veneer! Because of his background in antiques, he also recognized the age of the piece by the types of nails used and the fact that the solid oak planks had been sawed by hand. He gave me “the look” to remain calm, but it was hard not to do the happy dance right there in the seller’s yard! With an aloof expression I offered the seller ten bucks for the table…cha-ching! SCORE!

Sometimes the hubby grumbles about is a little reluctant to work on furniture makeovers, but he was excited about this one! As soon as we got home from the yard sale, he unloaded the table and immediately ripped off the veneer, sanded down the original wood planks and stained the top. When it was completely dry he used a wax to give it a nice smooth finish (we later added a water-based sealer for a little more protection). The bottom part of the table had been painted an unsightly, flat brown paint so he mixed up some DIY chalk paint and painted it white. A little distressing, and voila…the perfect antique farm table! Well, almost. At some point someone had chopped the legs just a bit resulting in an odd height, but no problem… this junker always has a stash of junk with spare parts for “just in case” times such as this one. Four casters were added and we had a “brand new” antique farm table. Since we already had the paint, stain, wax and casters, the table really did only cost $10.00!  Similar tables sell anywhere from $200-$1500 and they are even more popular today. And this people, is why I am a proud junker!

Here it is right after it was finished back in 2013.  Oh how I wish I had a real camera back then! It turned out stunning and I remember that I had so much fun decorating it for fall for the very first time!

I was eager to get started with the decorating,  so I shopped my house to style it up. I used a very old antique linen runner topped with a mix of a few faux gourds and real gourds. A beautiful Musquee Du Provence heirloom pumpkin took center stage, and some deer antlers and fall leaves were nice natural touches.

I had just found some awesome jute place mats at Home Goods for $2.99 each and they matched the Pottery Barn rug under the table perfectly ( the rug was also a yard sale STEAL at $20)! Then I simply set out my cream plates and saucers and put some pretty tiger striped pumpkins on top. I kept this arrangement for a few weeks until I was able to find some more interesting heirloom pumpkins.

Over the years I have tried out some some different color combinations of pumpkins and gourds for the centerpiece and all of them seem to work well on the table because of it’s rustic simplicity. I love to decorate the table year round with simple centerpieces, but it is the most beautiful adorned with pumpkins in the fall.

Because I had styled the table for early fall using vivid fall colors, I wanted to change the look up a bit for Thanksgiving. I experimented by adding some more natural accents and pumpkins in muted, cooler tones.

The simple use of pine cones and just a touch of grapevine created a more rustic and natural design. I kept the deer antlers and my Musquee Du Provence pumpkin, and then I added some dark green acorn squash and two other muted toned pumpkins. I really hope I can find some similar pumpkins before Thanksgiving this year! This color scheme was was inspired by the floral design on some vintage transferware teacups and plates I had recently found at the flea market.

I shopped my junk stash and found two candlesticks. I had never really found an every day place for them in the house but they were too pretty to get rid of and they turned out to be just what I needed to complete the elegant/rustic look I wanted.

Shortly before scoring the farm table, I lucked into these beautiful, vintage transferware dishes (Myotts Bouquet, made in Staffordshire England). I found a whole set of plates, cups and saucers at the flea market for $5.00. I love putting them on display in autumn because the design has just enough brown, gold and dark burgundy to make them seem “fallish.”

I adore the heavenly scents of autumn, so I added a little scoop of spicy rosehips and cinnamon sticks to each teacup.

I have always loved this picture not just for the aesthetic, but also for the reminder of days of smudgy fingers on glass and muddy soccer cleats by the back door. When I posted these photos on my old blog back in 2013 I noticed that my son (who was eight years old at the time) had put his cup directly on the table and it sat overnight and left a mark. I didn’t realize it until after the post had gone live, but I never edited the photo because it was a reflection of real life. Often there is some sign in my posts that a happy little boy is allowed to “live” in our home! It might be a random Lego that has somehow become part of one of my styled vignettes, or perhaps a lone Luke Skywalker stranded on a remote planet under a side table! Several years have past since this photo was taken, and we have since moved from our little gray cottage to our yellow brick home, but I am happy to say that at the ripe old age of twelve my son still enjoys playing with those same toys, and I still find them all over the place. Let them be little!

We moved to our yellow brick home in late 2014 and I was happy to find that the farm table looked just as beautiful here in the dining room with all of the 96 year old original, unpainted wood work and trim as it did in our previous home with all white trim.

Most of the time I prefer to keep the table free of clutter with only a simple seasonal centerpiece since it is used on a daily basis.

Of course it gets does get special treatment for fall and the holidays! For my fall home tour as part of the Harvest Home Blog Hop in September this year, I created an elegant, romantic country tablescape using fresh orangy-peach roses, white pumpkins, apples, bleached pine cones, antlers and lots of pretty candles. I love how it turned out! You can see more of the tablescape in my  here.

I don’t want to rush to the end of the season, but I have to admit I am getting excited to style this wonderful old farm table for late fall this year too! Soon I will create some type of fun tablescape for Halloween, but on November 1st I will be styling up the table with one last grande ode to my beloved autumn, and that design will last through Thanksgiving. I hope you will join me on Nov. 11th for my Thanksgiving home tour to see what I have come up with!

Since 2013 we have had made so many memories around this farm table between conversations at daily meals, family game nights, and holiday crafting. I can’t help but wonder what types of meals and stories were shared across this well-worn table years before it became ours. One thing is for sure- it was $10.00 well spent, and this yard sale farm table will certainly become a family heirloom. It is defintely a keeper!

Do you have any special yard sale steals that will become heirlooms too? Let’s talk vintage treasures! I would love to hear from you!

Amber

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