Thrifting A Vintage Moroccan Side Table: a house log

This morning we shared pics from our recent thrifting trip and I promised you more details about a certain table that we adopted (along with my cleaning/restoring ritual for old musty wood) so here is the rundown. We truly liked this cool Moroccan accent table that we found at the first place we went (Enjoy of Jesus Thrift here in Richmond). Especially since it reminded us of a few designer ones like this that are selling for $260+. So at $25 for a solid wood table with excellent lines, we took it home.

Boy was in rough shape, so I:

• gave him a wipe down with a damp cloth with a compact amount of Mrs Meyers soap on it, simply to remove the crud in the cracks, cobwebs, etc
• let him dry fully outside in the sun for a few hours
• gave him another wipe down with a damp cloth moistened with white vinegar (that helps to get rid of musty odors)
• let him fully dry out in the sun for a few more hours (vinegar + sunlight is the best way that we have found to get that musty old smell out of wood)
• brought him in and introduced him to our bedroom

Another optional step is to apply some sort of wood conditioner or oil to gloss things up if the wood is dry/matte, but I typically only do that when I am sure we are leaving something as-is (more on that in a minute). He’s still certainly not mint looking (his fairly ornate top is vivid in some areas, but still a little beat up in others) but a lot of the items that we bring home are in what we call a “trial phase” at first anyway.

That means before we rush to refinishing them or painting them or somehow adapting them for a certain spot, sometimes we like to leave them as-is, simply to think things through a little more and see how we like them before doing anything too hasty slash hard to undo (like painting something we’d later wish we had left well sufficient alone). Hence waiting to oil or condition the wood, simply in case we later decide we want to refinish or paint something, which is then all greased up and glossy.

Although his top was not ideal when it was bare, once we brought in a stack of colorful books and a small potted plant, you could hardly tell. Totally works for now during his “trial phase,” right?

Here he is from afar. Do not mind the weird rug placement, we have been meaning to shift that so it is less awkward. I simply need to ask John before he sinks into the sofa late at night, never to stand up again. Haha.

It is kind of cute how the legs of the table tie into the pattern on the rug. We like that it is subtle so we do not have any plans to paint the table turquoise or anything too obvious. It is in fact truly pleasant to have some dark hits of mocha in the room (thanks to the big leaning wall mirror and some oil-rubbed bronze frames around the rest of the room, which you can see here).

My go-to thing about the whole piece is that ornate wooden top. So I went picture glad and snapped another close up for all the wood-loving folks at home. It nearly looks like a big Moroccan puzzle.

One idea that I had was to paint simply the inside edge of each table leg white, so it would highlight the shape ever so slightly.

See how in this picture the legs sort of turn into one big blob because they are all the same color and you cannot make out that cool keyhole shape as well from afar?

Now imagine simply the lip on the inside of each leg being a clean white color? Might be a lively mix of old and new.

What do you folks think? Is it crazy to touch this guy at all? Would you paint the whole thing? Or simply refinish it to clean things up a bit more?

Psst- We picked this week’s giveaway winner – click here to see if it is you.