ECO OBSESSION: LOG END TABLES

I am not a good outdoors woman, I'll be the first to admit it. My idea of enjoying the outdoors usually involves a beach, or a boat, or a bike ride. Camping and hiking are unknown words in my vocabulary. But, whenever I need to find some interior design inspiration through nature I'll usually be the one to suggest going on a "hike." Enter the antler trend of 2010. I could hardly wait to get out into the deep wilderness and find my own antlers. So, recently when I asked John if we could go "hiking," he immediately wondered what my real agenda was.

As you may have guessed I wanted a log stump that I could turn into a table. He was sort of onto me as I had begged to have the car pulled over numerous times to collect stumps I had seen next to fallen trees. "Do you know how much a tree stump weighs," he would ask. I was sure I could handle any measly little stump we would come across. The stars must have aligned, because we went for a day trip to the river to relax and read, and low and behold, there it was my perfect stump. The entire time we were there I kept saying how excited I was that we found this stump, and how great it was that it was so close to the car, I would only have to walk about 400 yards with it. Dear readers who want to collect their own tree stumps, pull your car right up next to the stump. I felt like I was on Gladiator carrying this stump back to the car. I ran the last 100 yards just because i knew my arms might fall off. Of course John was no help because I was too stubborn, and had been saying for weeks how they couldn't be that heavy. If West Elm sells them how heavy can they be? I should have trusted the woodsman, live and learn.

I will post a tutorial on how to get your stump looking perfectly smooth and chic as soon as I can get it out of the car... In the mean time we can all drool over how incredibly chic Courtney Cox's Malibu living room looks. I love the rustic touches mixed with the clean contemporary lines. those benches are to-die-for. I'm also loving the grey tones in her side table, I still can't decide if I should stain mine, leave it plain, or gold leaf the sides. In case I have scared you from making your own  table, here are some options that will come straight to your door ready to go. (click images for links).

West Elm's Log End Table

Mr Brown's Alpina Side Table

Arteriors Subin Stump Table

Zinc Door Driftwood Drum Table