Is It Called Nesting When You're Not Pregnant?

Lately I've been in a re-organization/re-decorating mood and am attempting to slowly overhaul our apartment.  I'm sure much of this has been due to inspiration I've received on Pinterest.  I love crafty and DIY projects, and many of the links/resources found via this site are allowing me to spiff up our place without spending a lot of money.

This past week I finally accomplished one of my goals of cleaning off all of the junk that has accumulated on top of our table.  Rather than using it to sit down at to eat our meals, it has served more as storage space for the last couple years.  I have decided that I no longer want it to look so bad and have since cleared off all of the old mail, papers, and coupons that have been strewn across it for so long.

I thought creating a centerpiece for the table inspired by some of my Pinterest finds might be a good way for me to help keep the table cleared and decided to go for it this weekend using finds from the Dollar Tree.  There are a lot of "pins" posted regarding the use of candles, vases, jars, and hurricanes to create displays and centerpieces and I used them for my inspiration and came up with this...

If you couldn't tell based on the coasters I created previously, we've got a bit of a red & black color theme to our living room space.  Each glass holder, candle, and a bag of the red vase fillers were $1 a piece at my Dollar Tree, making for a very inexpensive addition to our table ($9.63 in total after tax).  The black base that I have two of the vases on is from a zen garden I received from someone I used to work with as a Christmas present last year that I then flipped over to elevate the center vases (this zen garden can also be found at Dollar Tree).  Since taking this picture I have decided that I prefer the vases with the red candles positioned at the sides with all of them lined up in a row rather than grouped up such as in the picture, but overall I like the appearance and the element they add to the table.  I only wish that I liked the table they rest on and that it were at least espresso or black in color (it's a 20+ year old table that was a hand-me-down from my parents when I moved into my first apartment).

One of the next projects I would like to take on is to "refinish" (aka paint) our coffee table to give it an updated and cleaner look.  Like with the vast majority of our furniture we own at the moment, it had a previous owner before making its way to our home and was a $13 Goodwill find several years ago.  I have found a couple online tutorials on how to paint over wooden furniture without leaving lines from a roller or brush and to give it a finished look.  Hopefully one of these methods will allow me to get the refreshed looked I desire.