Fresh Find: 1960s, Mid Century Lane Coffee Table

During a recent online hunt, I came across a listing on Craigslist for a free coffee table. As you know, a listing with a title like this is nothing special in the world of online ads. They are a dime a dozen and generally are such a waste of time I almost never bother opening them. Notice I said almost.

For some reason, I decided to open this particular ad and take a further look at the description. The listing contained no photo, but described the table as "kind of modern looking with an X shape base." This tiny description was enough to keep me interested and allow my mind to begin visualizing what kind of table this could be. Though I didn't have a clue what this table really looked like or what kind of shape it was in, I emailed the person posting the ad and asked for the address. Given that the listing was in a nearby city and not in Tulsa, I gave my buddy a call and called in a favor. He made the drive to the address I supplied him with and picked up my mystery trash treasure.

Shortly after returning to his house, he sent me a few photos of the table and I was pleasantly surprised to find that this was a solid wood, coffee table manufactured by Lane in the 60s! (Here's an ebay listing for the same table.) Aside from the horrible brown spray paint the previous owner applied to it, the table was in great shape and just needed a little TLC. Once I got my hands on the table I started to work on removing the horrible paint job and exposing the beautiful wood grain that lay beneath it. Unfortunately, the heat here in Oklahoma has been so unbearable that I have only been able to strip the top of the table. Once cooler weather makes it way back to Tulsa, I'll be back outside working away to restore this mid century beauty back to the way it once was. I'll be updating the blog with new photos of the table as I'm able to make more progress on the project. Who knows when that might be though, as this has proved to be the hottest summer Oklahoma has seen in a long, long time.

In conclusion, you probably shouldn't waste your time opening every generic listing that you find online, but it won't hurt you to go with your gut every now and then either. You never know what you are going to find on the other end of that ad and that may be the best part of doing all of this.