Thrifting in Ruzafa, Valencia, for a DIY marble coffee table
Our society is very wasteful.
I've done it before
I made a coffee table before. You can read all about it here. I repurposed the marble look tiles that I had left over from our bathroom to create something new. It wasn't terribly complicated, but merely making use of what I already had.
I bought an IKEA table top the exact size as the porcelain tile, kitted it on top and added this cute copper coloured hairpin vintage table legs onto it. And Bob is your uncle. Very easy.
Legs leftover
I had another set of these hairpin legs left over which I took to Villa Ardilla, our country home in Spain. Surely I'd be able to do something useful with them there? The place is full of character, the shed is full of stuff, every tool you can possibly imagine, and lots of raw materials. Plus, I love thrift shopping. Our society is very wasteful. And I have noticed (and been told by the locals) that the ultimate for Spanish people is having everything new. Why repurposing the gorgeous genuine marble cabinet tops when the legs have fallen off, when you can buy a shiny new mass produced one, just like every other neighbour in the street? 🙈
Thrifting in Ruzafa
That's not me. Buying everything shiny and new. So I set off with hubby and two local friends to Ruzafa, Valencia's hipster district (also spelled Russafa in Castillian). Southeast of the historic center, Ruzafa has long been known as Valencia’s multi-cultural mixing pot. And in recent years, it has indisputably become the city’s hippest neighbourhood, with an eclectic and ever-changing variety of popular clubs, retro bars, trendy restaurants, offbeat bookstores AND vintage stores.
Just what I was after!
The name Ruzafa is derived from the Arabic word for “garden.” This is where the pleasure gardens of the Valencia’s Moorish rulers were established in the 9th century. Over the centuries, Ruzafa developed into a bustling village where the primary business was processing timber sent from the interior, down the Turia River. And it just so happens that the location of our home, is in Vilamarxant, about half an hour upstream on the Turia river, which completes the circle.
Treasure hunting
To be honest, it wasn't very hard to find any cool stuff. Somebody else's trash, is another person's treasure, right? I loved it! And loved lots! You just need to know where to look, and how to look. It's easy to recognise cultural influences, and many shops stock similar things. I was after genuine marble, the perfect size for a coffee table.
It wasn't too long before something caught my eye, outside a shop front. A piece of grubby looking marble that could just about be perfect for what I had in mind. It doesn't look like much, with it's back facing the front, and a dusty glass table top sitting on top. Like a cast off really. But I like cast offs, and it went home with us (well, we actually went to get the car first, truth be told, because it weighs a tonne!).
Attaching the legs
All that was left to do, was turning the marble slab into a table by attaching the legs. You can't exactly screw into marble so I had to attach some wood to the table top, to be able to receive the screws. At home, I kitted two pieces of wood to the marble and let it cure for a day.
The next day I attached the vintage look hairpin legs (received from meubelpootjes.nl) to put together a genuine vintage marble coffee table that suits my living room in Villa Ardilla perfectly. It's the perfect blend of vintage, Spanish, urban chic and industrial, just the look I was after.
Do you want to see the final result?
I am very pleased with how this DIY coffee table turned out. I love the black colour; it adds just that little more pezzazz to the space than if it had been the more classic white shades or marble. And I needed that bit of oomph, the home already had enough classical features.
The smooth hard texture works a treat next to the soft sofa, on top of the textured tiles. Job well done, even if I say so myself.
So here you go, the final result, in combination with the lounge:
What do you think? A winner?
Liefs, Marieke
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