Finders Keepers

This never happens to me!  Apparently it happens to a lot of you but it just doesn't happen to me.  For my job, I had to go to a school the other day.  I arrive at the school and park across the street next to a big ugly wall that surrounds an industrial/commercial area.  I turn off my car, open my door and there, next to the wall, is this:

It was just sitting there all alone.  Oh my gosh, that is so cute and looks like something those blog people find but I never do...yet here it is right in front of my eyes.  (Now, being the goody goody that I am, I did ask inside the school if it belonged to the school.  No, it didn't, followed by chuckles was the response I got.  Now, I know about half of you wouldn't do a thing to it and the other half would strip, sand, paint, distress, paint again, distress again and seal.  (A few of you might not of picked it up.)  I am somewhere in the middle.  I loved it as is except for one thing.

I don't like the wicker stuff in the middle at all.  I can hear about half of you saying "that's the best part" and the other half saying "yep, that's pretty yucky ugly." 

Close up...see?  I don't like it...at all!  Besides, it was soooo dirty and I don't think I could clean this part to my satisfaction.  Who knows where this table has been.

So, off with the wicker!  Most of it could be pulled up by hand and the rest was scraped.  What was underneath was worse.  It was wood but with a permanent impression of that wicker.  So, here's my solution.

A little burlap can fix anything.  So, I cut some burlap to fit and used a little dab of glue to glue it down.

Next, a little jute twine around the edges to finish it a little (yep, just glued it too). 

See, it's already looking better!  I like the burlap and jute twine lots, lots better than the yucky wicker. Ready to see the finished project?  Here it is and all for free since the table was free and I had burlap and twine laying around the house.  Doesn't everybody?

Pretty cute, huh? 

Top it off with a big old rusty horseshoe for a little Texas style cottage flair.

I'm so happy with it, I may link it up with a couple of my favorite link parties listed below on the right or up above on my list.