The fireplace project is going well. We got it all down on Monday, and it started to go back up yesterday. Unfortunately, so far it’s rising pretty slowly, so I don’t have anything to show yet.

Let’s turn our attention to another part of the living room… or at least another part of the living room as it looked last week before everything was taken apart.

Last week when I showed you my family photo display, I kind of glossed over the piece of furniture that they were sitting on. Finding a table of some kind to go behind the couch in the living room was one of my Home Goals for 2014. I seem to be posting a lot of Home Goals these days. Credit it to a last minute surge in productivity before the end of the year.

The idea was to find something to hide the back of the couch, have some space for display and also provide some additional storage, mostly for the adjacent dining room.

The story of finding this piece illustrates why I have measurements of the furniture I’m hunting for and a tape measure in my purse at all times.

Someone was moving out of an office at work. The cleanout uncovered a wood sideboard sitting opposite the desk. It looked like it might be close to the right dimensions. I dashed back to my office for my measurements and my tape. A surreptitious measurement session later, I had confirmed that it was the exact right height and the exact right depth. It was a little short, but I had an idea for that. Off I trotted down the hall to find someone with authority to ask if the sideboard was up for grabs. Of course, that turned out to be not the VP himself, but his assistant. She said, yes, I could take it.

Even though I had permission, when Matt and I were loading it into my Dad’s truck the following Saturday, I kept expecting security to come speeding up to the building. Luckily, we made a clean getaway.

Back at home, the sideboard fit perfectly in the living room… pretty much. It’s still a bit shorter than I wanted. (I’d love to put a pair of lamps on it and clear off our end tables). Here’s that first photo again. See how the couch is sticking out on either side?

My original plan had been to cut the sideboard in half and insert some open shelving in the middle. A new top and new trim around the bottom would camouflage the addition, and then I’d paint it all out.

Well, once I had the sideboard, that plan didn’t seem like such a good idea. It’s really, really well made, and I feel like chopping it up would be a bit of a crime. (Plus I was told it’s a Krug, which is apparently pretty good furniture). Yes, there are some dings in the wood, but I feel like I’d rather refinish it than paint it. It’s a beautiful colour that’s actually pretty close to our dining room table (which also needs to be refinished).

If I decide I truly cannot live without a sofa table that’s the full length of my sofa, I will probably start over and source or make a complete new one.

For now, this thing is awesome. I love having the shallow drawers at the top. To be honest, I’m only using one of them, but it holds all of my napkins, so I don’t need more space yet.

For the cabinets themselves, I’m using even less. My piano books take up half of one lower shelf, but other than that the sideboard is empty.

So much for needing storage. Oh well. Let’s call it room to grow. We’re obviously still a work in progress over here.

What would you do with this sideboard if it was yours? Do you have a sofa table, or some another piece of furniture behind your couch, at your house?