The Most Delightful Surprise!

A couple of months ago I asked our good friend, B, if she would be willing to build a coffee table for me in her shop to go in our newly remodeled living room.  When she said she would, I drew up some rough plans with dimensions of one I had seen and liked and gave the plans to her.

Fast forward several weeks.  I asked B if she'd had time to work on the coffee table.  She replied that she'd had a little time but had been really, really busy with outside/away from home jobs.  Being the much sought after carpenter and craftsperson she is this didn't surprise me.

A week or so ago, I'll admit I got a little whiny to my husband saying I was surprised it was taking B so long to get the coffee table finished.

Unbeknownst to me, he and B had talked and she told him she was saving it as a birthday present for me!  Since my birthday, at that time, was a full month away, he told B I might get so cranky by then that he wouldn't be able to continue living with me.  So she decided to bring the coffee table over this morning as an early gift.

Besides the fact that it was an incredibly generous gift from a wonderful person, and I was so touched I really had to hold back from bursting into tears, the coffee table turned out better than I could have imagined.

It was designed to hold my quilts and has glass on three sides so they are protected and yet can be seen.

We decided not to put glass on the back side which faces the couch for fear of it getting kicked into (you know, during one of our wild parties) and possibly breaking.  (I don't know why, but this picture makes the wood on the back look much darker than it actually is.)

My dear husband insisted on paying for the glass and some trim molding, but the rest of the materials came from B's  shop.  She won't tell me how many hours of labor went into it, but I know it must have taken a LOT of her valuable time.

I'll never be able to thank her enough for this lovely gift.  Needless to say, I didn't expect it and it was a complete surprise as a birthday present.  (I also appreciate my dear hubby for his contribution to the project!)  I will treasure this piece of furniture FOREVER.