I love pretty much everything about my living room, except for one corner.  See the far corner, under the map? No matter how nice the rest of the room looks, that corner always resembles a corner in a thrift store.

For months I was looking for a funky end table to spice up that corner.  Just when I was about to give up and take a trip to Ikea, I found an old wine barrel for sale.  Obviously I had to snap it up.

Since I don’t drive a big car, it was a bit of an adventure getting it home.  There was no chance that barrel was going to fit in the trunk, so it had to ride up front with me.

Now the wine barrel lives in the corner and my living room is just about perfect.