A strong DIY urge

I've been in the mood for a project. Unfortunately I've also been a slug. I had every intention of starting my burnt orange faux-lacquer sideboard last weekend. The weather was nice enough I could have opened up the garage and started stripping the old finish, but as the snow is falling outside now I fear that ship has sailed.

Still there's this:

It's already down in the basement, where its warm, along with a plastic dropcloth. A non-toxic, low VOC stripper would be fine to use down there.

I want to strip it down to bare wood and take a look at Minwax's charcoal gray stain. They have a couple other gray options too, and Sherwin-Williams has 25% off January 12 through the 29th.

But there's still the issue of the top. The wood frame around the edge is just fine, but the "field," consisting of some patterned veneer is done. Some is curling up and some is just plain gone. I was thinking about a stone top and stopped by Carthage Marble here in town a while back. I asked about off-cuts or remnants, which they'll cut and edge. For my 42 inch table the price would be right around 700 bucks. Obviously NOT what I'm going to put on my 50 buck Craigslist table.

But what about filling in with this?

Its slate, the color is Silver Shine. Best of all, it's veneer. A tiny slice of stone backed with fiberglass, easily cut with hand shears and applied with plain old construction adhesive. Best of all, two 2x4 foot sheets are $109.

Now if I can just pull myself off the couch this weekend and get started.