Dining Table? Ding Ding Ding

For those of you sick of hearing about the shore, you'll be happy with today's post. We're going back to Brooklyn. If you have been reading my blog for a while, you might remember my dining room table dilemna.

DiningRoom3

This table was here long before us. The woman who sold us our house had every scrap of junk the last owner had in here (I'm told it was filled to the rafters before) except this table. So I feel a strange loyalty to it, as if it deserves to stay since it suffered neglected for so long. And I do like how it looks despite its bare spots, scratches and damage. All that said, its just not very functional for us because of the way the legs cut into the space under the table. Its huge but only lets us put 6 chairs around it. We investigated having a leaf made which would add some more space but it wasn't going to give us much and it was going to cost $3K between the leaf and refinishing. Um, no.

TableSet
So we just tossed up our hands and let it lie for a while. On Christmas, we butted up a plastic folding table and called it a day. We never invited more than 4 people for dinner. I just wasn't willing to part with a small fortune for something I wasn't excited about.

Fast forward to last week. I had a few minutes to kill so I stopped into Housing Works, a NYC based thrift whose proceeds go to charity. Been in there a ton of times but have never bought anything. This time was different. What was staring back at me but a dining table, calling its siren song. It had little brass accents on the feet! And it was a pretty shape! And had a leaf! The best part was the price tag - $225! Ding, ding, ding!



Its by no means perfect - it’s a bit scratched and it won't seat a ginormous amount of people - but for the price, I can't complain.

Are you wondering 'What about the original table?'. At first I thought I'd just give it away. No big deal. I'm generally good about letting things I'm not using go - except for this. In a move that will likely earn me a spot on the next season of Hoarders, I just can't seem to part with it. Its sitting in our middle room right now taking up all the space as we figure it out. We are going to try to disassemble it and store in the basement somewhere. (Yes, we are turning into those people that store furniture they know for a fact they will never, ever use again.) We'll see how that goes. Its not like we have a whole lot of experience disassembling old furniture that isn't meant to come apart here. Until then, the table is safe and sound.

Once we sort that tiny detail out, I'll be excited to have a dining table with a little more room to entertain around. I do wish the table wasn't quite so shiny...i feel like I have enough shine in the floors and mirror and lighting that I wish the table was a bit more worn down generally. Is there a way to do that without ruining it? And I still need to find suitable chairs (I still like the gold chairs but I would eventually like to have something more permanent looking). If I'm ever lucky enough to find reasonably priced balloon back chairs, I might die happy.

I just might need to invite some people over to celebrate!

33 comments:

  1. Love the table and I love your gold chairs!

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  2. I wouldn't be able to part with that beautiful table either!

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  3. What a find!! And bless you for fostering that table you inherited!!

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  4. Beautiful table although, I can't help but feel sorry for the old table lol Is that weird?
    It survived all that time in the former neglect. I say send it to a good home...my imagination is way to sensitive, I know.

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  5. Oh~ I store all kinds of stuff that I'll never use in my basement! Somethings are just to hard to part with. Love the new addition. Love the Hoarders comment~ you kill me sometimes! lol...

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  6. Anonymous10:26 AM

    Great find. I searched for 10 years for a dining room table. I knew what a wanted, just an round walnut (or other medium/darker wood) pedestal. Easy, right. Not. I didn't want to pay a fortune for it. Last August, I was out on a Friday night at a gallery hop, and one of the places was an antique store/gallery. I walked in and there was my table. For $500. In 5 minutes I had bought it. I am still searching for my balloon back chairs. Not so easy. but I keep looking.
    Janice

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  7. Your first table would make a great library table...do you have a room that needs to turn into a library??? Hmmmm?

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  8. Don't feel badly about keeping the old table. I have had a disassembled dining table in a closet (along with the 4 chairs) for 8 years now. I purchased it when I was single and bought my first place. It isn't very kid friendly and is too small to be our main dining table now as a family of four, but I just know one day it will be the PERFECT breakfast nook table. You know, when I buy a house that actually HAS a breakfast nook...

    (Hello, my name is Julie and I'm an enabler!)

    Your new table is a great find!

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  9. love the new table!!

    do you mind sharing your source for your host chairs? me likey them a lot!

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  10. As far as taking off the shine from your table, what kind of damage would a deglosser do to it? I know it's typically only used for prepping a paintable surface, so it may not be the right treatment... or, you could give it a topcoat with some poly that has a less glossy finish. I'm still experimenting with furniture finishes myself, so I'm no expert, just thought I'd throw an idea out!

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  11. Anonymous11:48 AM

    Liberate the old table. Release it into the wild despite the lump in your throat - you know you should.

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  12. I'm not a furniture refinishing expert, but I've used a product called Furniture Refinisher by Formby's. It dissolves old varnish, lacquer and shellac. And it does it without chemicals that could harm wood. I used it on a couple old sewing table drawers I found at a flea market. Then I applied a couple coats of matte polyurethane and they look beautiful (and not too shiny). I think you could use this product on your table and then apply a matte polyurethane like I did and that would take care of your overly glossy table. Like I said, I'm not a furniture refinishing expert, but this worked for me. Hope this helps. I'm a big fan of your blog! :)

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  13. Awww, that sad, beautiful, old table. Maybe you should make a trade with Housing Works. One fabulous table for another? That way you know it would end up somewhere it was needed. Good find though!

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  14. Amazing find!! Congrats!

    I really love the legs on the old table. Do you need a dining table in your shore house? Maybe you can paint it and give it a whole new look?

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  15. Personally, I like the shine, but putting a runner on it might take the edge off for you?

    Congrats on your find!

    Kelly

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  16. Love the new table! and I too am like you-i cant part with things even if I "know" i wont use them again. Maybe make it into an office desk?
    As for dulling the finish- you *could* have your 1yr take a magic marker and scribble ALL over it- then get out your handy dandy Mr. Clean Magic Eraser-add a little nail polish remover and voila! your magic marker is GONE .....and so is your shiny finish....... not that that ever happened to me or anything....... ;-)

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  17. Anonymous12:58 PM

    LOVE the new table! I have a hard time letting go of things...so I'm no help in this decision! I'd be curious to hear how you make it less glossy though - I need to do that to my dining set.

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  18. You must be living right or just plain lucky. I never seem to find great things like that at our local thrift stores.

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  19. What a beautiful dining room! I love the inlaid wood floors and the moulding around the doorway!

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  20. Love the table and love the price! I can't wait to see how it looks in your dining space!

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  21. I think the shine is just a French polish (at least that's what it's called in England!), which is just highly polished wood,with no varnish at all, in which case, it'll dull down on it's own in time with wear and tear or you could just give it an incredibly light sand - more of a rough brush, really - to speed up the process.

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  22. Can you use the old table as a work desk...work table...hobby table??? I use one as a desk and love it. Maybe yours is too big, but pushed up against the wall makes them more usable.

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  23. Congrats on the new (old!) table! I love the feeling you get when you stumble onto something unexpected like that.

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  24. No, the table (even half of it) can't be used anywhere else. It doesn't even fit in most rooms no less be able to serve a practical purpose.

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  25. I am glad that you found a table for such a reasonable price. At our last house that we built, we only had a dining room and we used it. In this house our eat in kitchen is a sitting area. We use our table every day. It is slightly scratched etc. but it is to be used:) Of course my mother being old school and all, thinks I should have a tablecloth or a pad on it. Tables are to use so just go with the dings and enjoy it.

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  26. Anonymous10:37 AM

    I hate to be a naysayer but I so love the old table and not loving the new one! Keep it for awhile to make sure you don't want it back...

    Your dining room (and whole house) are so beautiful.

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  27. I really love the orginial old table but can understand you needing more seating. What is a balloon chair?

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  28. Amanda2:47 PM

    To be completely honest, I love the old one more. It has a history, a meaning, and a belonging to live in that home!

    I'm not quite fond of the shape. Maybe a picture in the space would help understand how the shape would work in the space?

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  29. Love it! And can totally understand your devotion to the old table, but your want of a larger one. (Same dilema here).

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  30. I think you made a fantastic choice. Your eye is very good...brilliant style every time!

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  31. Love your new table. I haven't read all the comments, so I don't know if someone else suggested it, but what about dividing your old table in half and fixing it to the wall as a sideboard. Sort of re-invent it so it gets to stay in your home but in a useful way.

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  32. Pretty table! I know you'll enjoy it. I'm sort of like you too, hate to get rid of something I really like. But, I'm getting better about off-loading stuff I can't use, since we really can't store a lot of things. I just have a yardsale about once a year to pare down.

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