Special Delivery!
I’m growing up.
Up until these last few months, every single stick of furniture in my apartment was a hand me down. I purchased things at yard sales and secondhand shops, plus I have a plethora of friends and family members who like to pass stuff along. I’d never even owned any brand new furniture but that was totally fine with me. Until the dresser I had been given by an old flame started to completely fall apart, that is. After losing the front panels to two of the drawers, I decided for an upgrade. Actually this isn’t technically true – I was still using it even as it withered and died and it wasn’t until Scott moved in that I broke down and admitted we could do better. So we purchased a new dresser at IKEA, I made him put it together while I lounged on the couch with a cocktail and the first bit of furniture in my adult life was installed.
It’s funny how living with a partner makes you reassess the things in your living space. Such as me being perfectly happy with a dilapidated dresser until someone else started having to look at it every day. Sharing an apartment also means sharing certain purchases and it was with this in mind that we decided to add the second piece of adult furniture to our lists – a new kitchen table. Scott, in true bachelor style, was using a card table in his apartment before moving in with me. I at least had an actual table but it was still time for an upgrade. Mine came from a lovely friend of mine after she and her husband got married. I’m not sure how long they had it before giving it to me but it survived my move to Illinois and it is where I faithfully sat for at least a portion of my meals for the last five years. Because this is sort of an obituary for that table, here’s a photo:
In the interest of full disclosure, I did not clean before taking this photo.
It’s a perfectly suitable table and has eaves that lower to make it a bit smaller. Unfortunately, during the course of its existence it has begun to warp and one side slants down drastically, no matter how hard I try to level things off. This means that if we set food or dishes on that particular side (the one strategically placed furthest from view in the photo), there’s a rather large chance they will fall and smash to the ground. Then I’d be forced to cry over spilled milk (or orange juice…see my previous posts). Again, this table was fine when it was just me and the occasional dinner guest but it’s a little lackluster now that I have a roommate. And it’s not exactly like we can have dinner guests ourselves, unless we want to bust out Scott’s old folding chairs. Which we actually did when my mom and sister came in town last month but due to the warped nature of the table, it was impossible for the four of us to sit comfortably. So we didn’t. But all that is about to change, because we’re getting a BRAND NEW table delivered today! And it’s not from IKEA!
There’s a little dad and son run furniture store down the street from us and we wandered in there a few weeks back. We found a nice table with four (four!) chairs and after taking a couple of weeks to price shop and look around elsewhere (like true adults…it’s almost scary), we settled on the first one we saw. The purchase was made last Saturday and by the time I get home tonight, the lovely furniture men will have delivered and assembled (free of charge) the whole thing. I feel kind of silly for being so excited about this that I devoted an entire blog post to it but well…I can’t help what I get excited over. And this new table is going to be so nice I might not know what to do with myself. I’ll have to refrain from scratching it up or sanding it down so it more closely resembles the rest of the furniture and just enjoy the shine of its brand newness.
It’s the little things, right? And if you want to come over for dinner, let me know – we have a spot for you!
szoso said,
January 26, 2012 at 5:56 pm
I want a picture of this new adult table!