How many dining tables does one woman need? After this past weekend the answer to that question appears to be …
Wait for it…
Four!
Let me explain myself.
First, I must apologise for the photos – I haven’t had time to take any myself, so these photos came with the tables.
My son Jesse is moving out! After almost 36 years of having children at home, we are going to be empty nesters. That’s another story (empty nest syndrome).
He’s at university in our hometown and is wanting to experience the 'full uni experience' which includes living with a whole bunch of friends – four to be exact.
They are moving into a flat (not sure if others in the world use that term – maybe apartment??) which is unfurnished so his good ol’ Mum decided to help out by purchasing some furniture for him.
It started with this table which I purchased on Trademe (NZ buy and sell website) for $1.00. It was advertised as an ugly table – it’s not that bad. It’s actually not in bad condition and for a flat with five young people, I think they are pretty lucky to have a dining table at all.
Oh, by the way, this table didn’t come with any chairs. More on that in a moment.
So that’s table one!
Now onto table two.
Ever since lockdown, Andy has been working more at home. This is fine – we have an office which we’ve always shared. This was fine when we worked together. He didn’t have many meetings back then and I had lots. Since starting his new job, he has lots of meetings and … he’s really loud. I’ve been finding it really hard to concentrate on counting beads, etc while he’s talking so loudly.
After a bit of discussion and a lot of measuring, we decided that it would be advantageous for me to move my desk into the Bead Room. This is the room where we house all of the beads for sale.
It’s still pretty messy from the move so I’m only showing you a corner. I’ll do a tour once I have everything nice and orderly again.
Now, back to the table – I could have moved my desk from the office into the Bead Room but as it converts to a standing desk and Andy prefers to stand, we decided that he would have that.
The other desk wouldn’t fit into the Bead Room so I was left without a desk. I’ve been looking for a while on TradeMe andI just missed out on the perfect table last week. Hey, that was obviously meant to be because this week I bought this amazing extendable table.
She’s not in bad shape but could definitely do with some lipstick and rouge. So, for now, I’ve moved her into my Bead Room and she’s working perfectly as a desk. In a few weeks when I have more time, I’ll give her a makeover.
This table came with four chairs which I’ll give to Jesse to go with his table.
About now you’re thinking why would I need two more tables, right?
Well, when we arrived to collect the table above (desk) on Saturday, it turned out that the woman who owned it was selling everything in the house – it had been a furnished rental and they were moving out of town and selling up. After a bit of discussion, she showed me this third table and asked if I would like it.
Wait for it!
The best part …
It was free!
Not one to ever look a gift horse in the mouth, I said yes! (All the while thinking in my head ya ha!).
Before you get excited, I should tell you that it does need work. The top is badly scratched but nothing that some love won’t fix. It also smells really bad, so I’ve popped it in the garage for a few days to see if the smell dissipates.
This table came with four chairs…. Or so I thought.
Yesterday,I got a text from the owner saying that she had found two more chairs and wouldI like those as well.
Again, ya ha!
I know what you’re thinking – she said four tables.
The fourth table is our existing dining table.
For a while now, we’ve been trying to decide whether to keep this table. It’s a beautiful table and we love it. Unfortunately, we have a very small space which is why it is pushed up against the wall. When we have visitors over, we have to move the sofa so that we can all sit around it and still get past. The beauty of this table is that it extends so that you can actually seat 10. It also goes really well with the other furniture in the space, like our sideboard.
Now, we’ve got to decide – do we keep our existing dining table or do we fix up the oval bonus table above and use that in the space.
I would really like your thoughts on this.
If we decided to switch to the oval bonus table, what are your suggestions for how to renovate it?
Should I paint it?
Should I whitewash it?
Should I leave it as is?
If we decided to keep our existing table, any suggestions on how to make it better work in the space?
Please let me know in the comments section below what you think. I really appreciate any words of wisdom because I am at a total impasse.
Thanks so much for reading! Leave me a comment to let me know what you think. Did you make this recipe or do you want to?
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May 27, 2021
Hi, my name is Carol Karl. I live in little old New Zealand. My family and I strive to live the most ‘real’ life we can – by that I mean that we eat real food, we live real lives and just generally be our most authentic selves.
