this table...

have you played musical chairs lately? me neither. but musical tables is a whole 'nother story.

i'd estimate that about 15 kitchen tables have graced the valleygirl kitchen in the 7 years that we've owned this house--most of them having made a short appearance within the last 6 months. our decision to buy & resell antique furniture certainly plays a part in all of the recent movement--we find something we like and get to try it out before eventually finding it a good home. kind of like fostering kittens, only without the litterbox.

the kitchen table is an important piece of furniture in any home, no doubt. but here it's imperative that we adore our table since it also functions as our counter space. shortly after hudson was born, jeremy removed a whole wall in our house to open our space. that wall housed not only our fireplace, but also well over half of our counter surfaces. you'll notice that in many of our cooking photos, lucy (and now hudson, too) are seated on the table, helping out. fortunately they understand commands like "sit" and "stay" pretty well.

so, in our search for the perfect antique table we've come across a lot of imperfect tables. all nice in their own way, but not exactly the match for our space or needs (both kids are in highchairs without trays and i very much desire for the highchairs to push into the table when not in use, instead of just floating around my kitchen).

our most recent table was part of a haul of over 2 truckloads of vintage and antique goodies. we didn't really even see it before bringing it home and throwing it into the house to get it out of the rain. and oh my gosh, it is my favorite table yet. a scaled-down farmtable with a super rustic finish. i'm in love.



really and truly, it's what most people might call a hunk of junk. water damage to the feet, missing the pull-out drawer, old blue paint on the legs all but peeled off. it appears there was once tile or something similar adhered to the top of the table, which has since been taken of and left a splotchy residue of dried mortar. the table is too short (hudson's highchair is floating!) and i myself can hardly get my legs under it to sit comfortably. it can really only sit four. six would be a very tight squeeze. and in all reality it's too small to use as the counter space that it needs to be.

but i LOVE this table. there's something about a piece of furniture so prettily beat up--not falling apart all over the place, but genuinely rustic. it is such a lovely juxtaposition with my mix & match vintage china and i smile every time i set out the plates and bowls. this piece has a story which it is just itching to tell. sadly i don't speak table. i do believe it came to california after living in the midwest, but beyond that i can only guess.

there is some talk about making this table work for us. industrial casters to raise it up to accommodate the highchairs. putting in a new drawer, which would handily hold spatulas and things of the like. polishing up the top, sanding down the damage on the legs. perhaps even reworking it to accept a leaf.

or, sigh, we could pass it on to the people for whom this table will actually be perfect. and resume our search. decisions, decisions. there is a very sweet round table with pedestal base lurking in the depths of my garage. it winks at me from time to time while i am out doing laundry. so i guess we'll see.