• Home
  • about emily
  • before + after
  • HGTV + DIY Network
  • good press
  • contact
  • Let’s Organize These Posts:

    • Art Attack
    • Backyard
    • Barn
    • Basement
    • Bathroom
    • Beach
    • Bedrooms
    • Being Thrifty
    • Business-y
    • Buying and Renting and Selling
    • Casual Celebrations
    • Closets
    • Curb Appeal
    • Dainty Details
    • Deck
    • Decor
    • Dining Room
    • DIY
    • Dog-Related
    • Entryway
    • Flooring
    • For the Kids
    • Garage
    • Gardening
    • Helping The Economy
    • HGTV + DIY Network Projects
    • Holiday-Related Projects
    • Home Safety
    • Kitchen
    • Lighting
    • Living Room
    • Merry Travels
    • Office Space
    • Organized
    • Other Pads
    • Outdoor Living
    • Scooter Fun
    • Stairwell
    • Sunroom
    • Supporting Sponsors
    • The Art Room
    • Tools
    • Uncategorizable
    • Wedding
    • Windows
    • Work-pads
  • Search

  • Hi, I’m Emily

    Emily Fazio

    I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle.

    You can find me writing for HGTV and DIY Network, follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note if you'd like. I love notes.

    Thanks for visiting!

  • BROWSE POSTS BY CATEGORY:

    • Art Attack (7)
    • Backyard (92)
    • Barn (8)
    • Basement (27)
    • Bathroom (43)
    • Beach (13)
    • Bedrooms (73)
    • Being Thrifty (53)
    • Business-y (12)
    • Buying and Renting and Selling (23)
    • Casual Celebrations (36)
    • Closets (17)
    • Curb Appeal (44)
    • Dainty Details (8)
    • Deck (23)
    • Decor (286)
    • Dining Room (37)
    • DIY (577)
    • Dog-Related (24)
    • Entryway (59)
    • Flooring (58)
    • For the Kids (32)
    • Garage (17)
    • Gardening (70)
    • Helping The Economy (30)
    • HGTV + DIY Network Projects (283)
    • Holiday-Related Projects (80)
    • Home Safety (12)
    • Kitchen (83)
    • Lighting (31)
    • Living Room (77)
    • Merry Travels (21)
    • Office Space (21)
    • Organized (41)
    • Other Pads (14)
    • Outdoor Living (12)
    • Scooter Fun (8)
    • Stairwell (20)
    • Sunroom (22)
    • Supporting Sponsors (43)
    • The Art Room (3)
    • Tools (43)
    • Uncategorizable (1)
    • Wedding (28)
    • Windows (14)
    • Work-pads (10)
  • Search

  • Pages

    • blog
    • Merrypad Features
    • Privacy Policy
    • about emily
    • before + after
      • before + after, our current home
      • before + after, our first house
    • contact me
    • choose a badge and share the merrypad.com love
  • Home
  • about emily
  • before + after
  • HGTV + DIY Network
  • good press
  • contact

A Special Mid-Century Table Find

April 29, 2013

Now that everything’s out in the open after last week’s emotional tales, I’m ready to dish on other things.

For one thing, I unleashed a new board on Pinterest dedicated to designing our new pad, so go ahead, check out some images that are making us giddy. And be forewarned, from here on out I’m just going to talk about the house now as if it were a 100% sure thing; we should know more this week, nothing has been finalized yet.

And secondly, I’m not sure whether or not you’d know this: We’ve been storing a huge table in our house since early November. In our sunroom. And in our living room. (You would have had to have watched my latest home tour video from last fall closely to notice it.)

Right, we've been storing a giant table in our living room.

See, Pete and I found and fell in love with the beautiful, hand crafted Danish modern mahogany table last November at the The Shops on West Ridge (I actually alluded to the event here). The Night Of Lights event is a huge draw for The Shops, a co-op-like venue in Greece, NY, and it drew an equally humungous crowd the evening that we were there; everything in stock was offered at 20% off, and many other vendors had their own items discounted to sell, so when we found it, we couldn’t say no.

Ah hah, I spy a beautiful mid-century mahogany table beneath that china.

While it was sale priced to move at $295, with store discounts and a few gift cards, we actually only paid $125 for this beauty, a mere fraction of the price we might have paid buying a solid hardwood table from any retailer. We know from the seller that it was a handcrafted piece from a local woodworker who used it in his own home with his own family for decades. (The background of the next photo happens to be a clipboard, not the tabletop if you’re curious.)

Ah hah, I spy a beautiful mid-century mahogany table for <$300.

The timing of the event and the subsequent purchase aligned perfectly with our cheery and mostly optimistic state after we had put an offer in on a house last fall. We already knew that the home’s open floor plan dining/living room would warrant a beautiful, huge table, and moreover, we knew that our current shoddy dining room table would never work well in the space. (Side note: The current dining room table seen here is in horrible condition–steer clear of Pier 1 if you’re looking for investment tables–mine was thankfully just a floor model marked down from $699 to $50, and I’m so glad I didn’t pay more because the surface has worn really poorly.)

Within the mid-century brick ranch house that we first fell in love with last October, the new table’s modern form and sheer size would have been perfect. We bought the table because, well, we wanted it for that house, but went into the investment knowing that if it didn’t end up fitting, or if we didn’t end up getting that house, or if the table wouldn’t work in another future house, we would just sell it and hope to get our money back. So, against the wall of the dining room it sat for months.

I suppose it’s worth mentioning just how big this new table is, because you’re probably asking yourself why we didn’t just replace our current table immediately when the new one came home (in two pieces, via two Jeep trips to The Shops). Measuring 8′ long and 42″ wide, it never would have fit. In fact, it extends 3 whole feet longer than our current table, so it would have either cut off a pass-through into the living room, or access to our sliding glass door. It would have looked ridiculously out of place with our small pendant lights.

The frame of the new table is also a bear, which is why it has held court in the sunroom since November.

And the frame of the mahogany table is giant too. Beautiful mid-century design though!

But check out the pretty details, including the little metal feet.

Mid-century table feet; how cute.

Our only reservation about the table is that it’s slightly lower than our current table and most traditional tables, measuring 28″ from the ground instead of the common 30″. You wouldn’t think it would make much of a difference, but it does for knee space, which means we need to boost the height or source some slightly short chairs and hope that we can make it work.

Here I am, almost 6 months after the fact, still wondering if we’ll ever be able to put this table somewhere. We still hope it would work in the new home’s dining room (I did take measurements and am cautiously hopeful that it wouldn’t look oversized for the space).

In the meantime, it’s been in our house uselessly for so long that recently Julia asked us “how long that piece of wood was going to be against the wall.” “Seriously? You know it’s a tabletop. You were with us when we bought it.” “Oh, that’s right, the table, I forgot it was a table. A GIAAANNNNNNTTTTT table. Against the wall. Weird.” And she went about her coloring, and speaking of arts and crafts time, it’ll be a seriously great coloring surface someday. It’s solid, with no identifiable seams, and smoother than a baby’s bottom. It’s color, I adore, especially the way it pairs so nicely with the sideboard that I refinished last summer. It’s like it was meant to be.

Mahogany dining table stored in our sunroom.

Can’t wait to see it in place.

Share

Being Thrifty  / Dining Room

Emily
I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle. I've been a freelancer writer for 10+ years and you can find my work on popular home and garden sites, like HGTV.com. Follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note.

13 Comments


Jessica@J.ParisDesigns
April 29, 2013 at 11:24 am
Reply

It DOES look great with that sideboard you did! And speaking as an avid furniture hoarder myself….it is not uncommon for random pieces to take refuge in our living room/office/guest bedroom/sun porch until they find their new home! Great deal, too!



    Emily
    April 29, 2013 at 9:03 pm

    I’m trying really hard to have LESS in the new house. Less furniture, less stuff, less storage, so I’m actually being much more picky in my purchases! This one is the perfect fit, and because of that I don’t mind staring at it every night while watching TV.

Cait @ Hernando House
April 29, 2013 at 11:53 am
Reply

I love that table! I think most mid-century chairs are a tad lower. I know my knock off Eames (and possibly Bertoia) chairs are lower than most dining chairs. I may have to measure the seat height of my mom’s Danish style dining chairs. (I think they’re from Scan Design? But I can’t find them on their website.)

Also, I was seriously just coveting your sideboard over the weekend! I may have showed it to R and discussed the need to find its twin….

Love the direction of your new house board!



    Emily
    April 29, 2013 at 9:04 pm

    Sigh of relief.

    I haven’t started looking for chairs yet, feeling the need to test out a few that we have around this house if I ever get the table set up for testing. It’s strange though, the feeling that your feet hit the floor or legs extend differently like you’re sitting at a preschool table. Hopefully we can find something or a solution that works.

    Glad you like the new house board :)

    Cait @ Hernando House
    May 1, 2013 at 9:24 am

    I know what you mean about wanting to test out some of the chairs you already have, and also about the preschool table feeling.

    A lot of mid century/Danish modern legs are metal tipped (although I guess those are primarily the round/dowel ones), so maybe something like that is an option? Or you could shim the table a bit at the top of the base. It would be more hidden that way, and you could even add chunkier feet to the legs…

    Anyway, love the table, and I’m sure you’ll come up with a great solution!

    Emily
    May 1, 2013 at 9:28 am

    Great idea about adjusting the legs at the base. I’ll have to look into how that would work.

Brenda
April 29, 2013 at 1:47 pm
Reply

That table is a beauty. I too like to hang onto unique furniture pieces thinking that they will work in a space – someday. If you’ve got the room, why not. Re. your sideboard, I have a bedroom dresser which is close to six feet in width in the same style but with carved handles at the top of each drawer. I love this furniture for its simplicity. I took the legs off of mine to make it a low-boy style and it currently sits neatly beneath one of our bedroom windows.



    Emily
    April 29, 2013 at 9:06 pm

    While I may not want to hoard much in the new house, I would for sure buy every affordable mid-century sideboard that I can get my hands on. Beautiful and classic and so practical! Love the idea of making it a low-boy (or even taking off the legs and anchoring it off the ground on the wall, floating style!

Marylou
April 29, 2013 at 7:26 pm
Reply

Love that style of furniture!



Diane
April 29, 2013 at 8:40 pm
Reply

You’ll be so glad you hauled it home and found a place (or places) to keep it safe. When you see certain pieces, you just know they are coming home with you. You can’t leave them!



    Emily
    April 29, 2013 at 9:06 pm

    Truth! I hope it fits in our house :)

Katrina
May 1, 2013 at 11:00 am
Reply

That table is gorgeous! Great mid century shape, but I can also see it blending nicely with other styles too. Really looking forward to seeing what you do with the new place :)



    Emily
    May 1, 2013 at 11:10 am

    It was a GREAT find. Hope it fits!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • HI, I’m Emily

    Emily Fazio

    I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle. Follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note if you'd like. I love notes.

    Thanks for visiting!

  • Instagram

    merrypad

    Merrypad by Emily Fazio
    Instagram post 17902304861708711 Instagram post 17902304861708711
    Highly recco mining those #herkimerdiamonds ✌️ Highly recco mining those #herkimerdiamonds ✌️
    Pt. 2: Well before Halloween, the last of the garl Pt. 2: Well before Halloween, the last of the garlic went into the home garden: 10 rows [L>R] 6 whole Nootka Rose as an experiment, 3x8 Mennonite-grown cloves from Aman’s, and 6x8 (and, I think, total 112? notes are cryptic) “normal.”
#gardennotes #growinggarlic #garden2023 #whatisnormal #merrypadathome
    Out of sight but [documented so it’s] not out of Out of sight but [documented so it’s] not out of mind! #garden2024 kicks off with my favorite biennial: elephant garlic! 15 cloves planted from small, to medium, to enormous. #gardennotes
    Annual garlic notes for #garden2023, pt. 1: this i Annual garlic notes for #garden2023, pt. 1: this is getting ooc, and I love it. 👩‍🌾🧑‍🌾

🧄 65% of the planting is in a new plot in the country. 🧄 Seeing if NR grows bigger with more sunlight. 🧄 Big @chasefarms cloves from 2021 were really productive in our home garden; can’t wait to see how they can show up next year in the new space. 🧄

Hand-turned a small bed, but big thanks to my sister, who rolled into town just in time to help me double its size (and did not complain once).
    One straggler from #garlic2021 debuted with 7 stal One straggler from #garlic2021 debuted with 7 stalks and 7 scapes, and I can’t wait to see this mammoth looks like when it’s pulled next month. #garlic2022 

Also, fierce springtime performance by parsley, chamomile, and self-seeded cilantro.
    Annual garlic notes #garden2022 ~315 cloves total Annual garlic notes #garden2022
~315 cloves total
50 in new, unfenced garden
Still need thick mulch on everything
Did a terrible job tracking varieties when I harvested, so it’s all a mix of hardneck now 😒
Added some big cloves from @chasefarms and look forward to adding some @fruition_seeds in #garden2023 when @porterfarmscsa delivers.
    Load More... follow emily: @merrypad



  • Like Us On Facebook

    Facebook Pagelike Widget



  • Popular Posts

    • How to fix an IKEA drawer. The Easy Fix For Broken IKEA Drawers 66.7k views
    • DIY sideboard rehab. 7 Steps for Restoring an Old Midcentury Sideboard Buffet 56.6k views
    • How to design and make a barn quilt. How to Make Your Own Barn Quilt 49.9k views
    • How to hang art on brick surfaces using specialty clips. The Easy Way to Hang Art on Brick or Stone 39.9k views
    • DIY driveway removal. The Driveway Rocks 35k views
    • Our DIY flagstone patio. Building a Flagstone Patio in One Day 32.7k views
    • Tips for dying pasta different colors, and a Halloween Recipe for the kids. How to Dye Pasta Different Colors (Halloween Recipe) 32.5k views
    • Goodbye, gold fireplace covering. Less Is More: How to Remove a Fireplace Surround 29.5k views
    • Fix an ikea dresser drawer. Life Support For An IKEA Dresser 29.4k views
    • After: Custom wooden garden fence. Designing a Durable Wooden Fence For Our Beautiful Backyard Garden 22.9k views



  • BROWSE POSTS BY CATEGORY:

    • Art Attack (7)
    • Backyard (92)
    • Barn (8)
    • Basement (27)
    • Bathroom (43)
    • Beach (13)
    • Bedrooms (73)
    • Being Thrifty (53)
    • Business-y (12)
    • Buying and Renting and Selling (23)
    • Casual Celebrations (36)
    • Closets (17)
    • Curb Appeal (44)
    • Dainty Details (8)
    • Deck (23)
    • Decor (286)
    • Dining Room (37)
    • DIY (577)
    • Dog-Related (24)
    • Entryway (59)
    • Flooring (58)
    • For the Kids (32)
    • Garage (17)
    • Gardening (70)
    • Helping The Economy (30)
    • HGTV + DIY Network Projects (283)
    • Holiday-Related Projects (80)
    • Home Safety (12)
    • Kitchen (83)
    • Lighting (31)
    • Living Room (77)
    • Merry Travels (21)
    • Office Space (21)
    • Organized (41)
    • Other Pads (14)
    • Outdoor Living (12)
    • Scooter Fun (8)
    • Stairwell (20)
    • Sunroom (22)
    • Supporting Sponsors (43)
    • The Art Room (3)
    • Tools (43)
    • Uncategorizable (1)
    • Wedding (28)
    • Windows (14)
    • Work-pads (10)





  • a little bit of everything, friends, DIY, and inspiration

    • Dadand.com < My husband and his BFF
    • DIY Network
    • HGTV
  • Some Legal

    Merrypad incorporates the occasional affiliate link to Amazon.com and Minted; we link to many other websites and products, but if it is in context of a paid sponsorship, it is always noted as such. Please review the privacy policy and contact me if you have any additional questions.

    Theme customized by Pete Fazio Creative, the guy from dadand.com.


© Copyright Merrypad