Subject: Kitchen Table

Hello!

Okay, so you know I have been doing a ton in my kitchen, right? I promise I'm not trying to delay an "after" picture, but I feel like little projects keep coming up so I want to make sure I have as much done as possible when I finally do the big reveal. Today I need your thoughts on my kitchen/dining table. As a refresher, here is the "before":

Now it is the color of my living room (Benjamin Moore's Dunmore Cream) with stripes on the wall behind the table a la:

My chairs are still black, but I re-painted them so they are shiny and lacquered-looking. I am going to put this fabric on them:

At first I was nervous about doing black and white fabric with black and white floors, but I really think it will look nice and neutral and I won't be tied to any one color when it comes to my table linens. At some point I may decide to put a jute rug under the table, but that is a low priority at this point. This is also an indoor/outdoor fabric which I think will hold up really well and the dark color with hide spills and stains.

So, now that you are all caught up, what should I do with my table? The table there now belongs to one of my aunts who is letting us borrow it indefinitely (it's been about 2.5 years so far) because she wasn't using it and we needed something. For awhile now we have been talking to my dad about building us a farmhouse-looking table using these plans. My grandmother has all this old wood in her garage that is weathered-looking and would make for a really interesting table. Then we talked about doing it a dark-ish stain and making it about the same size as our current table.

But now that the walls are light and the whole room has a lighter, brighter feel, I wonder if I want a table that is lighter and brighter too? So now I am daydreaming about a pedestal table painted white. When we first moved into this house I was in love with the idea of a white pedestal table because of a picture I saw in Crate & Barrel of a white table under a white chandelier, and that is why I painted my bright brass chandelier white. But then I got away from that idea and fell in love with the farmhouse style. And now I am back to the white pedestal.

I have been doing some major Craigslist stalking the past few weeks to find something cheap that I could paint and make my own. And finally I struck gold! Of course, it's not in my state but it is right down the street from you, so could you be a dear and fetch it for me and then store until I make it up there again? Thanks. Here it is:

Not much to look at, I know. I talked to the seller today and apparently I am the only one interested...score! So now I just have to make up my mind. In the picture it is round, but it comes with a leaf, which would make it oval. With the leaf it measures 4 feet wide by 5 feet long. My current table is 58" long and 40" wide, so the new table would be slightly bigger than my current table. But my current table isn't great for seating six - the pairs of chairs on either side are kind of squished, plus the table legs get in the way when scooting in and out. I also like the idea of a round table because when we have more than six people over to eat and need to pull up extra chairs, it is easier to scoot in more chairs because there are no table legs to negotiate.

The seller said the table is solid oak and in great shape. He said there is one gouge on the pedestal that is about an inch long. When I mentioned painting it and filling the gouge with wood putt, he offered to do it for me! What a guy! He is asking $100, which seems like a good deal for the size and quality.

So, here is what I have to decide: oval vs. rectangle? Corners vs. rounded edge? What are your thoughts?

Patiently waiting,

Kara