I’m Dreaming of a Round Table…

I have been haunting Craigslist again lately.

When we were down in California at my sister’s for the funeral, I started thinking about how much I love her big, round dining room table. When we all sit around it, you can see every other person. It feels cozy. (It’s also good feng shui – round dining tables are said to promote harmonious relationships.)

Our table doesn’t have that same feeling. We have a long, narrow dining room, and we bought a long, narrow dining table to fit into it. Don’t get me wrong – I love the table. It is from Ikea, and it is a gorgeous light birch wood.  It works very well when David has game days, because you can have two separate games going on at once, one on each end! But for meal times, it doesn’t feel very welcoming to me to have everyone seated in long rows down the sides of the table, with the Chairmen of the Board holding court at each end.

Then again, maybe the length of the table is not the issue. Our friends have the same table, and we love to gather around it at their house. So what’s the difference?

Could it be the chairs? Our chairs – hardwood chairs with hardwood seats – are definitely not very comfortable. We have a matching bench, and nobody likes to sit on it. (David says it is because the bench is backless.) Perhaps if we had nice, comfortable upholstered chairs, it would seem more welcoming.

So those are some of the things I am searching Craigslist for: a big round table and comfy chairs. There are a zillion small round tables, plenty of medium-sized country-style oak pedestal tables, but no really big round ones.

If we were to get a round table, however, it could not go in the same area the dining table is in now. It’s truly too narrow for something round. But a round table might fit in the front part of that room, the area that is supposed to be the living room, but which currently holds a foosball table, as seen here:

So I’m thinking I could flip the two rooms, and have what is now the dining room function as the “game room.” It would put the table 15 feet farther away from the kitchen, though. Hmm… Decisions, decisions….

For now, I need to keep working through my paperwork, my decluttering, and general housecleaning. But in the meantime, I’ll keep looking on Craigslist and see what I can find. Here’s my latest discovery: a copper-topped table.

*sniff! * Photo no longer available.

It looks pretty big, like it could seat at least six, doesn’t it? I’m sure tempted to go and see it for myself!

xo – Lori

Daily Check-In:

I’m grateful for public transit. It’s spendy ($2.50 each way!) but so is gas, at this point. Since we are down to one car for now, having TriMet available – and a transit center so close to our house – is pretty great.