George and I went furniture shopping last night at a huge new store in our area called Jordan's, that has an Imax Theater, a trapeze practice area that the public can use, and a whole array of fun mini stores, like a jellybelly candy company called "Beantown". This store is like a little Las Vegas. We even had dinner there in their own 50's style Deli, Jimmie's. It was fun, and everyone there was having a great time. The place just opened 3 weeks ago, and it is huge! The furniture part of the place is sectioned off into "rooms", like bedroom and diningroom. The displays are beautiful and right away I noticed that even though the furniture was very nice the sticker shock was not near as bad.
We bought a new mahogany dining room table and six chairs and a table pad. It took a while to choose. As we would like one, we would see another, and on and on, and then find out the price differences, the delivery times (I would like to have it before Thanksgiving if possible and time is running out) and discuss chair widths, table heights, color of wood, and on and on. George did the sit test. We wanted a lot of leg room so guests wouldn't bang their knees on the table. We learned right away that George's legs don't fit under your average table.
The first one we saw was the right price, very comfortable, and almost Victorian in feel. At first I liked it a lot, and then later changed my mind. Too grandmotherly. We finally narrowed it down to three and spent a lot of time discussing each with the patient and very nice salesman. I didn't especially like the inlaid top on one, George didn't like the corners on the other, and the middle one seemed, well, just right. It is a Lane table with six chairs. It is oval and has two leaves which will bring it to 7 1/2 feet. Huge by our standards and we probably won't use both leaves very often. It has a carved rope like trim on the edge of the table that I am crazy about and two pedestals with carved balls on them. It is really gorgeous and I am very happy. And, it will be delivered next Tuesday afternoon, two days before Thanksgiving and Michael will be here to see it come in the door. The chairs are upholstered with beige fabric but not puffy. It just exudes quality. George likes it as much as I do. I'm crazy about the carved trim at the edge of the table. The chairs have a very graceful line. And the salesman said the magic word: Old South. This looks like a table that would belong in a mansion in New Orleans. Well, we can dream, can't we?
In the meantime, I will have to take all my hobby stuff out of the diningroom, and get the room ready for such a regal piece of furniture. The old table will be donated to my organization's second hand shop, where it will be sold once again. Recently I bought several sets of old Noritake china on Ebay, and it is going to be beautiful on this table. More about that later.
So, the dining table idea is clicked off the To Do List, and on we go toward Thanksgiving. Lots left to do.
Gobble gobble.
