Table Day!

A while back, I set up some alerts so that I would be notified on specific new posts on Craigslist. I used the IFTTT website, which I use for multiple other things, like posting to Twitter, and emailing my Blog Posts. There are so many different capabilities that you should check out and see if they would work for you! If you're looking for specifics, feel free to contact me, too, and I can let you know exactly how I'm using it.

Anyways, one of the alerts that I set up was for the IKEA Stornas Table, and every now and then, I would get an email when one was posted on Craigslist. In the last seven or eight months, a few have shown up, but they always get snatched up quickly. The extendable table, which is the one that I was looking for, is very popular since it's a solid wood table with two leaves and extends to 115"! But, finally, I was able to get my hands on one. A woman in Cambridge, MA was selling one that she had no use for anymore, so I talked with her about picking it up and on a Tuesday after work, my mom and I braved rush-hour traffic from Providence to Cambridge in my sister's SUV - a day I declared as "Table Day," since I had been looking forward to getting this piece for about a week before we finally picked it up.

With only needing to remove the legs and the leaves, the table top fit in the vehicle with one end resting on the top of the driver and passenger seats and the other end resting on the floor of the cargo space. I had to slink down in my seat just a bit so that my head didn't hit the table, but it was worth it. My mom was a trooper though. She's so tiny, standing at just 5' tall, so her head was no where near the table top resting on the headrest of her seat, but she did help me carry the table into the house. When assembled, the table weighs about 170 pounds, according to the IKEA website, so even though the legs were off and the leaves were out, it still weighed a lot! I was so lucky to have her help, since I definitely wouldn't have been able to pick it up by myself.

I washed it down when I got it home and then attached the legs and added in both leaves. There are a few dings and scratches in it here and there, but that was both expected and fine with me since I was able to purchase the table for a significant discount. Plus, I picked up some of the stain that IKEA sells so that I can do some touch-ups on some of the more visible spots. The most important thing, though, is that the table fits really well in the room, although Dylan actually wishes it was longer! We still only have two chairs, and they are a different finish, because I purchased them back when I had plans to build our dining table and stain it a nice rich brown, so we will probably re-evaluate now and try to figure out what we want the chair style to be. Maybe we'll end up sticking with the IKEA Borje chairs but just go with the black-brown finish instead of the brown.

I can't wait to to style this table and the room, but as you can see in the background, I still need to add the chair rail molding and get the room painted, so that's next on the list for this space. What kind of styling do you think I should do for this table? Keep in mind that we have two cats, so tall or breakable items aren't really conducive to every-day decor. Also, with a table of 115", do I make a gigantic runner to put down the middle? Help please!