So last Tuesday we took Mom and Tom out to Mt. Airy, which is a cute little spot just up the road from here. Our first stop in the quaint, old downtown area? An antique shop, of course! Mom and Tom like to browse through vintage items, and Dave and I are game for anything, so in we went to "Shops of Yesteryear". It was a large series of adjoining rooms and buildings where various vendors have set up their merchandise--mostly antiques, plus a few newer knick-knacks.
I pushed Meg around and around the aisles in her stroller--as long as we kept moving, she was happy. Dave followed us at a slower pace. After Meg and I had completed one full tour, Dave caught up to us and said, "Hey, did you see that table over there?" I hadn't noticed any table in particular, so Dave led me back to it.
Some background info: Around the time Dave and I got engaged, my parents downsized from a farmhouse to a small townhouse. They had quite a bit of furniture that they could not fit in their new place, so Dave and I, who had almost no furniture, were the beneficiaries. For starters, we inherited two beautiful, matching pieces for our dining room. One was a large sideboard with hutch, the other was a smaller buffet with drop leaves. They were in a dark finish with reddish undertones and in very good shape. They belonged originally to my great-grandmother, Esther Nice, and we have always been proud and grateful to have them.
We also inherited a round dining table, which, though sturdy and completely functional, was not in such great shape cosmetically. It was made of a rougher, large-grained wood, and the top was badly scarred and stained. It had two leaves made of unfinished wood, so if we wanted to extend the table, we needed a tablecloth, preferably something very opaque, so that the different colors of wood wouldn't show through. With the table came several wooden mismatched chairs--again, functional, but well on their way to disrepair. All told, for a couple of "poor" newlyweds we had a very satisfactory dining set! But we always hoped someday to be able to find a table and chairs that would complement the nicer pieces more.
So when Dave led me to this table, I almost couldn't believe my eyes. It looked like it would match perfectly with our sideboard and buffet--I mean, perfectly. And we never expected to find a perfect match--we were just shooting for something that wouldn't openly clash!
This table is cool, too--it starts out as basically a two-person affair, with room for a single chair on either end. Great for candlelight and romance. Then it has two large drop-leaves, which, when extended, expand the table to accommodate six easily. Insert the two last leaves in the center of the table, and you've got room for eight with extra elbow room, ten comfortably, and twelve if everyone's game for rubbing shoulders. And to complete the package, the table came with six matching chairs with upholstered seats and one of those folding covers that you can lay down to protect the table when you don't care about it looking pretty. And the price was superb.
To make the rest of this story short: we returned to the store the following day with one of the drawers from our buffet to check the colors. As we had thought, the table and chairs matched our stuff perfectly. Mom and Tom offered to put this past year's Christmas gift money AND next year's Christmas gift money toward the set. That made the whole package extremely affordable for Dave and me. We decided we shouldn't pass it up.
So now, as you have known all along from the picture I put at the beginning of this entry, the table and chairs reside in our very own dining room, right in between the sideboard and hutch. We love having them here to beautify our home. We are very thankful to Mom and Tom for wanting to bless us with this gift! And we are so grateful to God for granting this unexpected blessing--a small thing, in the grand scheme, and yet such a kind piece of provision!
I pushed Meg around and around the aisles in her stroller--as long as we kept moving, she was happy. Dave followed us at a slower pace. After Meg and I had completed one full tour, Dave caught up to us and said, "Hey, did you see that table over there?" I hadn't noticed any table in particular, so Dave led me back to it.
Some background info: Around the time Dave and I got engaged, my parents downsized from a farmhouse to a small townhouse. They had quite a bit of furniture that they could not fit in their new place, so Dave and I, who had almost no furniture, were the beneficiaries. For starters, we inherited two beautiful, matching pieces for our dining room. One was a large sideboard with hutch, the other was a smaller buffet with drop leaves. They were in a dark finish with reddish undertones and in very good shape. They belonged originally to my great-grandmother, Esther Nice, and we have always been proud and grateful to have them.
We also inherited a round dining table, which, though sturdy and completely functional, was not in such great shape cosmetically. It was made of a rougher, large-grained wood, and the top was badly scarred and stained. It had two leaves made of unfinished wood, so if we wanted to extend the table, we needed a tablecloth, preferably something very opaque, so that the different colors of wood wouldn't show through. With the table came several wooden mismatched chairs--again, functional, but well on their way to disrepair. All told, for a couple of "poor" newlyweds we had a very satisfactory dining set! But we always hoped someday to be able to find a table and chairs that would complement the nicer pieces more.
So when Dave led me to this table, I almost couldn't believe my eyes. It looked like it would match perfectly with our sideboard and buffet--I mean, perfectly. And we never expected to find a perfect match--we were just shooting for something that wouldn't openly clash!
This table is cool, too--it starts out as basically a two-person affair, with room for a single chair on either end. Great for candlelight and romance. Then it has two large drop-leaves, which, when extended, expand the table to accommodate six easily. Insert the two last leaves in the center of the table, and you've got room for eight with extra elbow room, ten comfortably, and twelve if everyone's game for rubbing shoulders. And to complete the package, the table came with six matching chairs with upholstered seats and one of those folding covers that you can lay down to protect the table when you don't care about it looking pretty. And the price was superb.
To make the rest of this story short: we returned to the store the following day with one of the drawers from our buffet to check the colors. As we had thought, the table and chairs matched our stuff perfectly. Mom and Tom offered to put this past year's Christmas gift money AND next year's Christmas gift money toward the set. That made the whole package extremely affordable for Dave and me. We decided we shouldn't pass it up.
So now, as you have known all along from the picture I put at the beginning of this entry, the table and chairs reside in our very own dining room, right in between the sideboard and hutch. We love having them here to beautify our home. We are very thankful to Mom and Tom for wanting to bless us with this gift! And we are so grateful to God for granting this unexpected blessing--a small thing, in the grand scheme, and yet such a kind piece of provision!
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