Make room for table.

I teased you yesterday with the news of our $28 dining room table.  Truth is, when we picked it out, it was completely covered in other items for sale that we didn't quite know what it looked like.


We made our way back over to The Cottage House this afternoon armed with bungee cords, and were pleasantly surprised to find our new little guy fit snugly into the ol' Vibe.  Goodness, I adore that hatchback.  We did have to take one set of legs off, but we ended up taking all four off to get it through the door at home anyhow.


While I cooked up a fall meal on another 80-degree October day, Louis reassembled.  A bigger table was always something I glanced at while shopping, but never did I think we'd find one in good condition (it's birch and pretty solid, by the way) for under $30.  Take that, IKEA! 


Our old table was fine.  Just fine.

But small.  And slightly rickety.  And still in need of a good finish and stain, hence the permanent tablecloth.

And here's the new table:

Yes, it's painted black.  What do I plan to do about that?  Nothing.  Unless this heat wave holds out long enough to strip the paint outside.  Otherwise, I think it's staying black until next summer.  And only 2 of the chairs match, so you can tell that dining room table sets aren't that big of a deal to me, maybe because I'm flashing back to being trekked to boring furniture store after boring furniture store as a kid when my parents picked out their current set?

This is pretty much my favorite part.  The sheer size allows for decorating!  This calls for placemats and table runners!

These are the metal leaves we also picked up yesterday for $6, complete with our Farmer's Market pumpkins, and one wrinkly cloth napkin.

It was a little weird dining with Louis tonight.  He was like a 1/2 mile away at the other end of the table.  We both discovered a new-found love for roasted sage thanks to this dish:  pasta with butternut squash, sage, and pine nuts.  Ahh, fall!