The Great Console Table Hunt of 2010

It’s two weeks to my birthday which means its about that time that I start thinking of all the wonderful things I want!  This year I decided number one on my list is a console table for our living room.  I told you about our living room furniture last August and how I desperately needed a console table to replace this poor piece of plywood:

 

Now, I’m not knocking that fine craftsmanship, but it just wasn’t jiving with the rest of my furniture.  So began the Great Console Table Hunt of 2010!  I’ve been amassing inspiration pics from the internet for months, here are a few of the contenders:

   

I even designed one in Sketchup that I thought we could build:

Our first leg of the hunt was the “20 Miles of Furniture” in Lenoir, NC.  We went on Labor Day, hoping to find good deals, but instead we found several stores were closed.. what is that about?  After perusing the selection at a dozen stores we discovered that most of the console tables available were huge!  I was limited in size by the small pass-through between the wall and the couch, so my table could be no more than 14” deep.  I think the furniture manufacturer’s must be making these things for massive homes with floor space to spare.  They were beautiful, if only I had a magic fairy wand to shrink them down to size!  All the accent tables that would have worked in my space were painted with roses or something and cost $400.  As if.  So, we moved on.  Others we liked but were the wrong shade… as you all know, it must be dark brown wood to belong in my house! :)  And some we found were just too small.  It was like Goldilocks and her three chairs/beds.  Except, nothing was just right….

I had almost given up hope of finding something suitable in size without being predictable in design, when my mother suggested we try one more place… the Transit Damage Furniture Store down the road from her house.  Cue the trumpets!  It was like accent table Mecca!  They had a whole section of the store packed with long, skinny ones; short, fat ones; straight ones and curvy ones, ones with drawers and doors and spindles and glass fronts and all the colors of the accent table rainbow!  I finally decided on one with doors and a drawer, short but skinny, in a dark brown color with curves and a little floral embossing.  Perfection!  Not too plain, nor predictable, but not teal and painted with roses, either. :) 

Just right for my house… I think.  You be the judge… here it is in its new home:

Here’s a little detail shot… I just love the embossing and the dainty floral knobs!

And here is the whole view, with the mismatched mirror that’s hung too high.  Will get around to fixing that eventually, I suppose!

For now, it’s making me smile, just the way it is! 

Thank you Mama for my beautiful birthday present (a little early).  :)

Now, if I could get the camel crickets in the basement to leave me alone, I’d bring up the fall decorations for a little spruce on top of the table.  :)  I’ll be back soon!