The dream table

I've been hunting for a dining room table for at least a year now. The perfect one has been really hard to find. The main reason is that dining room tables are an emotionally-loaded issue for my boyfriend, who really wants to throw big, fabulous dinner parties when our new place is done. He has a distinct sense of what he's looking for and I have my own likes and dislikes to juggle against them. The mandate he gave me when I started the hunt was something antique, seats at least 10, with leaves, a skirt, inlaid wood that's not oak, with a pedestal, non-chunky legs and with something unique and unexpected about it.

I looked for a solid year, several times a week, on eBay both in the U.S. and in Europe, and on Craigslist too. Finally, three weeks ago, I found it, watched it, and we scored it - for cheap - off of eBay! Drink it in:


C. 1900, it has three leaves so it pulls out to a good size. Sure, it's not a pedestal and the leaves, though original, don't have a skirt. But look at the gorgeous, detailed carving! (The trim around the table top is more like a chain of figure eights than the plain beading it appears to be in the photo.) Those slender, reeded legs! Those adorable little casters! Love. Plus the rounded shape is going to be fabulous for squeezing in extra people.

The auction house in New York state delivered it on Wednesday and we couldn't be more thrilled. I keep going into the room it's in just to stare at it. Talk about patience paying off!