I can't wait for our new table...

Despite being married, we still have our yard sale dining table, and $20 IKEA chairs. Since Mark broke one of the chair's with his weight, we are now down to 3 chairs. And since we may host 7 people at our house for Christmas dinner, we decided to make a shopping trip and splurge on a new dining table and chairs.

It's scary thinking that our new table could keep us company for the rest of our married lives. My Mom is in her 60s and she still has her gorgeous, carved Cherrywood dining table and chairs, which she bought when she first got married. I absolutely love her dining table set, and I would wish that we could love our table equally as much. With this thought in mind, we went searching for iconic pieces of furniture.

Usually, Mark is the decorator of the family. (It may come as a surprise to some, but the artfully arranged doodads in our bathrooms are not my handiwork, but the handiwork of my husband's.) I am more of a stickler for form and proportion, though. I really like the "Jake" chair from Room and Board (left). I think they havean iconic shape that are reminiscent of the Charles and Ray Eames chairs from the mid-century. And at $79 each, they are pretty cheap, too.


We looked at some modern tables designed by Italian design house, Calligaris (left). When she thought the price might be too high for us, the sales person tried to hawk us some ugly, American designed crap that were supposed to be a close simile. We took one look at these tables, but decided they looked best next to a "lazy boy" armchair in the suburban Mid-west, and decided they weren't for us.

My favorite Calligaris design was the "Metropole" design (right), with it's retro legs. But Mark wasn't sure of the longevity of the design, or of how comfortable it would be to sit at the ends of the table. And since the table top wasn't even solid wood, and since the table was fairly pricey ($2k), we continued looking.

Finally, we came upon Room and Board, which has beautiful, Shaker inspired furniture with a modern twist. We found a simple, classic: The Rand Table (right), which we will never get tired looking at -- the table top appears as though it were floating on top of the legs. I was leaning towards something else, but Mark convinced me otherwise.

We also bought 6 white "Jake" chairs (above). Paired with our new table, I think our dining set will be a stunning combo.