I mentioned in an earlier post that cb2 would be paying a visit to my house. Have you met cb2? It’s the younger, funkier sister to Crate & Barrel (thankfully it’s also a little cheaper too, but don’t tell her that!) Unfortunately the nearest one is Chicago but at least she doesn’t charge the outrageous shipping like her neighbor Ikea does.
Thanks to the hardworking men and women at the UPS, my new table runner arrived the other day. Here’s a before shot of our little dining room nook:
I had a nice Plynyl runner on the table. Thanks to JT’s love of the hottest of hot sauces, it did end up with a few stains that I (really he) didn’t clean off in time. I’m thinking the Plynyl will get repurposed as the bottom of a tray — I’m thinking about cutting it off around the bubble edges to give it a soft organic look . . . .hmm, we’ll see about that one.
Anyways, on to the new . . .
Yikes! I loved the color but the machine-washable felt wasn’t really meant to drape off the side. I got out my trusty exacto and took the runner down to my basement workshop of doom and gave it a haircut. Much better.
Putting together these images made me realize it looks kind of like a crazy chair party in my little nook. The dark wood chairs came out of the alley and JT is really attached. He uses them for playing his steel pedal guitar. They are probably destined for life in the music room (with said steel pedal guitar) but as that’s all torn up right now with the new shelving and various speaker cabinets he is storing for his friends, they live in the dining room currently.
Also, you may wonder why such a nice wood table top is always in need of a runner. This, my friends is why: Beer Pong.
My (much) younger sister apparently used this table for inadvisable party games back when it resided in my parent’s basement. So until I get around to refinishing the top, table runners it is. I was flipping through St. Louis AT HOME Magazine awhile back (it’s the March/April 2009 issue — I keep old design magazines, it’s another addiction, all right) and I spotted the ol’ table in one of the spreads:
This is what our table (and chairs) could have looked like if A) I had left it on the wood base with the sliding inserts B) my sister hadn’t partied on it and C) my mother hadn’t reupholstered all the chairs in denim to make it more casual and D) my sister’s partying friends hadn’t broken all the denim upholstered seats while playing Beer Pong. End of story. All in all though, I like it how it is. It has some history (patina?) and it fits into our home. The chairs were probably a little too clunky for my tastes. Will I keep it forever? Maybe not but for now it works and it will have an ever-changing display of table runners to match whatever new color I fall in love with. Today it’s teal.
Living Analog 