Farm Table Find

This being the first year owning our own house, Max and I decided to host Thanksgiving (or "Foodie's Superbowl" as I've heard it be called... Kalin) this year. That being said, this was a huge reason I had a giant push to make sure we got the dining room/living room wall knocked out as mentioned here and here. After living with the room being opened up for awhile and some talk about our giant current eat-in kitchen area, we've decided we do not need a formal dining room, just a really nice semi-formal eat-in with lot-o-function.

Now hearing this you might think, so why did you knock that wall out then if you didn't need to. Well its still nice to have a large living area not always centered around the television. A sitting area if you will. We all love the open area and walking through and playing with Turk around the living room is great.

So back to the eat-in. The area is about 10' by 20' which if you are good with math is a sizable eat-in. Definitely a good area to keep as a semi-formal dining room and dropping the formality all together. We are quite modern overall and who really needs a formal dining room anymore. The area is also right next to the upstairs laundry space so when we finally get new appliances and move the laundry up out of the basement I can use the table and a duel purpose folding area. Bonus for when I decided to put those super mom jeans on one day (joking, I'll never wear mom jeans).

Speaking of mom, my mom found us a wonderful farm table just in time for Thanksgiving for $29. Yes, I will repeat that, $29! Max and I were in Madison visiting my college roommate Erika and her husband, Chris for the Wisconsin vs. Purdue game when I get a call that she was out at a craft fair with my aunt, went to the local used furniture store on a whim and found two rockin' farm tables. With the help of modern technology and video texts messages, I was sold on a half finished oak beaut with straight legs, decorative grooves and a leaf. Score one for my mom the deal finder and one for the Badgers who won that day against the Boilermakers 62-17. Whoop!

To make the table story more interesting, to ensure we had the table before Thanksgiving, Max and I had to go back to my hometown of Hillsboro, WI, to get it. The only catch, the day we planned to go was the first official snow storm of the year. Wet heavy snow and about 5"-7" of it depending on where you were. And Hillsboro being three hours from Milwaukee, we had quite a long drive. 8 hours to be exact. But we got it home safely and this is the end result.

The previous owners primed and painted the top a flat black leaving the legs stained. They didn't even get around to painting the leaf black, just left it primed dark gray. Even though it will have to be refinished, it really looks great! Can you believe this was only $29?! I just need to refinish it.

My advice for any readers, if you are going away to an area with a small town used furniture shop, definitely go in. You might be pleasantly surprised what you find. A similar table can cost anywhere from $600-2500.