A Tale of One Table

Six years or so ago, my mother gave us that long white side table that currently lives in our dining room. When she bought it for her apartment, she used it in her living room. I remember that there was a table runner across the top of it and she kept some pretty decorative items and candles on it. There were two chairs that she had, one at each end and it fit in her living room very nicely. When she gave up her apartment and moved to Maryland she asked if we'd like to have it for our house and I accepted. The first place it lived in our dining room was in front of the window next to the porch, as seen in this photo from 2008. While I really liked the table there, the window is not centered on the wall, and it gave my OCD tendencies a twitch. On top of that, it was really close to the doorway. After several years of being in that spot, we moved it across the room to the space between the arches. In case you are wondering, I don't know why my dining room windows have shutters, but we haven't replaced them yet because it's one of those projects that involves more than just replacing the shutter.

The fact that the table is white, and the rest of the furniture is cherry and hunter green, which is a throw back to our early apartment dwelling days when we were dirt poor and my mom offered to help us out and buy us a table and chair set, became glaringly obvious when we moved it across the room. This is likely due to the fact that the entire wall on the dining room side of the arches is painted hunter green. Interesting fact that you might not know number 1: the whole dining room was painted this color when we first came to see our house. Sometime after the first showing and when we came for the inspection, the realtor informed the seller that the room was too dark and that they should paint it. They did the shoddiest paint job ever and painted over dark green painted paneling with yellow paint and it bled through and we have it our short list to re-do. There are just far more important things that need doing first. So anyhow, the table lived over here for a few more years. I liked it here, but not that much. I loved the mirror above it. I hated how close it was to the table. I loved that it became kind of a "mantle" as there is a fireplace hidden behind that wall, though it opens out into the other side of the wall most likely. I hated how white the table was next to the green. 

Sunday, while we were fall cleaning the dining room, I move it again. On the other side of the doorway from where the window is in the first photo, lived a bookcase. When we first moved into our house, our hutch lived there. We had two bookcases that lived on the wall where our hutch now resides. Those bookcases are 30 years old and in rough shape and we moved one out, and the last one has been waiting for us to do some renovations in two other rooms so we could move it out as well. I got tired of waiting and Sunday I made room for the books that were on that bookcase elsewhere, and we hauled it out to the barn. I moved the white table for what will be the last time (the next time it's out the door), and I really love it in it's new home. I actually think the reason I didn't like the table for so many years is because it was clashing with the green. Eventually I want to get a fireplace front with a mantle for in between the arches to put under the mirror. If we can't have the real fireplace, at least we can have the appearance of one. But that's a project that can wait until it's time to work on that room. For now, I'm just happy to have the bookcase gone, and that I finally like that table.