A jewel for the living room.

We bought an antique table last year and it continues to enchant me since. This was one of those rare purchases where I wrote down a list of requirements and prepared to wait. Serendipity stumbled upon me and I found it by accident. Right after we packed up and was en-route our cross country road trip, we found it in a vintage shop and got it shipped home. It was the first piece that arrived home, like a housewarming present. It was heavy contradicting the way we bought our furniture in the past years, all designed to be light weight and easy to move homes. A sign, a symbol, a new beginning, …. perfectly fitting into the honeymoon period with a house where everything can be poetic and your mind plays tricks to make you believe in a rosy future that can unfold. It continues to be the right table for this space. My check list for the table :

  1. Sit by it and sip tea. How would that feel ? Can I see myself sitting by this table as I age ? Will it blend with the music we play ? Is it quiet enough ? Should feel right.
  2. What does it look like in sunlight ? enough warm tones to glow in candle light at night ?
  3. Second hand or Vintage. Preferably an antique.
  4. Material : wood. We have children running around and I cant bear to think of one of them banging their head against stone or concrete or glass.
  5. It should be a small single piece of solid wood. The wood should show signs of the life it lived and be enchanting. I don’t think this requirement is pro-sustainability. Fast growing responsibility sourced timber should be used over felled old growth trees for human consumption. I did some mental gymnastics to summon the required cognitive dissonance to buy this. Bragging about my find on a blog isn’t good for the planet either. But here I am.
  6. Cracks must be interesting. Some day, I will mend with butterfly joints in brass to keep it intact with the help of a local carpenter.
  7. It should feel marvelous to the touch of the hand.
  8. Should be big enough to fit my tea pot, a tea cup and a book. Should be tiny enough to not clutter my small living room.
  9. Should be mostly be naked wood and very little human intervention in its making.
  10. Should look alright next to the smaller stools I have, for practical use near seating.
  11. Height of a coffee table is supposed to be shorter than the couch. I wanted it a tad higher to have the ground visible to make the space feel visual spacious and airy. The dogs/cats should be able to go under it if needed. If height was no requirement, I would have tried to find a vintage Senufo table.
  12. The vibe of our living room is conversation pit. I don’t need the table to be big enough to hold board games, stacks of books and such. We have a dining table that is an all purpose device. Takes the pressure off what else is required from a coffee table.
  13. My coffee tables wont be styled. No books and objects will be arranged on top. It’s beauty should be in its nakedness. ( Like instrumental music.) It thereby wont require a woman to constantly dust objects, coz decor gods know that patriarchy exists.
  14. Could become a future console / side table if need be.
  15. I chose this for myself, over for-entertaining-guests who will need to put their drinks/snacks on it. Can I sit here in the night and drink tea on it ? That’s the vibe.
  16. If I someday retire to a cabin in the woods, this should go with me and fit in new tiny spaces.
  17. Should be easy to sell and recover some of the money paid if Trump 2.0 decides to kick me out of the country. Sometimes, I get greedy with the life we have. If things start to crumble, I should remember how good I have it and that change is a part of life.
  18. Coffee tables are a bit like handbags from what I gather. Folks can get a little aggressive with their likes and dislikes. The designers and stylists make a big deal out of it. “The right coffee table” seems to demand the money like luxury handbags do, in a scammy manner. During the peak pandemic, designer coffee tables became investment pieces and were being bought with a frenzy. I was getting sucked into that world of stylists on Instagram. The jewel of the living room, … the words are theirs and are now etched in my head. My jewelry has always been dainty and silent. My jewelry minds its own business and is never grand or aspirational or salient or sensational. That sensibility made it home. My money is better spent saved for retirement than as a coffee table. Nikaela Marie of Rose and Crown helped me decide what I want. This photo of hers below, helped me write this requirements list :
This is all I need. Something to sit by and go about my life. Read, eat, work, drink tea. Not for styling, not for a visual, not for an aesthetic, not for instagram, not to show off a design prowess, not for vanity, not for guests, …. but for our life. Her bench was rescued for her grandfather’s barn. Fits her story. Inspires my story and our living.