from the husband: story of our new table
Hello, blog world! Welcome back to hubby corner! I hope you have all been reading these excellent posts from the wife since my last post. I learned something new recently -- we have “flying”kitties. Never did I know that wingless fur-children were capable of flight. But, as
my folks tell me, Jenny is ALWAYS right so… I’ll go with it! As for her being right, that does happen more than I would like to admit. However, a couple weeks ago we just so happened to collaborate on a little idea that turned into quite the adventure.
Recently Jenny and I were having a conversation about the table I built for her before she moved into the apartment we are now living in. It was a monolithic rustic beast of a table but it still looked fairly decent. While we did like the table, we started talking about having something more. Jenny told me about these “hairpin” legs that she had fallen in love with. (Which for future reference, ladies, does not go over with men as well as terms like ‘steel’, ‘wrought iron’, or just simple ‘metal’!) Also if you say it with a grunt or an ‘ugh’ it speaks to our man nature a little more directly. ‘Hairpin?’ You might as well say flowery…
We pulled up to the checkout line and the attendant asked what we were building. We told her we were building a dining table and that we were pretty excited. When she saw that we had red oak she informed us that we had selected “real wood”. And that this “real wood” wasn't fake wood and it would be more expensive, because (you guessed it) it is REAL WOOD. While I was still dazed by the obviousness of her last comment, she threw another confusing one at us. According to her, their PRO Shop has a LOT of scrap red oak (in 6ft+ lengths), because the contractors come in and cut it and just leave that much scrap behind “all the time”! All we had to do to save dozens of dollars is call in around 7am and let the PRO Shop know we wanted all their red oak scrap and they’d sell it to us pennies on the dollar.
By this point, I was totally lost in a sea of blatant obviousness and contradictory ridiculousness. My brain needed some serious time to reset. We left the REAL wood behind and decided to call into the PRO Shop the next morning. So I called in and had one of those classic conversations. I knew as I asked about their mass quantities of premium scrap lumber how stupid the question sounded. Luckily, the man on the other end of the line kindly said that they did not have nor would they ever have such scrap in supply, because a contractor would never leave that much extra. I told him I appreciated his kindness and tried to explain that the thoughtlessness of my question was spawned by a delirious checkout attendant.
After the failed call, Jenny and I went back to “Dome Hepot” and carefully selected our lumber, matching grain patterns and natural hues in the wood and found the most pristine pieces for our project. After we selected our pieces, we went to the large radial saw where they will cut your lumber down to size. As we dragged our lumber over, we saw a large piece of plywood with a message spelled out in spray paint, “broken out of order”. Not wanting to surrender our carefully selected lumber, I went hunting through the lumber department trying to find an associate (a harder task than I would have assumed…). After 5 minutes, I finally found one and asked what was wrong with the saw. I was answered with a true professional and customer service focused response, “Uhhhhh I’nt know?” at which point they continued walking onto whatever task they were previously headed towards. After tracking down a second associate, I took them to the saw and they helped us tremendously by letting us know the saw was indeed broken, they had no idea when it would be fixed, and that, no, there were no other available saws in the hardware store for cutting a few pieces of lumber.
As my temperature rose and my vision became hazy with rage I figured it wouldn't be appropriate for my wife to see me get arrested for assaulting someone with a 10 foot red oak board. I took a deep breath, and told Jenny it was time to go. We left upset and completely empty handed, again. The next afternoon I thought it would be great if I called their location and asked about the status of the saw. I was told in 100% confidence that it was ready to go. I happily went home and told Jenny the good news. We hopped in the car and drove over (again) this time sure we would get our precious lumber and have it cut like we needed. I quickly and happily started matching new pieces when Jenny mentioned that we might want to double check the status of the saw before we spent too much time on the *REAL* wood. Well, lucky for us we checked. The saw was still busted and that old piece of spray painted plywood was still lying in the exact same position as it did the day before. Jenny -- quickly realizing that I was about to lose it -- mentioned there was a Chick-fil-A nearby and strongly suggested we leave now.
As we loaded up the *REAL* wood in our car, it almost seemed surreal. We had it. Finally, it sunk in when we got it all home and laid it out on the floor where our finished table now sits. As for the build, it was fairly simple, just a little cutting, fitting, staining, and drilling and then finished it with a few coats of lacquer. And I have to admit, the wrought iron hairpin legs don’t look all that bad. I think this table will serve us well for a long time to come. Hope you enjoyed our story and rest assured no “Dome Hepot” attendants were harmed in the making of this table (no matter how high the temptation was).
Now all I need to do is decide on chairs!!! I was thinking about getting a long bench on one side and then five of the same chairs, but then I thought it might be cool to mix and match. We just don't have much money to spend, so I'm trying to get creative! These are some of the chairs I'm thinking about:
What are your thoughts? Should I buy chairs or try to thrift them? I'd appreciate any advice you have!
Recently Jenny and I were having a conversation about the table I built for her before she moved into the apartment we are now living in. It was a monolithic rustic beast of a table but it still looked fairly decent. While we did like the table, we started talking about having something more. Jenny told me about these “hairpin” legs that she had fallen in love with. (Which for future reference, ladies, does not go over with men as well as terms like ‘steel’, ‘wrought iron’, or just simple ‘metal’!) Also if you say it with a grunt or an ‘ugh’ it speaks to our man nature a little more directly. ‘Hairpin?’ You might as well say flowery…
After talking with her and hearing about other table designs she was in love with, I proposed we Craigslist our current table and, if it sold, use the proceeds to finance the construction of a brand new table. Needless to say she heard “project” and was ALL in.
So Jenny got our now-old table up on Craigslist and in a week or so (after about 15 fruitless inquiries) we had it sold. Jenny then ordered our ‘wrought iron’ legs. We began talking about ideas for the new table, looked around on some of her favorite blogs, Pinterest, and other online resources. Once we had a general idea of what we thought we wanted, we decided to take a looksee over at our local hardware and lumber establishment. This is where the real drama began. To protect their identity we’ll just call them ‘Dome Hepot of Vinings’.Once we got there, we fell in love with the red oak and decided to stock up.
So Jenny got our now-old table up on Craigslist and in a week or so (after about 15 fruitless inquiries) we had it sold. Jenny then ordered our ‘wrought iron’ legs. We began talking about ideas for the new table, looked around on some of her favorite blogs, Pinterest, and other online resources. Once we had a general idea of what we thought we wanted, we decided to take a looksee over at our local hardware and lumber establishment. This is where the real drama began. To protect their identity we’ll just call them ‘Dome Hepot of Vinings’.Once we got there, we fell in love with the red oak and decided to stock up.
We pulled up to the checkout line and the attendant asked what we were building. We told her we were building a dining table and that we were pretty excited. When she saw that we had red oak she informed us that we had selected “real wood”. And that this “real wood” wasn't fake wood and it would be more expensive, because (you guessed it) it is REAL WOOD. While I was still dazed by the obviousness of her last comment, she threw another confusing one at us. According to her, their PRO Shop has a LOT of scrap red oak (in 6ft+ lengths), because the contractors come in and cut it and just leave that much scrap behind “all the time”! All we had to do to save dozens of dollars is call in around 7am and let the PRO Shop know we wanted all their red oak scrap and they’d sell it to us pennies on the dollar.
By this point, I was totally lost in a sea of blatant obviousness and contradictory ridiculousness. My brain needed some serious time to reset. We left the REAL wood behind and decided to call into the PRO Shop the next morning. So I called in and had one of those classic conversations. I knew as I asked about their mass quantities of premium scrap lumber how stupid the question sounded. Luckily, the man on the other end of the line kindly said that they did not have nor would they ever have such scrap in supply, because a contractor would never leave that much extra. I told him I appreciated his kindness and tried to explain that the thoughtlessness of my question was spawned by a delirious checkout attendant.
After the failed call, Jenny and I went back to “Dome Hepot” and carefully selected our lumber, matching grain patterns and natural hues in the wood and found the most pristine pieces for our project. After we selected our pieces, we went to the large radial saw where they will cut your lumber down to size. As we dragged our lumber over, we saw a large piece of plywood with a message spelled out in spray paint, “broken out of order”. Not wanting to surrender our carefully selected lumber, I went hunting through the lumber department trying to find an associate (a harder task than I would have assumed…). After 5 minutes, I finally found one and asked what was wrong with the saw. I was answered with a true professional and customer service focused response, “Uhhhhh I’nt know?” at which point they continued walking onto whatever task they were previously headed towards. After tracking down a second associate, I took them to the saw and they helped us tremendously by letting us know the saw was indeed broken, they had no idea when it would be fixed, and that, no, there were no other available saws in the hardware store for cutting a few pieces of lumber.
As my temperature rose and my vision became hazy with rage I figured it wouldn't be appropriate for my wife to see me get arrested for assaulting someone with a 10 foot red oak board. I took a deep breath, and told Jenny it was time to go. We left upset and completely empty handed, again. The next afternoon I thought it would be great if I called their location and asked about the status of the saw. I was told in 100% confidence that it was ready to go. I happily went home and told Jenny the good news. We hopped in the car and drove over (again) this time sure we would get our precious lumber and have it cut like we needed. I quickly and happily started matching new pieces when Jenny mentioned that we might want to double check the status of the saw before we spent too much time on the *REAL* wood. Well, lucky for us we checked. The saw was still busted and that old piece of spray painted plywood was still lying in the exact same position as it did the day before. Jenny -- quickly realizing that I was about to lose it -- mentioned there was a Chick-fil-A nearby and strongly suggested we leave now.
I calmed my nerves with a deliciously fried chicken sandwich, waffle fries, and a half sweet tea and lemonade mixed. My frustration had been molded into dogged determination. I had Jenny find another lumber store across town and, after we finished our meal, we left straight away. Then the funniest thing happened. We got to the new lumber store, got out of our car, selected our lumber, had it cut by a timely and respectful attendant, bought it, loaded it up, and took it home. Never once were we told about how our *REAL* wood was indeed REAL and not fake, the saws at a lumber and hardware store actually worked, and the attendants hadn't been informed that customers wanted to play hide
and seek.
As we loaded up the *REAL* wood in our car, it almost seemed surreal. We had it. Finally, it sunk in when we got it all home and laid it out on the floor where our finished table now sits. As for the build, it was fairly simple, just a little cutting, fitting, staining, and drilling and then finished it with a few coats of lacquer. And I have to admit, the wrought iron hairpin legs don’t look all that bad. I think this table will serve us well for a long time to come. Hope you enjoyed our story and rest assured no “Dome Hepot” attendants were harmed in the making of this table (no matter how high the temptation was).
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So what do you think? Do you like our new table? We actually opened up an Etsy shop so that we could sell a few to those who would like one. They are solid red oak and come in two sizes - an 8 person table like ours and a 6 person table. Visit our Etsy shop - or our Facebook page
Now all I need to do is decide on chairs!!! I was thinking about getting a long bench on one side and then five of the same chairs, but then I thought it might be cool to mix and match. We just don't have much money to spend, so I'm trying to get creative! These are some of the chairs I'm thinking about: