With friends like these…
We have an informal dining area next to the kitchen that required purchasing a table and chairs. Why, might you ask? Hubbles decided to sell quite a bit of our belongings with our former house, (I am guessing so he didn’t have to move and store it all). That was great back then. Now it means that I have to find replacements for those items on a tight budget. Fine…
I like a challenge.
I had been looking online for months for a new table and chairs, and never really found the perfect combo of cheap but still looks nice. I was leaning towards an Ikea white table which qualified as cheaper than the other retail places but was still $450.
Imagine my surprise when on one of my shopping expeditions with my friends, Ann and Renee, we stumbled on a sturdy and lovely white table and chairs. The best part is, they were only $245! That’s with the chairs!
Ann’s husband, Ray (who has already helped us a ton), came to the consignment shop where we were shopping and picked up my new set. A complete stranger shopping at the store was gracious enough to help us load it too. There are still kind people out there!
After we loaded the table in Ray’s truck and the chairs in Ann’s van, we set off to the house to see if they would work in the new space. I didn’t have measurements with me, as I wasn’t planning on buying anything large on that day. Up to that point, I had been picking up mostly décor items.
Thankfully, they fit in the space perfectly, AND the white color matched our white walls! Huzzah!
The chairs had fabric that didn’t match, but I knew my mom could reupholster them. I ordered some fabric and waited impatiently for it to arrive. Once it did, my mom redid the seats and made the set even better!
My mom is awesome! I did have to be her “seeing eye kid” during the process, which is comical to me, as I can’t see very well anymore either…. Thankfully, between the two of us, the chairs turned out great!
My flower arrangement that Patrick from Porterfield’s made for us looked perfect on the table. Since it was a spring arrangement, Jeff agreed to let me order one for fall as long as I followed his budgetary guidelines. I went to see Patrick, and he made another fabulous insert for my chinoiserie jar. I love it!
We now have a comfortable and lovely space to eat thanks to friends and family that helped us. Jeff has been teasing Ann and Renee about always wanting to spend his money. I think even he is thankful for our shopping trips now that it has SAVED him quite a lot….
It won’t stop him from teasing them, though….
