Is it a drafting table or a gathering table with a day job?

I have always liked drafting tables; I've even thought it would be fun to have a job that made use of one. Never have had that. But I still like them. Maybe it's because you get to perch on a tall chair that's easy to slide on and off of? Maybe because it looks like an official place to be creative.

Well, we have one on consignment now. It's a beauty, made of warm-toned wood. Purchased about 3 years ago as a floor model discounted to $200. We're starting it at $95. Came in disassembled for travel, but not too hard to re-assemble, so we went ahead and put it together. It's about 48" x 36", and 33.5" tall when flat.

Doesn't it look like a fun place to sit and sketch and dream and scribble and erase and measure and freestyle and come up with cool images? Even has a drawer for all those fun pens and pencils.

PS: It occurs to me, seeing this table with the top down, with its warm, honey-toned wood, that it is mighty like a gathering table; it's a little big to be a pub table. Nice to have such a versatile piece.

Jacobean tables and family dinners

We have received a beautiful dining room set, a reproduction of the English Jacobean style. We're guessing the set is walnut. What do you think?

The consignor remembers going as a child with his father, a Latvian immigrant, to purchase it from a secondhand dealer in Seattle's Belltown in about 1950. This handsome ensemble has since graced decades of family gatherings, but now it needs a new home.

The table extends from 44" wide by 5' long up to 6', 7', or 8' long. There are 5 dining chairs and 1 armchair for the head of the table, or the guest of honor.




Most impressive to me is the capacious serving buffet. With its inlaid and carved wood, it is beautiful piece for serving, storage, and display.



The (presumably) walnut veneer is accented with just a touch of birdseye maple beneath the crest of the backboard.


The original brass hardware is intact, with one casualty over the years --see buffet door on viewer's left, below; the escutcheon is still here, kept in a drawer of the buffet, but the pendant is missing:


The buffet is 68" long x 22.5" deep x 38.25" tall.
I've never seen one with a bottom drawer like this, that extends the full width. Great for holding tablecloths or treasure maps:


These pieces are all solid wood, very well constructed (e.g. dovetail drawers), and sturdy.

The finish shows its age on all pieces. The table has been refinished with an oil rub that brings out the grain beautifully, but probably needs a refresher coat.

(There are table pads, but they are quite worn.)



Click any photo to see more of our inventory in our flickr gallery.

Available at The Living Room ~Consignment Gallery & Tea~
Open 10-6 Wednesday-Saturday, and by appointment
Closed Sundays -- Tuesdays
6524 NE 181st, Suite 10, Kenmore, WA 98028
In Kenmore Plaza, by the new Post Office.
425-877-1074
www.thelivingroominkenmore.com

We accept Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal.

Of Spring Beach and birdseye dressers

This goes in the "it's a small world" file. Which I prefer to think of as "it's a great, big, wonderful world with delightful interconnections". (Of course, that's when it's not being a big, scary world with things that go wrong, but I try not to live there :^)

The history of the petite birdseye maple dresser shown above, with its charming oval mirror and serpentine drawers, can be traced to a summer cabin at Spring Beach on Vashon Island. When the Hansen family bought the beachfront cabin, many years ago, the little dresser was among several pieces left there by the previous owner. The stamp on the back shows it had been purchased from "House Furnishers, L. Schoenfeld & Sons", a Tacoma landmark from 1902 to 1996. Would you say, from the style, that it's from the 1920's?

When our consignor mentioned that this dresser had come from a cabin on Spring Beach, a spring of memories ...um... sprung up!

I am transported back to the Spring Beach of my childhood, spending summer vacation days with family friends who also owned a cabin there. No birdseye maple dressers, but comfortable, rustic furniture and a rock-lined, perpetually smoky fireplace. We kids enjoyed longs hikes out along the beach, scooting back before the incoming tide trapped us against the base of the towering clay bluffs. We climbed those same bluffs, hoping to catch a glimpse of the goats we knew were up there, but all we ever found was what they'd left on the ground among the Scotch broom and madrona trees. Out in the rowboat, I caught a rock cod so startlingly ugly as it's bug-eyed, orange self came into view out of the dark depths, that I must have let some slack on the line in my surprise, and it got away. I don't remember a lot of swimming; the water was always cold. We would sleep at night to the music of the spring-fed brook running by on its way to the Sound.

Congratulations to Laughing Whale Coffee!

I'm tickled to share with you the latest news from Laughing Whale Coffee, my brother and sister-in-law's artisan roasting enterprise in Nova Scotia. Steven and Deborah have just launched their long-awaited website after several years honing their roasting skills and building their business in the Lunenburg-Halifax region. Their love of community, of humanity, and of excellence shines.

(Here my brain goes off in a digression, "Dangerous word, excellence. But think in life terms of balance, humility, and process, not perfectionism and performance-based acceptance.")

So, back at www.laughingwhalecoffee.com, enjoy browsing. Check out their online tour of Canada's first Eco-Roaster, which gives Laughing Whale's coffee the "Lowest Carbon Footprint per Cup". (I can just picture a coffee cup leaving little footprints.) Where did they find all the arcane coffee quotes on their website? This is my current favorite, pertaining, of course, to their support of fair trade coffee:

"I pity the man who wants a coat so cheap that the man or woman who produces the cloth will starve in the process."  ~ Benjamin Harrison

More than his coffee, I miss my brother's puns. I so wish they lived closer to Kenmore! A cup of their coffee helps a little :^)

Booksigning was fun, prompted us to clean up!

You know how inviting company motivates a little house cleaning? Lydia Harris' booksigning did that for us. Come quick before it wears off!

For those of you who missed Lydia's booksigning for her new book, "Preparing My Heart for Grandparenting", she will be at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park tonight, Saturday, October 16. 6 pm, I think.

So, no sooner did we clear up the cookie crumbs after Lydia's tea party, another consignment came in. As if the empty table were calling them through the ether...



...these 12 ceramic frames came in and took over the table. One for each month of the year. Aren't they charming? I could see a creative teacher making use of these in her classroom, but my imagination can't cover all possibilities. Where might you use these cute frames?

By the way, this is the last day of our "Make Room to Swing (with) the Cat" Sale. Hope to see you on this sunny Saturday.

Blessings...

"Enough-room-to-swing-(with)-a-cat" SALE now through Saturday, Oct 16

**See disclaimer at the bottom of this post.

We definitely don't have dancing room in The Living Room today, with or without a cat. But sometimes the mood to dance strikes, so...

... that means another 10%-OFF-EVERYTHING sale now through Saturday, October 16: dressers, couches, tables of all sorts, hutches, curios, lamps, beds, original art, and lots of housewares! There are many items already marked down 10, 20, and 30%, so take another 10% off through Saturday!

(Please mention where you heard about this sale in order to be sure to get the discount.)

Warning: when you come to browse, you'll find there's some serious visual overload in here, so if you don't see what you are looking for, please ask. It may be right in front of you! This actually happened today :^)

**Can you tell I had a photo of a dancing cat to look at, but not of a dancing man?

Book signing by Lydia Harris on Oct 15! "Preparing My Heart for Grandparenting"

Local author Lydia Harris will be at The Living Room on Friday morning, 10-noon, October 15, 2010, with her new book "Preparing My Heart for Grandparenting".

Lydia is known affectionately as "Grandma Tea" because one of her favorite ways of enjoying life is to share a cup of tea with her friends, including, of course, her grandchildren.

Lydia will be signing her new book and sharing a pot of tea with everyone who is able to come by next Friday morning. Hope to see you there!

You can also look for Lydia's syndicated column "A Cup of Tea with Lydia".

Can chairs run? Maybe not, but they can overrun.

We've got lots of places to sit.
Some are set aside for tea customers.
Some are here waiting for new homes:

        

         



       













Some are singletons, some come with or came with tables. Haven't taken time to show them all :^)

Shabby Chic still charms us

Perhaps the enduring attraction of shabby chic is its representation of grace for imperfections, inviting us to see past flaws, or even enjoy the stories they hint at.

Here are some of the consignments in The Living Room that qualify for the shabby chic category, and some that could be spiffed up to find a spot there:


Vintage wicker patio conversation chairs. Price include pillows shown.
Starting at $75 each or $140/pair: SOLD 10/2/2010 to a woman who takes classes at Shin's Taekwando in our building. I can understand wanting a nice place to sit and breathe after a workout like that.


A little 3-way mirror with beveled glass, and an owie on the bottom corner:
Starting at $45, now $35:


The gossip bench. I think this should be re-purposed as a toy chest. And add wheels!
Starting at $55, now $45.


Here's the more refined piece, for more refined gossip.
Started at $125, now $110: