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At The Picket Fence with Vanessa Hunt

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February 3, 2021

A New French Country Dining Table

Twenty-two years ago I went to a furniture warehouse with my mom and bought our first dining table. I was a newlywed with a husband who was traveling a lot for his new job and we were getting ready to move into our first home. My sweet new husband had very few opinions on things like furniture and paint color. This was the guy who furnished his first apartment with an oversized chair that had lost all of it’s stuffing and was pulled out of a dumpster. You may be surprised to hear this, but it didn’t make the cut when we got married and combined households after our wedding.

So, he encouraged me to take my mom shopping to pick out our table and I knew that what I really wanted was something similar to what my parents had in their home at the time. Mind you, this was the late 90’s. I wanted it to feel fancy but not have a fancy price tag.

We found what I thought was the perfect table (we got what we paid for) and I felt oh so grown up when I saw how it looked in our dining room. Never mind the fact that the aforementioned dining room was basically a glorified ‘nook’ and my fancy new table totally overwhelmed the space.

(OLD DINING ROOM TABLE)

Fast forward twenty-two plus years and while I might have been able to obscure it in pictures (the glories of photoshop), the wear and tear on the table was harder to ignore in person. And, after one particular family gathering where some very hot soup left it’s mark (literally) in multiple places, I knew it was time for a change.

But, what to do? I considered painting the table but, if I’m honest, I knew that I would never be able to achieve the finish I wanted. Some people are really gifted in the refinishing/repainting of furniture but, sadly, I’m not one of them.

So, I began to shop around and found the perfect table on sale!

I wanted something that had classic lines and the look of an antique piece. I would have loved to have found an actual antique table but all of the ones I fell in love with were WAY above my price range.

So a newer table made to look old fit the bill perfectly.

I know for a FACT that I never could have achieved this finish with paint and I give a lot of credit to those of you talented people who are able to do that. I’ve come to accept my limitations!

Having a matte finish vs the shiny finish on our old table adds a wonderfully soft touch to the room.

For the majority of 2020, our dining room was used as an office for me when Robb began working from home and a catch-all for our kids’ books and papers when they switched to distance learning. So, I spent a lot of time in here. And, while I am grateful for this space, I was constantly reminded not only that our old table was starting to look very sad but also that it wasn’t being used in my most favorite way.

If the past year has taught me anything (and it’s taught me a LOT!) it’s that we were not meant to live our lives in isolation. We were meant for fellowship and community and gathering. And my dining room saw very little of that in 2020.

So, with a brand new year and a brand new table, I’m eager to make up for lost time. Yes, we will be cautious and responsible, but we will remember that we are called to “not neglect to show hospitality” (Hebrews 13:2). We’ll celebrate special occasions and enter into sacred conversations. We’ll laugh until tears roll down as we swap stories with lifelong friends and we’ll ask thoughtful questions as we get to know new ones.

As I think about who might sit around this table, what kind of meals will be shared and how we will invest in each other, I can’t help but feel that it already has a history even though it’s one that has yet to be written.

If only you could join me here too!

Much love to you friends,

*We purchased the table through Overstock.com and it’s called the Hekman Furniture Wellington Hall Farmhouse Table*

8 Comments Filed Under: Decorating, Dining Room Tagged With: decorating, dining room

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Comments

  1. Carol Reddin says

    February 3, 2021 at 12:01 PM

    I love your new table and plan to come over for dinner in June. I do remember shopping for your dining set. Doesn’t seem possible that it was 23 years ago. Wow.

    Lots of love from your Mom

    Reply
    • Michele M. says

      February 3, 2021 at 2:19 PM

      ♥ to your mom.

      Your table is perfect.

      I hope you enjoy many many years of entertaining loved ones at this beautiful table.

      Reply
  2. Jackie B. says

    February 3, 2021 at 12:25 PM

    Love your new table! I was wondering if you could tell me what paint colors you have on your dining room walls and baseboards? Thanks!

    Reply
  3. MARY-ANN (FROM CANADA!) says

    February 3, 2021 at 5:03 PM

    Vanessa, it’s always so nice to meet you At The Picket Fence! I always enjoy your posts!

    Your new dining room table is lovely and it looks so “French” — which I love, too! I agree with you about hospitality. We love to have family and friends over for dinner. However, with covid, we are on total lockdown and are only allowed to have the people who reside in your home — which is my husband and I. How we look forward to brighter days ahead when we can have meals together with everyone. We sure miss this. Who would have known that the world as we knew it would be turned upside down. However, we thank God for our many blessings.

    I know you will enjoy having people in for dinner, too. Bless you and your family!

    Reply
  4. Tammie says

    February 3, 2021 at 5:04 PM

    I love the look of your new table, especially the legs! The color and matte finish are perfect.

    Reply
  5. Kristin says

    February 3, 2021 at 5:06 PM

    I love the new table. Can’t wait to spend time around it. 🙂

    Reply
  6. Teri Perrott says

    February 5, 2021 at 9:04 AM

    Love your new table and look forward to hearing the stories of some of the gatherings you will have.

    Reply
  7. Nancy says

    February 12, 2021 at 8:08 AM

    Love the table you found!! Lovely!
    Our dining table was given to us some 39 years ago…the chairs that came with it have long been replaced, but being an extension table I can’t replace this with something I just love. I have tried…but the truth is this table tells a story of two little girls and their homework, the Easter crafts and today holds my quilts that I lay out to put batting on…so it stays…..a love hate relationship….
    Nancy

    Reply

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Yesterday on the way home from school I had the ra Yesterday on the way home from school I had the radio tuned to my daughter's favorite station and a song that was playing had a line in it that really stood out to me. It made reference to a 'season of the sticks' which I think its safe to say must mean winter. I thought that was such an accurate, albeiet kind of depressing, picture of this time of the year.

While we definitely have more than our fair share of evergreen trees here in Oregon, we also have plenty of trees and bushes that are reduced to sticks during the cold months. But, this morning as I looked out my kitchen window, greedily sipping from my mug of coffee, I marveled at the beauty of the winter sunrise. The sky was all pinks and oranges with frost on the rooftops and a little bit of fog. And, I realized that part of why it was so amazing is because I could see it more clearly through the sticks. The bare branches allowed me a view that I wouldn't be able to see if those same branches were covered in leaves. Being stripped down to almost nothing revealed something magnificent.

We have seasons of the sticks in our lives too, don't we? Times when we feel as though we've been stripped bare and left exposed. It's easy to think that this is a place where all is ugly and dark. And yet, just like the winter sunrise was more visible because of the bare branches, the vulnerability we feel in the winter season of our souls allows us to get a glimpse of beauty that we wouldn't see otherwise. In the lush, warm seasons it's so easy to become comfortable. But in the bare, cold seasons we recognize just how much we need to rely on the One who placed the stars in the heavens and is sovereign over all.

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