Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Remodeling Continues. Rosie Gets Her New Table.

I don't know how many of my readers have been with me since the very beginning, but I started this blog back in September 2007 to document my kitchen remodel and to show how the Hawthorne family coped without having the "monkey business" of a kitchen. After getting my new kitchen, I continued blogging to share my love of cooking and eating with you all. A few weeks ago, a final step of the remodeling was completed. I used to have a round, glass dining table in the corner, across from the kitchen. . Over the past 10 years, we've had to replace the glass top 3 times, due to "accidents." Everyone, family and guests included, always gathered at the kitchen counter. As a family, we never used the glass table. Never. Mr. Hawthorne and I wanted to change that, and a year later, we have. But first, let's go back to my old dining table. The only time it was actually used was for the kids to dump their books on when they came home from school or for special occasions.
Some of you may remember Easter 2007 when Ticky came to visit and we made this lovely Easter-scape as homage to Aunt Sandy, our mentor. If you recall, it contained the requisite towering, teetering centerpiece, booze, pixie stix, and party favors.
Yes, Ticky and I had a lot of time on our hands that day.
We were very careful to contain my KA, so it wouldn't run away, perhaps joining the blender lid.
Enough of our Easter-scape. Let's move on to Christmas.
Every Christmas, I would decorate the table with sheer fabric and lights.
Middle Hawthorne would always like to take his plate of spaghetti and eat over here and not at the counter. That would drive me nuts. Fast forward to January 2008.
My birthday celebration. Ticky, Xmaskatie, Mr. Xmaskatie, and Glowria came to partay with us.
Ticky and I had decided upon a pirate theme, so here's our Pirate-Scape.
Complete with Peg-leg Pirate nutcracker and magnifying glass with map. I llllllllllooooooove youuuuuuuuu, Daniellllllllllllle! You tooooo, Miss Steph.
Now here's my brilliant part of our scape: It's a scape within a scape! Yes, I know. Smartest thing on the block.
Well, we finally got rid of the table. We gave it to Middle Hawthorne for his formal dining room at his new digs. What we wanted was something similar to a restaurant booth. Something that would be very inviting and something we would actually use. We talked to a local custom furniture maker, who apparently is a very good listener, because he gave us exactly what we wanted.
A few weeks ago, he brought over the base for our new table. The wood is iroko, a member of the teak family, and from the West Coast of Africa.
Here's the new granite top we picked out.
This granite is very unusual. And our piece is much prettier than the sample we picked from. Reminds me of smooth river rocks.
Here's Bench #1.
And Bench #2, with Bruce Ferrier of Kitty Hawk Woodworks, looking quite happy with his handiwork.
Here's our banquette with Mr. Hawthorne's antique lamp.
Today, we decided to move one of the benches just for kicks. It's a flexible arrangement. And what I really like about it is that it's inviting. Nobody ever sat at the other table. This one will be used. Excuse us while we start on our salads for lunch.

3 comments:

Marilyn said...

That is a beautiful stone for the table.

Anonymous said...

Rosie, that granite is beautiful, and I love the look of the wood pedestal. The benches are a great idea!

Unknown said...

Absolutely beautiful table! It almost looks like the base part of it was a natural shape, ya know? And the stone is just lovely (if I could find that, it'd be going in our upstairs bath....)