The Leaf in the Table

Our new dining room table/two chairs

1800's sewing rocking chair

It all started with putting the leaf in our round dining room table.  We needed a table large enough for six people to sit at, inside out of the cold weather.  I really didn't think the dining room table would fit in the dining room with the leaf in it, but to my surprise, it did.  It was tight for walking around the table but it worked.  The only thing was, now we needed two more dining room chairs.  So we set out looking in the local antique shops.  You know how it is when you are looking for something...you can't find it.  Well, we still had the shops in Hartselle to look in.  The first shop we went in was this wonderful shop where everything in there was just beautiful and very expensive!  The lady was so sweet.  As I was standing there talking to her, this table caught Chuck's eye.  It had these interesting hinges on it so the two ends of it opened up.  It had a glass and wooden tray with handles on it in the middle and each end had a piece of white porcelain on it.  The lady said it was a " Prohibition Table" from the 1920's.  They would put their booze on the tray, cut their fruit for the drinks on the porcelain and then as you closed the table up, the tray dropped down and the table top closed up.  It looked like a regular table.  When they put a doily on the top of it, it covered up the crack where it opens and it looked just like a plain end table.  BUT! it had a key and the lock was on the back side of the table.  I fell in love with this table!!!  So, as we went down the street to look for what we really were looking for, the two dining room chairs, we went into one of our favorite shops there in town.  Half way back in the middle of the shop, were two chairs AND a table!  You had to buy the table too but the three pieces were only $100!  The table was square, had a leaf to make it rectangle, dark wood with pretty Queen Ann shaped legs.  The two chairs were a little bigger than the ones that we had but they would do.   We had brought the Explorer with us and now the table and chairs wouldn't fit in it, so Chuck went home to get the truck.  I stayed in town.  To kill time, Chuck told me to go in the nice shop that the lady who has recovered two of our chairs owns, to look around.  Ha!  That was a mistake.  Well, not really.  She had several pretty antique rocking chairs in there.  I love rocking chairs!!  There was this one, where she had a bunch of old quilts stacked on it.  As she moved the quilts for me to see the chair, she told me that it was the oldest piece she had in her shop.  It was a " sewing rocker" from the 1800's.  A " sewing rocker"!!!  Can you believe it????  It's the cutest thing ever.  The price tag had $65 and it was marked down to $25.  She said if I wanted it, I could have it for $20!!  SOLD!!  She thought the seat cushion on it was original.  It looked it!  So, when Chuck came back to load up the new, old dining room table and two chairs, he also had a little rocker to load too.  When we got home, I couldn't wait to redo the seat on the rocker.  I sat down on the floor and got to it.  I knew when I saw it, I would use the lavender/white toile fabric that I already had.  I did use the original tacks that were on it.  It turned out just how I wanted it.  I love it!!!  Now, back to the dining room table and two chairs.  Since our old dining room table was from a set that was made from light oak, I always had to keep a table cloth on it to hide the wood.  Everything else in our dining room is dark wood and the table just looked so out of place. We are using the light oak chairs in the kitchen. Chuck took the old dining room table down to the barn and we are using the new dark wood, rectangle one.  We covered the two chairs with the blue/white toile to match the other four chairs.  TA DA!!  New dining room table where six people can sit. The story continues though......