[craigslist vs. ikea part 1]

fyi, this is going to be a long post with a lot of pictures. so i will break it up over the week.

when i first moved into my small apartment i was lucky enough to have a dining area. as i've stated via twitter and in earlier posts, i was torn on whether to have a pool table or a dining table. without any prize money in que, its ok to guess that i chose a dining table.

when it came time to choose a dining table there were obvious criterium and key factors; size, shape, longevity and price.  with these in mind i started the search. an interesting search to say the least, but i will say it anyway.

when i started looking for a dining table, i was not exactly sure what i wanted, but i knew i wanted something that provided a mix with all of the traditional stuff i had in my home.

i first saw this table at a discount furniture warehouse. i then saw it again at pier 1 imports. i tried to buy it off the showroom floor in my local pier 1, but i was told it was now being used for display and it is NOT for sale.

a few months later one popped up on charlotte's craigslist. the seller wanted $700. ummm no. i tried to get them to come down, but they wouldn't so i left them with their $700 table.

now i was stuck with no options.

i bought a complete dining set from goodwill for $200. i stopped liking it 2 days later, so i sold it 3 days later. it was nice, but i didn't like the table and its a challenge to buy a second hand table without chairs. 

now i had no table.

so when the Nate Show contacted me i had to scramble to get a table in. so this here is just a banquet table, and table cloths. i think it looks good, but it was temporal.

colin cowie is probably one of the most well known names and brands among those who are party planners and the like. i often browse his image gallery to get inspiration. one day i came across one of his dining room parties.

this image from cowie's past thanksgiving gives a clear view of his dining table.

so, there it was. i had found the table i wanted. the top was clear glass and the base was chrome. since the chairs i had were traditional, this was a great juxtaposition.

so now it was time to locate his source page and get one. yeah right.

i looked everywhere. craigslist was full of glass tables, but they weren't EXACTLY what i wanted. i went to a local furniture store, they had the table, but it was a bit wide and the price was just too high.

while browsing the intraweb again i came across this image.

hmmm...i liked it even more.

i contacted the blogger and they told me the table came from ikea. so i went to my local store to take a closer look. if you guess it was EXACTLY want i wanted you are wrong. it was almost.

if you look at this picture you can see there are bars running the length of the table. i didn't like the look of the bars. but i knew if i opted for the same glass as the first one, i wouldn't notice it. so it was settled...this was the table.

i didn't buy it right then. i mean ikea always has stuff in stock. if it is there today surely it would be there tomorrow. boy was i wrong.

by the time i had gotten back around to buying the table they were sold out. well not exactly, i was told that they were changing manufactures and it would be some time soon before they would have it...

Mr. Goodwill Hunting
mr.goodwillhunting@gmail.com
www.twitter.com/MrGWHunting