Saturday Upsides: The Dining Table Quest

*NOTE: Although I did write this post on Saturday, we got on the road before I had a chance to publish it. So here it is, a day late! But it can still be considered an upside, right? And technically, it was completely written on Saturday. 😉

This post will be short as I have to leave in a few minutes but as I slacked off for the past couple of weeks, I wanted to make sure to write a Saturday Upside post this morning. Because I might be overwhelmed by my schoolwork but I should still see an upside somewhere, right? That’s what I was thinking too. 😉

This week’s upside is about our dining room table saga. Two years ago, we bought a beautiful solid wood dining room table from Craigslist. We loved it…until we tried using it as a work desk as well as a place to eat. I should explain that my husband and I both used to have desks but at some point, we got tired of them, decided to sell them and had no choice but sit on the main floor of our house, at the dining room table. The only problem we developed with said table is that it was too tall. It was a very convenient display for food at dinner parties but not so ergonomic to sit at all day to work or study. So we decided to go ahead and try to sell it on Craigslist (back to its roots!) to make room for a new table. Well, the table was gone in just a few days and we were far from ready to make the hike (2 hours away) to Ikea to get a new one! We had seen one there that we liked so we knew we’d get it there. But we were also trying to get rid of other furniture, hoping to get a lot more than a table on our trip to Ikea.

Exhibit A: The perfect if not-so-tall dining room table…

Anyway, all this to say that for the last three weeks or so now, I’ve been studying on my husband’s 20-ish years old folding picnic table. Luxurious right? That little piece of plastic used to be his kitchen table when he got his first apartment. That table can obviously survive anything. It folds into a nice little suitcase which is why we’ve kept it so long. It takes no room at all. Indeed, so little room that my husband didn’t even realize that I had left it, folded, on our front porch for over a year. When we realized we’d need it as an emergency table, we both worried that leaving it outside might have ruined it. But not too worry, the little table that could only needed a quick wipe and was ready to get back to work. Of course, opening up that table also came with a lot of memories for my husband so I got to hear a lot of stories ending with “…if the table survived that time, it can survive anything!” I’m glad it brought him back some fond memories but I have to say that it was a VERY uncomfortable place to be all day.

Exhibit B: The fun but uncomfortable picnic table. Any furniture that can fold into a suitcase size can’t be that great for daily use.

Well, all this time having to deal with uncomfortable tables will make me appreciate today even more. Yes, we are finally going to Ikea to buy what will hopefully be “the perfect table”. I feel like a child on Christmas Day and I am not ashamed of it. 😉
*Sunday Morning Update: We came back from Ikea last night with a new table (among many other things)! I cannot wait to put it together today!

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Bonnie at Recipes Happen came up with the brilliant idea of Saturday Upsides blog posts. Because every situation should have an upside, otherwise, just keep looking for one!