A Round Wood Pedestal Dining Table: a house log

First things first. We have a furniture name change to attend to. Our giant 70″ dining table arrived (you know, the one we blathered on and on about here), and he simply cannot be called Woody. Because he’s obviously not a he, he’s a she. Given her elegant lines and curvy figure, I do not know how we ever could have made that mistake. We at last landed on Stella as her new moniker because she’s certainly a stellar addition to the future dining room. Har har. And since we already have Ed (the bed) and Karl (the sectional), I felt like I needed a lady-friend to balance things out.

Update: Everyone’s asking about the paint swatches in the background – but they are in fact truly old. Here is that post for ya.

And here is the varied carved top that I described more here. It’ll be strong for hiding those dings and dents that happen when you live with children. And when you yourself are not known to be the most coordinated person in the world. I may have had one or two incidents involving flying salad tongs in the past.

The strong thing is that although the top has a pleasant rough texture – and it is made of especially durable (and sustainable) sheesham wood – that vivid hand-carved look is not so “dented” (for lack of a better word) that you cannot balance a glass on it or you worry that crumbs will get stuck in the crevices. We’d best describe ’em as pleasant mild waves.

We also enjoy that the base is not as invasive as something with legs (or even a leggy-pedestal) could have been. So once we pull eight apple green upholstered chairs around it, no one will end up straddling a leg throughout the meal. Pleasant.

Yup, Stella is nothing if not balanced and poised. She instantly created that casual and inviting vibe that we were going for in the future dining room. We centered her right on the giant picture window, which still leaves some room on the other side of the room to create a pleasant defined entryway so it does not feel like you are walking right into the middle of a dining room. And once we add our 6′ opening between the kitchen and the future dining room (which we plan to line up with the picture window for some pleasant balance) and drop a chandelier or pendant over the table we think it’ll truly be a large improvement.

But back to Stella. Her welcoming round shape is not too stuffy, but it is still classic and even luxe looking thanks to the rich-toned wood (we truly truly hoped a wood toned table over something painted so it could get weathered and enjoyed over the years while wipeable chairs and colorful art and curtains could add some punch and interest around our big round table). And speaking of those chairs, I am convinced that Stella will look endlessly more fab when we pair her with some lively apple green leather (or faux leather) parsons chairs down the line. I may have mentioned them, oh, seven or eight times. I am thinking something like this after we build up the ol’ bank balance. I simply enjoy the idea of mixed and matched dining furniture so it feels casual and kind of library-esque (thanks to upholstery instead of plenty of wooden chairs paired with a similarly toned wood table). Because let us face it. This room will certainly multitask as a big surface where kids will do crafts and school projects and all that good stuff. At least if we are lucky, because I painted that quaint little picture in my head and I want it to in fact happen.

Anyway, sufficient soul baring and dream sharing for now. Until we get those green chairs, Stella will simply be hanging out in the middle of our future dining room alone. That is once we figure out where those slipper chairs that used to be in the living room will end up. And after we at last craigslist the white slipcovered sofa (we will share the link over to our craigslist ad for any interested locals when that day comes). Yes, this is what the room in fact looks like these days:

Feel free to have a little caption contest with this awkward setup. My entry would be: “Gary was such a couch potato that he preferred to eat his potatoes on the couch.” Um, yeah I suck at captions. Please come up with something better.

The point is that we will get our little furniture smorgasbord straightened up sooner or later. And then our girl Stella will be the true star of the room. Cause she’ll be the only thing in the room. Hah. But somehow I do not think she’ll mind living it up in there alone. She’s all woman. And she can totally hold her own. Do you know how heavy that chunky wood tabletop is? Let us simply say it took two muscled men about 30 minutes to wrestle it into place. Gotta enjoy a strong (& sexy) femme fatale. Go on with your bad self, Stella.

Psst- Our babyproofing adventures have begun over on BabyCenter. Let us simply say we are taking baby steps, so you can check out some riveting outlet cover chatter here. Oh and feel free to share your babyproofing pointers – we are total novices to the point of hilarity.