Furniture shopping online

[JenTwo]

We have a tiny house and a big kitchen table. I like the table but it absolutely doesn't fit. We have it in the only spot it remotely fits in and there's an 8" walkway between the wall and the table. We're constantly running into the corners of the table... ds's head is just the right height to hit exactly on his cheeks, nose, etc.

We've looked around at consignment, thrift, etc stores and we haven't found anything. We've gone to auctions- what a laugh. People pay more for the used tables than they cost new- seriously.

The next problem is that DH and I are picky. We don't want a particleboard, laminate, chemical-laden, cancer-causing piece of junk in the house for any amount of time. DH would make the table but time-wise we may be in a new home before that happens.

So where can we find a small (4-person) solid wood or glass table online without selling organs on the black market in order to afford it? There are pretty much zero stores here except wallyworld. We've thought about purchasing a glass-top patio set since it would fit but I think we'd be entering the realm of super tacky.

Or maybe someone has a brillant idea?

[Katie]

Do you have a fleetfarm near you? They have nice unfinished wood furniture. Cheap too.

I'll think on this some more....

[JenTwo]

DH wants to try to modify the table we have. Who knows WHEN that will happen...

[mamabear]

Just seeing this. It's so hard to find good used furniture! Especially for anchor pieces that get heavily used like tables and chairs.

I have been looking on overstock.com for sofas...they had some tables/chairs but most seemed to be particleboard. :P

We have the exact same problem w/our table. I am not sure what we are going to do either. So far we're making it work. But we really want to save up and get a good locally-made table from Lyndonville Furniture - ouch though! The price is insane, and the kids practically write on the thing so spending that much money seems doubly insane, yk?

We recently found a small square table with four chairs for $399 at a local furniture store. We didn't want to make a decision that day so I am sure it is gone, but maybe if you scour the clearance areas of local furniture stores you will find something?

I like the idea of an unfinished wood furniture place. Those places have nice solid pieces for decent money. We still have a highboy dresser we bought ten years ago for $250 including the finishing. You can always get it unfinished and oil it with a natural oil.

[JenTwo]

We spent yesterday rearranging. We brought the glass outdoor table in and cleaned it well, placed a cover over it and voila! Small kitchen table. Then we moved the larger one into our room and we arranged it as dh's study area with my sewing machines pushed to the side.

THEN we moved our bed into the kids room. They wind up in the bed by morning anyhow, why not make the distance shorter? Plus their room we recently redid with wood flooring while our bedroom has moldy carpeting (a story for another day- I hate it here). So now we can breathe while sleeping at night.

It works for now. And it was a free fix.

[mamabear]

That sounds great!

I was lusting over these - Amish Dining Room Tables | Large Dining Room Tables and Chairs - last night. Beautiful! And not as expensive as I'd thought they might be.

[3Gs4Me]

We are currently using dh's parents first table that was bought as a wedding gift for them in 1957. You would think what a cool heirloom type of thing to use but it is really an ugly piece of not so great furniture. It is not solid wood and part of the top layer of thin wood has chipped off. The poor thing has been used and abused but it is ours and we will need to keep it for at least a couple of years.

It does have fold down ends though so dh and I have discussed folding down the ends and using the leftover tile from our kitchen to make a new table top. We got some decent clearanced chairs that will serve us for a few years so if we can give the table a make over we should be okay until our other debt is paid off.