Our Family Table

We outgrew our dinning room table a long time ago.  We were squeezing seven around a table meant for six at its biggest.  So we gave it away to some friends before moving.  Once we got somewhat settled here, we started hunting for a unique and large table, ideally seating ten.  We went to a flea market that we heard was good, but hit it on a rainy day and few vendors brought furniture.  Then we made a full Saturday of it and went to all the antique stores in our area that had been recommended to us.  I found one I loved, but it was made of pine and just pushing your fingernail into it left a permanent mark.  The last store we stopped at, I sent Brian in to give it a quick look while I sat with the kids in the van.  I was getting tired and two of them were sleeping.  He came out and told me I had to go in and look at this table.  It had some sun damage and the sweet lady who owned the shop said they had just received it and she was going to sand and stain it.  She even found a bench to match it and threw it in for a small fee.  It is a one hundred year old, Brittany style table.  The carvings in the backs of the chairs and the table legs are amazing.

The bench has a storage area in it.

Here it seats eight or nine depending on if you put three people on the bench.  It has another leaf that pulls out and we have one more matching chair.  We could fit two on each end if needed and two more when the second leaf is pulled out making it possible to fit thirteen if we had company.  I think we'll be trying to buy two more matching chairs before we leave Germany.

I can't find the pictures of the legs, but they are carved people, each leg unique.  All of the chairs have different people's profiles on them as well.  I only have two of them pictured here.  We love it!  As you can see we started using place mats since Brian is a little worried about scratches.  Anytime we buy something nice I am always reminded of why we shouldn't buy nice things.  I love nice things.  It's just that we have a lot of kids and, although I try to teach them to be respectful of peoples' things, I don't want to spend all my time worrying about stuff getting messed up.  Because stuff does get messed up no matter how hard you try.  The first scratch is the hardest, right?