Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Shopping games

Spouse saw a table at the home show that he liked. He's been eying dining room tables for, oh I'd say ever since we've been together. No, we have never had THE dining room table, you know, the one that you buy and think, "That's the last table we'll ever need to buy." Every time spouse spots a table he loves, it's thousands of dollars. I've learned over the years to take none of them too seriously. We DO already have a table, where we can sit and eat if we wanted. (Usually we eat sitting on the floor at the coffee table.) Sure the table is purple, but that's what tablecloths are for.

Shopping and I have never really gotten along and it's too bad because I hear lots of people do this as an "recreational activity", whereas I've always thought of it as a chore. The game of saving money is not well played in shopping centers. So when Serge took an interest in the table at the show, I continued to walk acting like I hadn't seen his eyes light up. "Hey come'eer," he shouted and so I came over, yawning, to do my usual, "Yeah it's okay, but look at the price!" The price on the table was surely a come-on at $399. So I said, "Yeah it's okay, but look $399 just for the piece of glass top." He went right over to the sales rep and proved me wrong, that was the price for the whole table, so I said, "Great, we can get it then." You would have thought I'd said we'd won a tidy sum of money the way spouse reacted. "We can?????" he said with wide eyes. "Sure," I said as though it was nothing unusual. I guess after 15 years of saying no, he was rather surprised.

So he dragged me out yesterday morning to the shop selling the table. (Spouse knows how shopping makes me poo so I was charmed before we left when he checked, "Did you go poo?") There it was, 399, just like we saw at the show. But gosh it looked a lot bigger now. 60 inches in diameter. I suggested we map it out in the house to make sure it's not too cumbersome in the room. We have a long skinny living/dining room, so it can't be too wide. Rectangle works best, but everything is so rectangly, the room, the couch, the coffee table, the dining table. Blocky is needing some curves. Spouse asked if the glass top could be smaller and was told no. So we didn't buy it. We came home and looked at the room, and it could work but it's just a bit big. I'm letting spouse marinate with the idea for now.

If I did labels, today they would be: rectangly, poo, dining table

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is a large table. You might just need one that big when entertaining guests. Think of the Holiday banquets you could spread out on it. The glass top is easy to clean. That is a good price. Buy it Torn, buy it!
Be sure to go Poo before you go buy it though. Don't you hate to go Poo while shopping? Ed

Anonymous said...

My favorite line was, "Blocky is needing some curves."

Laugh out loud, funny. The three letters alone didn't do it justice.

Birdie said...

In a previous incarnation, I sold furniture. A customer was looking at dining tables but balked at a glass top. "I have a dog," she said. "It sits under the table while we eat and watches every bite disappear. I want wood this time." Be warned.

Anonymous said...

Can you imagine the price for a tablecloth ??!

My adventures said...

Have you tried putting some of the furniture at angles? I had a long narrow room like that once and it worked really well. I love round dining tables, they promote more conversation at dinner parties because you don't have the feeling that your talking over the person to your right and left. And, 399 sounds like a bargain!!

CoffeeDog said...

You ought to see about getting a wood table with a leaf. That's what we did to save on space and to make our blocky room have some flow.

A word on glass table tops...we have one and it's always dirty. I'd avoid glass now that I know this.

Anonymous said...

Minus the need to poo beforehand, I'm exactly like you when it comes to shopping, Torn.

RJ March said...

You were smart to map it out first. And I agree with you that it sounds like your room could use some curvature. That price is hard to beat, though, don't you think? I'm trying to envision 60" and come up short-- poor spatial imagining.

Doug said...

That's so sweet he asked if you had already gone poo.

I hate to suggest this, but you can always get a smaller piece of glass made for the table. We've done that in the past. More $$, yes, but if it's a nice table...

Patricia said...

If it doesn't work now, it won't get better. This from someone who looked for a table for 5+ years. I glance at my table now and have your thought: this is the last table I'll ever have. And I love it.

I agree with getting one with a leaf or leaves. It takes an everyday table to a dinner party very easily. I was intrigued by the ones with built-in leaves but went with a more traditional one.

ChickenStrip said...

I like Blocky for a label!


Shopping makes you go poo?

Cooper said...

I want a new dining table, too. The one I have is ugly and scratched and old (purchased at a garage sale for $30.) So far, I have purchased the wrought-iron chairs which go with the table I want, but not the table itself. It, too, has a glass top and as it costs several times $399, I haven't been able to justify it, yet.

I think if you did labels, your poo category would be a long one!

Rox said...

I have a big rectangular pine table. Pine is soft. It's pocky. I love it though, it has tons of character. I say keep your purple table!! Sorry Serge!

GayProf said...

$399 is less of a deal if you end up regretting it because it so big and cumbersome.

Also, wouldn't this mean that you would need new chairs?

Lyvvie said...

New table base looks like it should have barb wire on it. Purple table sounds cool. Sitting on the floor and dining off the coffee table is exotic. Serge already has it good.

Polt said...

"rectangly, poo, dining table"

Eh, i think those could be the labels for ANY of my days. Glad to know I'm in good company! :)

HUGS...

TED said...

I hate shopping, but I love shopping online. Do you guys have an overstock.com equivalent or do they deliver up there? You can just check the dining tables category once a week until they have what you like. Just make sure to check the feedback pages.

Anonymous said...

I can't tell you how many times something caught my eye before thinking to myself, "Will it fit?" Glad you caught it before the money was put down! :-)

Anonymous said...

I hate shopping as a rule, but furniture is the one thing I enjoy. I'm amazed often by the lack o f quality and the sales folks justification for it. I'm' a stickler for what I want and the price for which I want it... I refuse to pay my money for a poo-riddled piece of workmanship.

Anonymous said...

I guess it's a great deal since it's so big and hard to sell, but if Serge's eyes really lit up and it would make him that happy, I say go for it. You'll learn to squeeze past the table and then you'll forget that the size was ever an issue - and Serge will be happy.

Anonymous said...

I hate shopping too...BUT FURNITURE shopping, now that's completely different! Love it! Buying anything for the home is always ten thousand times more fun and interesting than buying clothes.

We have two dining room sets. One was such an incredibly good quality that a friend was getting rid of and said "just take it", the other is equally nice that we inherited from a different friend. Works out well since we also have two dining rooms, one for winter and one for summer.

Snooze said...

My ex had some weird porn about people pooing on top of glass tables. This is what the post brought to mind.

Like other posters, I love the 'blocky' line.

Patrick said...

My roommate can never turn free stuff so when one of his clients offered him a wooden desk, he snapped it up... Only to discover it wouldn't fit through our door. In no configuration. And taking the top off turned out to be an undertaking of epic proportions. He was sure it would be smaller than the (perfectly fine) desk he already had, thought that was going to please me... but it's actually a bit bigger. I haven't yet smothered him in his sleep. Not sure why I put up with this from a man I'm not sleeping with.

Sh@ney said...

That is usually something that happens to me...I find that one piece of 'something' that I really like and it always turns out that it is too big or I woud have to rearrange everything around it...I am a big POO to go shopping with...I like to race in, race out and buy the first thing that catches my eye (that includes clothing) Yer I am not a fashion queen of any means...The Simple Life!! *winks*
Don't let him marinate too long!!

Anonymous said...

A table fable? Nice touch, TW. Best of luck to Serge searching for the elusive perfect table for 399.

Mark in DE said...

I loved:
1. how excited Serge got when you agreed to buy the table
2. that Serge knows you so well he asked if you had gone poo before leaving to shop
3. that even though the table is likely too big, you're still letting him contemplate whether or not to buy it
4. most every story about Richard and Serge

Mark :-)

dpaste said...

Well it's clear who the top is in this relationship, at least as far as monetary decisions are concerned.