YIPPY YIPPY YIPPYYYYY!!!!

Ahhhh!!! I'm so excited right now!!!

As some of you know, I stalk the local antique warehouse called Slegers. Over time, I've scored some pretty cool stuff like trogs, a nice scale and even a spiffy lookin' coffee grinder. One of my main missions before we leave Belgium is to get a nice Belgian table. Their quality when it comes to furniture is amazing and I rather invest my money into antique stuff verses some modern day pieces (MAJOR difference in weight and sturdiness).

Well, there's this table I've been eyeballing for a while now. Since..hmmm..let's say December. A friend of mine ended up buying the larger version of the one I wanted because she got a killer deal (table, buffet AND hutch!). Here's a pic from her Facebook I acquired:

As much as I loved her set, it'd NEVER fit in our current house. Never, lol. So, I kept my eye on the table I was wanting. Thing is, it was in a set with a MASSIVE buffet and matching hutch. But, those two pieces didn't match the table..so that always made me wonder why they were wanting to sell it as a set.  Don't get me wrong, they're beautiful...but ridiculously large and would probably kill our weight allowance when it's time to move again. I found out that the price for the entire set was 1,400€ (aghhh, it hurts!) so I knew that wasn't gonna happen considering that converts to $2,005. Eeeek.

About a week ago, Eric finally had a day off in the week (that's a RARITY!) so I took him over to the warehouse to show him the table. He even liked it! Then again, I'm not surprised  since he and I are a lot alike when it comes to style. We both love dark walnut wood :) I noticed the table was set several aisles away from the buffet and hutch, so after doing some investigating, it turns out that they're selling the table separately because they realized it didn't match the rest of the set. YIPPY!

They were wanting 800€ for the table ($1,145)..it was do-able, but Eric really hated the chairs. REALLY hated them. They're very sturdy and rather heavy (about 8lbs a piece, at least), but it'd be kind of a pain to get them reupholstered. In all honesty, I wouldn't want to buy the chairs to just have them gutted and redone....not worth shelling out more money in the long run. So, we kinda went back and forth on it and decided we'd "see" if it was available once we got back from our Venice vacation.

For some reason, I had a feeling I needed to go over to Slegers today. I dunno how to explain it, but it was like a twitch saying "You NEED to go. Now.".... I tossed John in the Xterra and we rolled over there to check the table out and it had moved. My heart sank! I walked all around the showroom floor and I finally found it. Apparently someone had taken a look at it earlier and debated on whether or not they wanted it (sound familiar!?).. they hadn't put any money down on it, so it was still up for grabs. I managed to snag one of the employee's and asked him about it and we haggled back and forth. Since Eric and I were not fans of the chairs, I made it clear that I didn't want them with the table, so after some thought.. the guy knocked 150€ ($215) off of it for me. DONE DEAL! Sure, someone else had probably taken the time to go have lunch to think it over and come back..but I've been wanting this for a while! I ran down to the ATM and got the money for the deposit (we'll be picking it up after our Venice trip). The guy must've thought I was a nut because I was so happy about buying it, lol. The final price came to 650€ ($930) which really isn't all that bad considering the table is 100+ years old and in fabulous shape!

The pattern on the table top:

I love love love the detailed carving around the sides of the table as well as the legs!

The best part is that the table extends! When its extensions aren't pulled out, it's 55 inches long, and with the extensions it's 102 inches. Perfect if we want it for a regular dinner table, or if we wanna use it when we have additional company over! I think the coolest part is that the leafs are built into the table so you don't have to worry about storing them somewhere else in your house. If you wanna have more table space, you just pull the sides out and they slide out from underneath the main table top surface.

All I gotta do now is pick up some dark wood wax to spruce it up a lil bit and we're good to go! Luckily, they also sell that there for 5€ a container, so I'll make sure to snag some when we go back to finish up the purchase & arrange the delivery :)