Furniture Follies

[serinde]

I'm having certain conflicts that are naturally attendant on moving from a five-bedroom house to a two-room apartment; most are resolvable in the "pitch it or store it" fashion, but some require a bit more dithering, and I'm not sure on the solution.

#1: Desk. Currently in the house is my grandma's old desk, which I'm excessively attached to. And that's fine; it's a perfect height for me to pay bills, do homework, etc., and it has many useful drawers; but the problem is, it is not a salubrious item for putting my computer on. Even if (when) I upgrade to an iMac, which will take up dramatically less room than my current beast, well, I will be sitting at it for several hours at a time most likely, and will not be able to use a good office chair with it. And it seems patently ridiculous to sacrifice space for two desks.

#2. Table. I haven't one. It needs to be of sufficient size to seat four for dinner (and be repurposed for sewing, playing a game, or what-have-you), and yet not clutter up the room. I do have a square, plain pine IKEA table, but it isn't nice-looking (even with a table cloth) and I'm not sure about the height. And, I just don't know where to put a table at all.

I'm sure other line items will occur (where do the bookshelves go?) but these are what's uppermost in my head at the moment.

Comments

[missionista.livejournal.com]

Can the desk live with Beth or someone else for a while?

As far as a table, take the one you've currently got. I assume it folds down, so can be stashed for a while. Once you've got the room set up how you like it, then you can see what sort of space you have left over for a new table, take measurements, find a nice one that folds, etc.

[syringavulgaris.livejournal.com]

The table does not fold down. It's a square top with a leg bolted to each corner.

[missionista.livejournal.com]

In that case, pitch it, sell it, or donate it, especially as you don't like the way it looks.

[xlerb.livejournal.com]

Depending on how much of the IKEA-nature the table has, it may be feasible to disassemble it into something more compact until such time as a more precise judgement can be made. (I can report that this is profitably doable with a BJÖRKUDDEN.)

OTOH, if you didn't like it anyway, then maybe not worth the effort.

[heliumbreath.livejournal.com]

I suppose I should mention the idea of seating two at each desk for dinner, thus solving both the desk and table issues, so that having covered that life can move on in a more sensible but less exciting fashion.

[caelfinn.livejournal.com]

For many years I had a table that had two leaves. When both were folded down it was only about 6" wide. You could literally stash it against a wall in a hallway and you'd hardly notice it. I often left one leaf up for me to eat at and then if I were having guests I would open both and we could seat 6 (in a friendly fashion). It's a common design and I'm sure you could find one for not too much money. I think it's generally called a drop-leaf table, but you want one that is very small when all leaves are dropped.

Here's a photo of something similar. Mine was rectangular but you get the idea. See how narrow it is when both leaves are down?

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_journal/woodworking/4273748.html

I agree with missionista that it is good to live in a new place for a bit and then see what works. Bring the desk that works with your computer and then after you're living there for a while you'll know if you can change things around to include your grandmother's desk. By then maybe you'll have the iMac and a good chair.

[syringavulgaris.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I mean, Steve's mom's "clown table" is like that (only more so) (though of course he's taking that), but I didn't think they still made that kind of thing.

[caelfinn.livejournal.com]

I haven't shopped for one so I don't know for sure that they're out there. But on the other hand since everyone in NYC has to deal with space constraints I would think it would be a popular style.

*type type type* Here's one from Ikea that's 10" wide when it's competely closed. It has gate legs which I believe is the construction that gives you the narrowest profile when closed:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20104718

[lillilah]

I agree with the gate-leg table suggestion and the suggestion to leave the desk at Beth's, if she is okay with that. We also have a table with a leaf, which is hugely nice. If you were interested in something else, there are those sewing machine tables with folding out leaves. You could get one that you can store your sewing machine in, and it could double as a dining table if it was the right size. I do have instructions for building one, if you are interested in doing some woodworking (but I'm guessing you have no time for that).