Earlier this year, we took the plunge and did a home renovation. Let me tell you, living through a home renovation is NOT for the faint of heart. Armed with my crockpot, BBQ and some simple meal ideas, I headed into the reno with grand plans to breeze through the process with ease. “It’s just like we’re camping.” I told our girls.

Well, 6 weeks into the 8 week reno, I was over it. I could manage the mess, the constant inconvenience of having dust and dirt trekked through our home, and I didn’t even mind the lack of a modern kitchen. (Oh, and those grand expectations of preparing simple meals and eating out in backyard each night… nope. Can anyone say “take out”?!)

What I missed most of all was a stove and a kitchen table. Being able to make a simple meal like pasta and sit around the dinner table became a craving far greater than I had anticipated.

Having our home open to friends and family is really important to me. Creating a welcoming space for people to hang out and enjoy a great conversation with some decent food, makes my heart happy. However, I’ve also learned that having a revolving front door means wear and tear on our furniture. So, when looking for a new dining table, I had a list of desired features.

• Must already look old and beat up (to hide wear and tear!)
• Must be a classic design, that will continue to thrive in any space with age
• Must have trestle or pedestal legs
• Must be small enough to fit into our everyday kitchen space
• MUST extend to accommodate large gatherings

My search landed me in touch with Harrington and Sons Furniture, a small, home-based business, specializing in custom made dining tables. The owner, Dave, is a passionate, artistic man, with a love for creating new designs, at an affordable price.

Dave was such a pleasure to work with! We drove about an hour out of town and met to sketch ides of the kind of table I was envisioning. He contributed his knowledge, based on his experience creating tables, and found a way to blend my ideas with the practical how-to. I was dead set on having an X in the legs, and although he had never created that design before, Dave made it happen!

Now that the renovation is complete, the kitchen is truly the heart of our home, and the dining table has become the centre for family life. We eat, chat, do homework, play games, blog, work, and essentially live at our dining table.

And we even hosted Thanksgiving Dinner for 12 people!

Thanks Dave for making this one of a kind piece for us!

xox,