Our Kitchen Dining Set is Turning One!

Last fall, I had kitchen tables on the brain. I was so tired of our family of five trying to fit around a table that was really meant to seat four people comfortably. Since we could not really spare the money to buy a brand new set, I ended up looking on Craig's List. By a stroke of luck, I found this large dining set made of solid wood for an incredible price. If you read my blog back then, you may have remembered how excited I was about this find.

Okay, yes it is great that we can seat three children plus two adults and still have room for two or three more people, but this set literally fills our whole dining area in this tiny little shoebox of a townhouse we live in. Luckily the bench can be pushed in under the table. Unfortunately, we do not always remember to do that. I have the bruises on my shins to prove it.

I really do love this table set, but it makes everything such a tight fit that we cannot have company over for dinner . . . well, aside from my parents, who do not mind the cramped quarters. Of course, we will not be living in this townhouse forever.

So, do we keep this dining set or sell it and find something else that seats only six people?

I received a gift certificate from CSN Stores for participating in this campaign.

Shop 'n' Share: Our First Purchase from Craig's List

My husband and I have sold a few items on Craig's List before, but we've never purchased anything . . . until yesterday. We were in a situation where the dining table we had inherited from my parents was on it's last leg. Not to mention that I don't think the chairs were built to hold anyone over 100lbs. Since buying a brand new dining set, that would be built better than the one we had, was not in the cards for us, I reluctantly decided to take a look on Craig's List. I am not a big fan of buying pre-owned items, but it couldn't hurt to look, right? I convinced myself that it would like going antiquing . . . sort of.

I immediately found a casual dining set that was our style, seated 6, was in great condition, and was priced at only $225. Of course it was sold. Then I noticed that many people were selling the tables by themselves and others were selling just chairs. So I found this beautiful solid wood table for only $99 with delivery included. I called the man up and he said he just dropped it off at someone's house only 15 minutes ago. It was starting to become clear to me that I needed to babysit the listings and really act fast if I saw something I liked.

It was about 10 o'clock at night and I was giving up on the possibilities of any new listings for that day. So I hit refresh one more time, just for the heck of it. Then there it was! Our new dining set. It was the right color, the right size, in great condition, and was priced at only $210! I showed the photos to my husband quickly and then emailed the seller right away. Within 40 minutes, we had the details all worked out.

So here it is . . .



The family who owned it previously took very good care of these pieces for 16 years. It is solid wood and more than strong enough to hold up against 3 young children. I bet we'll own it for at least 16 years ourselves.