Well, it’s been 4 months since we moved here. Yes, 4 months, and our house is still a work in progress. Oh it’s fully functional, just not decorated. But we’re getting there. After 4 months and numerous trips to various furniture stores, antique shops, yea’s and nays, I like this, I don’t like that, we finally found a dining room table. Hallelujah!

Please note that I said we finally found a dining room table. I did not say we finally found a dining room table that we both love and agree on. Shopping for home furnishings has required some amount of, um, compromise. Give and take, silver bullets,etc. I had seen this table when we first started looking and I really liked it. No, I loved it…a lot. JD, not so much, but to his credit he kept an open mind. We are after all, talking about the same man that poo pooed paisley bedding, remember? It’s really rustic looking, which is what we both wanted, but we each had a different idea of what rustic was.

Keep in mind, we agreed early on that we wanted our house to have a rustic feel, so there was to be no formal anything. No formal living room, and no formal dining room. I do however, like the idea of a rustic table with a pretty chandelier. Not the gold, crystally kind, just something pretty, yet casual. What I wasn’t counting on, was an arrangement of deer antler hanging above the dining room table shining light down on my plate while we dine in our casual, yet tasteful dining room which is precisely what JD had in mind.

JD: Hey, how about a deer antler light fixture?
Me: Uh, that’s not really what I had in mind.
JD: I don’t really care for chandeliers.
Me: But antlers? Can’t you put that in the garage?

About that time, I came to my senses and the light bulb went on. Wait a minute. If I agree to some sort of antler light, I can use that as leverage to get this table I really, really want. Some people might call that compromise. I call it negotiating.

I’ll see your antler light fixture and raise you one rustic table that you don’t really like. Imagine my surprise when he said, “Deal!”

Here’s where it gets more fun. This table comes in two lengths, long and short. Although I was pretty certain the longer table was what we needed (because we had measured way back when), JD was insistent that we could only fit the shorter one in the dining room. I was thrilled to be getting the table at all and I was not about to disagree! Well, a week later JD was away on travel when the delivery truck pulled up and in comes my rustic, but very short table. The delivery guys put it in the middle of the dining room and no joke, it looks like a foot stool in the dining room! It’s not that the dining room is big, it’s just average size. But the table is so short, all I could do was laugh – and call JD to tell him need the longer table. Our new, rustic, long table will be here next week, and then I suppose we will begin the search for a new light fixture (with antlers).

I’m happy to finally have furniture in the dining room, and just in time for the holidays. I wonder how deer antler will look with Christmas decorations!!!