The Tale of a Table

A friend with similar taste in junk recently clued me in to a fabulous store here in town called Patina. Isn't that a great name? The store is filled to bursting with the things that you and I love--fabulous, interesting antiques, chippy paint, tarnished silver, bowls of neat old game pieces, skeleton keys--are you drooling yet? Their displays are inventive and unusual and inspiring and although I've only been there twice, it's already my favorite place to shop!

On my first visit to Patina I spied a table in the window display that immediately caught my eye. I've never seen anything like it and I was instantly taken by it, but I knew that like many things in the store, its price tag would be similarly awe-inspiring. However, I could not stop thinking about it! I talked about it with my friend, I told my mom about it, I even made a sketch of it so that I would remember it in case I ever came across the materials to make it.

Last week in honor of my birthday I decided to splurge and get a babysitter during the day so that I could do a few errands, including a visit to Patina. When I got there I looked anxiously toward the window to see the table again but it was gone. I wasn't surprised; it had been several weeks since my last visit and something that eye-catching surely wouldn't last long. I shopped and enjoyed myself and when it was time to pay for my purchases I waited my turn at the register. And then I turned around...

And there was my table! It wasn't gone, it had simply been moved and I had walked right past it several times without noticing. I checked the price tag--GULP!--and continued to stare at it, when I got a wild idea. What if I just...bought it? Threw caution (and good financial sense) to the wind and just...took it home with me? And so I did! So, you wanna see my new table?

Oh, it makes my heart go pitter-pat. Right now it is filled with beautiful, shiny, bright Jelly Bellies, but the glass top is removable so I can fill up the cups with anything I like. I'm already thinking of what I can do for Halloween...Christmas....Valentine's...all the little trinkets I pick up when thrifting like dice, dominoes, old keys, game pieces, spools etc. It has a million possibilities and I love thinking about them.

Now, to be completely honest: now that I have it home, I know that I paid too much for it. WAY too much. I'm a little shocked at myself, really--I'm not one for big impulse purchases at all. But really, I do love this so much! The only thing about it that I wish I could change is that the antique table it is made from has splayed legs, so it doesn't sit flat against a wall and is too large to sit diagonally in a corner.

If you get a wild hair and want to make one to match, it's simply a table with the top pulled off. The oversize muffin tin (it's huge--had to have been used for something much larger like pies) is screwed to the two top pieces. Four of those rubber stopper things are stuck to the corners and a custom piece of glass with rounded corners rests on the top. Really, it wouldn't be hard to make at all. The hardest thing to find would be the huge baking tin. It looks like something commercial rather than what a home cook would use.


And now, I had better get my eBay-selling rear in gear! I need to pay for my new treasure!