Made in Sweden

Back in June, I got all whiney about how fugly the living room was and how hard it is to find affordable furniture. And I haven’t really discussed it since. My bad.

Well, things are inching along in there. Now it looks less like Ikea-loving gypsies live here and more like normal people with the potential for stylishness do. This is, in part, thanks to a new coffee table!

I found it in a thrift store that I frequent near the apartment for $75 (after the 25% furniture sale discount, mind you. Upper East Side thrift stores are run by crazy old ladies who think they work at Bloomingdales.). Steep for a thrift store but cheap by Craigslist standards. It’s a nice size and the wood is actually in really good shape. Also, it has these sexy long skinny tapered legs. And it’s Swedish. Exotic little minx.

So even though I might eventually want something a little less wood and possibly a little more metal/glass, I quite like it for the here and now. Regardless, I’m glad I no longer have to look at or think about these:

Meet the Ikea Molger Bench (awaiting a hack) and piece-o-shit table I pulled out of the trash (that I subsequently made even worse by trying to cleanse with rubbing alcohol). See that little drawer? It’s fake, that whole side is just one piece. One plastic piece… that snazzy carving work ain’t cheap.

Oh, and flower arranging credit in the first two photos goes to my friend Desiree, who brought them to my Sunday night True Blood Finale party. The southern-inspired menu included the amazing Door Sixteen Vegetarian Chilihomemade cornbread, baked macaroni and cheese, a strawberry-blueberry crisp, and a salad thing nobody really ate. I don’t want to toot my own horn, but it was all so fucking good. Which kind of made up for my Time Warner Cable malfunctioning, causing us all to miss the first ten minutes of a finale that I think we all can agree was pretty lame anyway.

About Daniel Kanter

Hi, I'm Daniel, and I love houses! I'm a serial renovator, DIY-er, and dog-cuddler based in Kingston, New York. Follow along as I bring my 1865 Greek Revival back to life and tackle my 30s to varying degrees of success. Welcome!

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28 Comments

  1. 9.15.10
    mina said:

    i love the new table. it’s purdy. we’re living without living room furniture at the moment because we just moved in and i have trouble committing to anything. you’ve had such luck at thrift stores!

    the first 10 minutes were just as bad as the rest. but you know, we watch anyway.

    your blog is my new fave.

  2. 9.15.10

    Really nice job with the coffee table find. I like the simplicity of the table and you are right about the table does have”sexy long skinny tapered legs”. :)

  3. 9.15.10
    LeeAnn said:

    That’s pretty sweet! I found a similar styled side table recently and it took my living room from “looked like I just moved in” to “hey at least I now have a table in my living room!” Sill a lot to do for sure! When I was researching the origins of my table I saw a collection produced just prior to mine that looks very similar to your table (1960-1963) and then the company decided dove tails were awesome and made the collection my little table is from. Blogged: http://mintbasil.blogspot.com/2010/07/nesting.html

    Don’t look around too much on the ol’ blog. The rural, domestic nature of it all may turn your stomach! :P

    • 9.15.10

      Not at all, I love seeing other people’s blizzogs! Is your table Lane? The dovetail is lovely!

  4. 9.15.10
    Annika said:

    Lovely table! I feel compelled to comment on this post because 1: I really enjoy reading your blog and have been thinking I should tell you that, 2: I recently found a dinner table/ 4 chairs in the same style and I’m so pleased about it, 3: I’m Swedish so I felt it was suitable to speak up and be proud of the design capability my country. Have a nice day :)

  5. 9.15.10

    You made my chili! Yay! I haven’t made it yet this year, but I think next weekend might be chili-season kickoff time for me.

    LOVE the table. LOVE. It’s really hard to find pieces like that in such good condition. The wood looks so yummy and warm.

    What’s the story behind the lamp? Have you already talked about it? My memory isn’t as terrifyingly good as yours…

    • 9.15.10

      Hells yeah I did! I LOVE that chili, I’ve probably made it about a dozen times since you originally posted the recipe. I really only deviate by adding a little crushed red pepper because I like spicy stuff. deeeeeelicious.

      I bought the lamp about two years ago at an estate sale, back when I was in my hoarding-for-an-apartment-that-doesn’t-exist phase. I rewired it and spray painted the base matte black (it was a brushed brass that was sort of corroding) and cannibalized the Pottery Barn shade from another lamp. I actually did take pictures of the process, maybe I’ll do up a little post about it.

  6. 9.15.10

    Love the table, it looks like it is in incredible shape. Pretty good deal as well!

    True Blood finale was such a let down. Boo.

  7. 9.15.10

    Nice table. I like the wood.

  8. 9.15.10
    Amiechan said:

    From swedish to swedish! Looks like my granny’s table. Nice!

    And yes, I’m swedish too. :-D

  9. 9.15.10
    Amiechan said:

    Btw, I was lucky and found myself chairs for my livingroom a month ago. Paid 50kr, around 5dollars. It can be cheap to thrift teak around here… :-)

  10. 9.15.10
    natasha said:

    Everything on the second picture looks so… perfect.
    I mean really everything.

  11. 9.15.10
    mish said:

    jealous. what a great find. you’re right- craigslist is so overpriced. just like NY, LA is overpicked as well and people know their shit here so you can’t really ever find a steal. LOVE the table.

  12. 9.15.10
    Mom said:

    Love the table. Very nice lines and great shape. You have such a great eye!

  13. 9.16.10
    Krista said:

    What a great find. $75 sounds like a fair price to me. Looks cute in the living room. I’m enjoying seeing your place evolve.

  14. 9.16.10
    AnnW said:

    Great buy on the table. When you want to get rid of it, you can make a profit on Craigslist. This lady near DC uses lemon oil and 5 ought steel wool on everything wood. She then resells the really nice looking results. I read something on Annie’s lights on etsy. She said you could paint light bulbs with regular paint, especially white or cream. What did you ever do with your lights? You need art.

    • 9.16.10

      The lights haven’t changed yet, but I think I have a plan! And yes, we do need art… but more than that, I need to actually hang what I have!! It just seems like such a commitment, even though I know rationally that it’s not. Soon, I swearrrr.

    • 9.20.10
      AnnW said:

      Put all the art you want to hang in the living room , in the living room. Hang it all low. You don’t have to measure, just eyeball it. Go to it. If you have too many holes, fill them with toothpaste. There are no penalties for wrong placement. Just get it up. It will make a Big difference in the feeling of your apartment. Need any pillows? Ann

  15. 9.16.10
    Colleen said:

    Love the new table – great proportions – it makes the sofa look classy too!

  16. 9.16.10
    monica said:

    That table is in great condition and soooo smooth. When you get tired of it, you could hack the legs off and take it surfing.

  17. 9.16.10
    lavalotti said:

    Love the table, we have a very similar one made by France & Son in the 60s plus matching side tables:

    http://lavalotti.wordpress.com/2010/08/10/corners-of-the-living-room/

    Metal/glass coffee tables can be very elegant for sure, but an incident involving the top of one shattering when someone energetically put down their coffee mug on one once has put me off for life…

  18. 9.16.10
    Fiona said:

    If that’s not the world’s most perfect coffee table it’s pretty damn close.

  19. 9.16.10
    Shawna said:

    I love the table! It is the perfect sized table. Nothing worse then having “too small for my couch” syndrome. I have a Swedish dinning table that looks just like that but dinning table size of course. I would just add a really funky rug under and not worry about less wood and more metal/glass. That table is just too sexy not to keep!

  20. 9.20.10
    9flights said:

    Love it! What a great find. It reminds me of the furniture we had when I was kid. Instead of saving the good stuff, though, my parents saved the red white and blue plaid couch and the floral gold love seat.

  21. 9.20.10

    Not that there’s anything wrong with Ikea gypsies.

    That looks FANTASTIC. You got that for $75 in Manhattan?!

  22. 9.25.10

    Sometimes I wish I didn’t have wall to wall carpet, and was gifted with wooden floors instead. It’s so hard to make certain things look good when your landlord forces grey carpet upon you.

    Though – I’m indecisive, I’ve been in my place now for 2 years, and there are no bargains/awesome street finds/craigslist anything in Brisbane. So it’s been the slowest furnishing event ever. (Am kind of loving the journey though)

    -death stares my fugly couch-

    Loving all your posts. (may have gone through the complete backlog a month ago to get me up to speed) And sense of style. Keep it up!

    -Clinton (Just another australian fan)

  23. 9.27.10
    Skylar Little Meinhardt said:

    Happy birthday DK!!!!