Living Room - Coffee Table

Chances are if you have ever co-habitated or are currently co-habitating with someone, you have had this conversation:

Person 1: “We need a new [insert piece of furniture here].”

Person 2: “Why would we need a new [piece of furniture] when the one we have now is perfectly fine?”

If you or your co-habitator are fond of interior design, you have DEFINITELY had this conversation.  My spouse and I have had it MANY times, and I am always “Person 1” in the scenario.  The poor guy is left defending our current throw pillows while I present the case that they are drab and could use an update.  Unfortunately, unless your current [piece of furniture] is falling apart, “Person2” is right; you aren’t in need of something new, you just want it.  But that’s what interior design is about, wanting to beautify the space in which you live!  So, how does “Person 1” ever persuade “Person 2” to get on board with said new [piece of furniture]?  One word, “persistence”. 

Let’s apply this scenario to the new coffee table we “needed” for our living room.  We were originally working with something similar to this: 

Crate&Barrel Hunter II Trunk

My husband was right, there was absolutely nothing wrong with this table.  In fact, we both loved it and it had served us well over the last few years.  But now that we had moved into a new space, I was hoping to find something fresher, less bulky, and a bit more unique.  I spent many weeks searching for tables, filtered down options I believed to fit our taste, pulled together images, and sent an email presenting him with tables similar to these:

Wisteria Antiqued Art Deco Coffee Table

Crate&Barrel Frame Coffee Table

 

Restoration Hardware Brickmaker's Table

Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams Vandyke Cocktail Table

 

I wish I had saved his response as it went something like this, “I don’t like mirrored coffee tables, the second one is too boring, the wood is too blonde on the third one, and I don’t like the gold on fourth one ”.  Whaaa??  Clearly this guy did NOT want a new coffee table and was going to make me work for it if I did.

I spent the next few weeks frequenting HD Buttercup.  For those of you living in San Francisco and LA, if you haven’t been to your local HD Buttercup, GO.  Immediately.  Giant warehouse full of designer furniture, accents, and soft goods.  New pieces come in daily.  You can buy off the floor or customize.  You can even memo pieces for a few days and return them if they don’t work in your space.  Discounted prices.  It’s amazing.  For those of you living elsewhere, you can now shop HD Buttercup online at www.hdbuttercup.com.  Enjoy!

As I was saying, I spent the next few weeks stalking their new arrivals and finally came across this table:

Teak Slabs with Iron Legs (One-Off Piece from HD Buttercup)

I decided to check it out on memo, bring it home, and present it to my “Person 2” in person.  He loved it, I loved it, we kept it, and the trunk table was listed and sold on Craigslist within 48 hours.  Success!
 

My Satisfaction Level: 9

Husband Satisfaction Level: 10
Collective Seacrest Satisfaction Level: 9.5