Help me decide if this table is worth the money

[supertrooper1]

I've been going back and forth on whether to spend $6K on a dining room table set. 18 years ago when DH and I first moved in together, we bought a used table for $45 and it is at the point that it's falling apart and not worth fixing.  I have the savings to spend, but there are also other projects that we should be using the money on too. My options:

Spend $6K on the table of my dreams.  It would last forever.  It is beautiful.  www.simplyamish.com/furniture/dining/tables/leg-table/XS28-ETSHE-J01K27B.cfm?baseSKUID=26842&baseSKUImageID=553430

Spend $4300 on a table that is also well made and beautiful, but doesn't quite check all of the boxes, but I would be happy.  www.fusiondesign.us/collections/51/Classic-Collection

Buy from Costco.  Their tables are half the price, but made of rubber wood.  The reviews say that the chairs don't necessarily hold up.  Doesn't check all the boxes. 

I'm so indecisive when spending this much money on something that seems overpriced. 

[phdmomma]

We bought a costo table after debating this, and my reasoning is that I don't want to spend my time chasing the kids away from a nice table, that they will inevitably damage. After we took it out of the box, my 3 year old tried stabbing her fork into it at dinner, or maybe my kids are just super destructive.

[186momx]

Have you look at this manufacture? whittierwood.com/index.html
They are local to me and their stuff is amazing. Will hold up forever and you can either finish yourself or buy pre-finished. All real wood. I know they sell their stuff through other furniture stores mainly but I have the local warehouse building site down the road from me.

Out of your options I would go with the one I totally love if I was going to spend that kind of money. Just think of it as a forever piece. My parents have had the same table for almost 40 years and just now looking at either having it refurnished or replacing it. They can't agree.

[supertrooper1]

Apr 18, 2018 11:14:22 GMT -5 phdmomma said:

We bought a costo table after debating this, and my reasoning is that I don't want to spend my time chasing the kids away from a nice table, that they will inevitably damage. After we took it out of the box, my 3 year old tried stabbing her fork into it at dinner, or maybe my kids are just super destructive.

DH brought this up, that he would be worried about damage. But it's the same as putting a scratch in your car IMO. My kid is usually good, but of course there would be that ONE day where he doesn't think and uses his marker to draw on the table or stab it with a fork.

[supertrooper1]

186momx, that is very nice furniture, but I didn't see dining room tables. I did look at a local furniture maker, and he would be a minimum of $6K, but I wasn't a fan of his chair designs.

[covergirl82]

I voted for splurging on the one you want. If it's meant to be a "forever" piece, then get what you love. I would hate to spend almost as much and only feel "meh" about it.

[librarychica]

But the $6K table. If it is real wood you will be able to hide/repair most damage. I did something similar with my buffet and even though it has a few love marks, I don’t regret it.

[msn06]

DH has given me the nickname Susie Spendsalot so that should tell you I’m on team 6K table.

I call DH Realistic Randy or Timmy Tightwade if he’s being overly cheep.

In the end Timmy and Susie would get the $4300 table because logically that would make the most sense and be a good compromise.

I also would be negotiating new table cloths and table accessories (napkins, placemats, etc) when I didn’t buy the $6,000 table. We might have just had this debate in my house back before Easter.

[akafred]

I can't imagine spending that much with a small child in the house. Team Costco.

[twinmomma]

I'd probably get the expensive set that will last forever. We spent a TON of money on our living room set when we upgraded. We decided to just bite the bullet and invest in pieces that wouldn't fall apart in a few years and I'm so glad we did.

[supertrooper1]

msn06 , luckily my table cloths would work with any new table, so I'm good there.

[mustardseed2007]

Tables are kind of made to be damaged, IMO. Kitchen tables anyway. It's where your kids do home work, and art, and playdoh, and you spill wine on it and all sorts of things...it makes it more beautiful.

Couches are a different matter. Get the cheapest couch you can because they don't last. Not in my house anyway.

[cosmowife]

I get bored with furniture so I would be hesitant to spend so much on a matching set. I also prefer the option of getting my own chairs (I don’t find typical wooden dining chairs to be very comfortable - we got fully upholstered chairs and I can sit there for hours). But that’s just me! We probably spent close to that total, but we bought everything separately and it included two large arm chairs for the end of the table that I’ve been able to use elsewhere in my house. So I can switch out chairs and not get bored.

[justcheckingin73]

I look at the furniture I have in my house and stuff I thought would last a while and I’m either bored with it and/or it has become worn. I’m not sure if I believe in furniture (or anything for that matter) that lasts forever anymore. I think back on my childhood and my parents were on one income and had the same furniture for years and years but only because they couldn’t afford to buy new sets. Nowadays I feel like many two income families have more options to upgrade a couple of times before the kids are out of the house. All that to say that I’d probably go with something less expensive. Especially after looking at all of the dents in my dining room table. And we don’t even use it that often.

[erinshelley21]

I basically drool over Simply Amish stuff, so spend the money.

[akafred]

Apr 18, 2018 13:49:27 GMT -5 justcheckingin73 said:

I look at the furniture I have in my house and stuff I thought would last a while and I’m either bored with it and/or it has become worn. I’m not sure if I believe in furniture (or anything for that matter) that lasts forever anymore. I think back on my childhood and my parents were on one income and had the same furniture for years and years but only because they couldn’t afford to buy new sets. Nowadays I feel like many two income families have more options to upgrade a couple of times before the kids are out of the house. All that to say that I’d probably go with something less expensive. Especially after looking at all of the dents in my dining room table. And we don’t even use it that often.

Yes plus I have inherited a fair amount of "really nice" furniture from my parents and in-laws that they talked about how it was "real wood" etc and all I can see is 1978, but because it was so "nice" I felt guilty replacing it.

[2chatter]

How does the varnish hold up? We had friends put a hot dish on our blanket chest coffee table and it left a giant mark. SIL put a hot serving platter on our dining table (French polish) and there’s no getting that out. The kids do lots of glue, paint, mod podge etc and we also have heat stains on the kitchen table.

I can’t imagine spending 6k on a table when I spent 3k on the French polish table (in 2001) and it was ruined.

The back of my Enclave has to the metal scratches from people closing the garage door with the back gate open. Those bother me way less because I don’t see them as much.

[waverly]

I'm sorry I have to vote Costco as evidence from saw marks on my table from DH literally leaving a saw on the table or something stupid. The kids are also really really messy. Basically I have 3 kids in terms of mess.

ETA- We got our table for $250 at Crate and Barrel (a while ago).  I am not sure where DH got the chairs.  

[rere]

I'd probably go with the 2nd. It's a nice table and $6000 seems very high. I bought my table 15 years ago. Nice, solid wood, and it is still going 15 yrs and 2 kids later. I try to buy nice pieces that will last when it comes to wood.

My table is actually a farm table. I was farmhouse chic way before Joanna Gaines, I just have no decorating skills.

[k3am]

Apr 18, 2018 16:13:35 GMT -5 2chatter said:

How does the varnish hold up? We had friends put a hot dish on our blanket chest coffee table and it left a giant mark. SIL put a hot serving platter on our dining table (French polish) and there’s no getting that out. The kids do lots of glue, paint, mod podge etc and we also have heat stains on the kitchen table.

I can’t imagine spending 6k on a table when I spent 3k on the French polish table (in 2001) and it was ruined.

The back of my Enclave has to the metal scratches from people closing the garage door with the back gate open. Those bother me way less because I don’t see them as much.

I have done this to my own damned car. Multiple times. 

[k3am]

As noted above, I am not to be trusted with nice things.

Our current table currently has a huge section where the finish is warped because I spilled acetone on it and didn't notice. That's right next to the spot where a hot dish was placed on it and left a giant mark. Not to mention the things the children have done to it...

[sdlaura]

My table is made by ikea, and we were too cheap to actually buy it at ikea, and instead found it secondhand on Craigslist. It is solid wood, and I’m fine with my kids destroying it.

I guess the way I’d look at it is whether I can get 90% of the look and functionality for a lot less, and put the rest of the money toward something I care more about, like a vacation. But if you care a lot about the table, and can afford it, then buy it and don’t feel guilty about it.

[saraml13]

Are you in your forever house? The other thing that would worry me about splurging on a dining room table is that you are going to move, your dream table may or may not fit in a new space.

[mommyatty]

To me, this is a matter of how well you can deal with kids being kids. My kids are not the least bit destructive, but DH has an extremely low threshold for nicks, dings, scratches, etc. To him, there’s no difference between a small scratch on the edge of something and a piece that’s basicalky been torched with a blowtorch. When we bought our current house, we got rid of all the crappy hand me down and IKEA furniture we had lived with for 16 years. Most of it screamed “Remember the eighties....” But now I wish we had kept it because I’m sick of protecting the kids from Daddy being an asshole about the furniture and the furniture from kids being kids.

For example, we got a really cool kitchen table. Part of why I loved it is it has an unusual shape and it’s kind of French farmhouse shabby chic. Medium toned wood on top, then painted black on the edges. I was thinking “this will still look great as our child grows up and dings it.” DH has a shitty looking table cloth on it all the time then placemats on top of the table cloth because he doesn’t want it scratched or anything spilled on it ever. So you can’t see the cool shape, and table cloth + placemats = plates and stuff sliding everywhere =.more spills.

So if you can live with the idea of some day refinishing the table, get it. If you’re going to insist everyone that the table like it came from Versailles, get a cheap table until you kid is a teen.