Drop That Leaf

UPDATE: You can now check out our One Year Review of this product here!

We’rrrrreeeee back with more patio update madness! But first things first: Hopefully, by now you’ve gotten a chance to get used to some of the color/background/font changes and are liking the new look and name. 🙂 Also, for your Facebooking convenience, we’ve added a FB shortcut to the sidebar (or bottom if you’re on your phone), so head on over and like us on FB to be kept in the know of all things “fun”. Of course, there’s always following the blog directly by using your email to receive posts (which you can also do via the sidebar/bottom). ANYWAY. Back to the goods…

On Monday, our 3.5 minute tour gave you a quick overview of what we’re working with outside and yesterday, you saw what got us motivated to get a move on with the space. Today, we’re all about revealing the next “domino” in the line-up:That’s right. We were so enamored by our new bench that we hauled our butts back to Ikea for its matching counterpart. Actually, this part of the story began when we went to “meet” our bench in person before purchasing. The funny thing is that while perusing through the store, looking for the bench, we came across this table. It caught our eye because of its (surprise, surprise) multi-functional features.

You see, it was set up as shown above, but at any given time, the sides of the table could be dropped to become this:

Not pictured is the third function, which is the ability to remove the sides entirely, should you want to seat people at either end of the smaller table. Let’s just say, this baby fit our lifestyle and furniture-buying tendencies to the T. Granted, we already have a table that was loaned/given to us by a good friend (you saw it in the video tour) and that table is perfect for our little family. However, the rectangle shape of this Ikea table would fit our patio a bit better, compared to the square shape of the other. Good news: The square table has since moved on to our the daughter of the friend that loaned it to us, so it has a great new home. 🙂 

In fact, we weren’t looking for a table at all that day! Our true mission was to score a new bench. When we finally stepped back from fawning over the adaptable, clean-lined drop leaf table, what did we see?

OUR BENCH! This whole time, they had been part of the same set and we didn’t even realize! We tested (and loved, as per yesterday’s post) the bench and the longer we sat, the more we fell in love with its counterpart. The table seemed to be able to do so many things (which is perfect for a small space). At any moment, it could seat just the two of us, or ten of our friends and/or family. It would definitely comply with Rule #2 of the Thomas’ Tiny House Rules. By the way, those two rules are the key to most things we do in and to this house and if you are working with a smaller space, they may be of help to you too! Oh, and the $169 price tag didn’t hurt either. We decided to bring home our bench (which we love, by the way) and take some time to think about the table/save up a bit of cash before making the final call on purchasing.

Needless to say, the longer we thought about it, the more we wanted it- especially because it paired so perfectly with the bench we had bought and the size and space of our patio. A week or two later, we headed back to Ikea to pick up the goods (and thankfully so, because it was one of the only two left in the store!). Of course, my impatient self had to have it set up right away to see what it looked like, so while Mitch ran out to grab us a quick McDonald’s dinner, I broke out the ever-popular Ikea Allen wrench and went to work assembling. Not to worry, I had D.C. Cupcakes playing on TV to keep me company. 🙂

I won’t bother you with all of the boring assembly details, but here are a few things that you might want to see if you’re ever planning to purchase this table. See the “sliders” below?

Well, they slide out (shocker) in order to support the leaves and allow you to change the table from this:

To this:

And each leaf can be removed or re-attached by holding it at an angle and locking into place through those metal cylinders-is-the-best-word-I-have-for-them:

In the end, this may have been the easiest (even easier than the bench!) Ikea assembly project I’ve ever completed. It took barely anytime at all, which is why I was able to have it up and ready for our very first meal… inside:

Remember that impatience? We I just couldn’t wait to put it to use! We ended up leaving it inside for the weekend (we were traveling for Memorial Day and decided to keep it indoors until we got home), but have since introduced it to its new home… and she fits right in.

Please excuse the weeds we need to attend to. And just to give you a reference point, here are those “sliders” that support each leaf pulled out (the leaves are not attached):

All it takes to attach the sides is to click them into the hardware provided on the body of the table (I suppose we could camouflage them even further by painting the metal bits white):

…And you’re ready to entertain the masses! Of course, when we do use the table, we pull it away from the wall, but one of the positive features is that it can be stored flush against the wall when not in use to minimize the amount of space it takes up.

Gotta love that classic, crisp white against all of the other muted, earthy tones! 🙂

Here are some pros/cons for a better sense of our review of the product so far:

Pros: comes in two color options, GREAT in terms of multi-functional usage, incredibly easy to assemble, built with a hole in the center for an umbrella (our centerpiece is currently covering it), allows us to seat up to ten people (but maybe more if we squish)

Cons: Entire length is supported by only four legs (because of its light-weight nature, it is not as heavy and could potentially be not as sturdy as other options), silver metal pieces are more visible when sides are not attached (though a quick coat of white paint could fix that), does not come with a place to store leaves when not in use, things can fall through the cracks (pens, playing cards, etc. but this goes for any table built like this)

So, in short, we’re loving it so far and I will check back in throughout the season with review updates on how it is holding up, how we’ve adapted it, etc. For now, we can’t wait to cram as many people as possible around it and have ourselves a good, old fashion backyard BBQ. Here’s to summer lovin’!

The thing about cramming people around the table is that they need someplace to sit… so we’re in “chair hunting” mode. Speaking of our to-do list, here is a road map of the direction we’re headed for the big patio overhaul:

• Find and purchase bench
• Purchase table with lots of potential seating
• Find and purchase seating for at least 8 more people (we already have the bench that can be pulled up to the table to seat 2)
• Purchase a grill
• Purchase an umbrella
• Build a mini-patio under the bench
• DIY solution for hiding the air conditioner and misc. garden supplies
• Weed and plant new flowers in garden bed
• Edge garden bed
• Weed brick patio
• Figure out a way to better camouflage Christmas lights
• DIY a birdhouse and hang
•  Figure out how to plant a mini veggie/herb garden
• Decide on plants to fill hanging baskets and empty pots
• DIY or purchase accent pillows for seating

Yeah, we’ve got a ways to go, but that’s part of the fun! See you tomorrow for the Thrill of the Week (clue: it involves two of the aforementioned items on our to-do list).