Monday, November 4, 2013

Marble coffee table

I have had a love affair with white marble since 1987 when I went to Greece to visit my friend from college.  His mother's apartment had wall-to-wall marble floors in each and every room.  For them, it was the bourgeois flooring choice since Greece has so much marble in that region of the world. But if you were wealthy, you had wood floors.  Obviously it is the opposite in America, where wood floors are the more mundane choice due to its cost and marble is only used selectively in more upscale homes.

Anyway, I was browsing around a new antique mall this weekend in Greencastle, PA, and there was a marble slab for sale.  It was about 18 inches by 3 feet, and ~3/4 inches thick.  The edges were all polished as if it had a past life as a table topper.

I had already given thought to putting a marble slab on my little excuse for a coffee table.  It was a little wood base, and it begged for a more substantial top.  The price was right, and I thought that I may never get this chance again.  It was so heavy that I could barely lift it, and a man who was another customer in the antique mall offered to put it in my car.

I won't even describe the awkwardness of getting the thing in my house, but I did it!  And I think it looks great in its new home.  I was concerned that it might be "too much" coffee table for the size of the room, but sometimes you just gotta go with what you love!

 I rarely sit on a couch without wanting to prop my feet up.  It is such a heavy piece of marble that if I put both feet on one end of the table, nothing budges.  Perfection.

I have a big tray (not shown) that held all of the contents that I was using when my coffee table was just the wood base.  Usually I have a couple of books and my current crochet project in the tray.  This weekend, it was heaven to have more room on each side of the tray to put more stuff on as I was snacking or watching TV.  The size is actually perfect.

LOVE.