Joey and I bought our first dining room table yesterday! We have been in the process of developing our front room into an official dining room space for a few weeks now and have been keeping our eye out for the right furniture. I was feeling disheartened with the options we had come across from Leons, to the Bay, to the local country and fine furniture stores. Most items were either over-priced, poor craftsmanship or the dreaded combination of both over-priced and poor craftsmanship.
The Kingston Market has come to the rescue yet again, where Andrew Johnson of Johnson's Reproduction has been displaying his handmade furniture for years. He uses reclaimed and new pine to make stunning furniture - contrasting rich antique stained pine against deep black.
We battled the strong Irene winds and set out to the market this past Sunday to have a look. While the Eastern Seaboard cursed Irene's name as the Hurricane brought flooding and destruction, I was celebrating the way she was working in more positive ways - Andrew had reduced the price of his already very reasonably priced tables due to the poor weather and the resulting lack in sales. He was even so kind as to drive the table (and us) back our house and help Joey carry it inside!
I LOVE that buying this table means supporting a local, independent business owner who truly believes in the quality of his craft. I am no economist but I think corporate influences such as big box stores and mass production has changed us as consumers causing us to lower our expectations of the product while increasing our acceptance of the price tag. I am happy to know our table is the product of hard work, sweat, and love.
We were so excited to get that table in to the dining room - Joey even ironed our place mats and set out the new dishes we got as a wedding present from my Grama. (I hope many of you who are reading this will be able to pick out your contribution to our lovely new room as everything is a wedding gift!)
We still see more potential for the room - some chairs would be ideal and we are working with Andrew to design a hutch for extra storage. While I am excited to add to the room in the future, I am simply tickled pink to be looking at our first dining room table - the table where so many happy memories will be formed!
Johnson's Reproduction
Andrew Johnson
17779 Island Rd.
RR2 Martintown, ON
K0C 1S0
(613)938-2358
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