dine away

i finally bought a dining table! well... i bought it awhile ago, but it finally arrived! the legs were in their own box. the tabletop was in a cardboard and wooden contraption. it almost looked like something houdini would try to get out of. looking at it, there seemed to be no logical way to get the top out of the container. but i went at it with an exacto knife and the backside of my hammer, and soon i had popped off the front, which was all that was needed. then i had to summon my roommate to help me carry the top up the two flights to our apartment.
then the assembly... the first leg was a bitch. i drilled 6 pilot holes using a cardboard guide and when i put the leg in place to screw it down the leg didn't fit. so i drilled a second set of pilot holes. on the second leg, i didn't know how to mirror the first legs holes. but somehow i got it. the third and fourth legs were easy, except i screwed one of them on backwards. i wondered why the holes didn't quite align. when i finished screwing them in place, i went to admire my handiwork and oops! the leg was on backwards. had to re-screw that one! but i really like it. i need to figure out how to get the sticky off of the sides of the table. (you can see it in some of the pictures.) they had wrapped the tabletop with bubblewrap that had a sticky back, now the sticky won't come off! i deserve a damn good pat on the back, for not only assembling the table well, but also for using the drill especially for drilling pilot holes!

first two legs are on!

set-up for legs three and four!

pilot holes for leg four.

the fully-assembled and upright table!

table done! can you see the sticky on the chrome?

"staged" with the only two chairs i own