apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I love the little chairs with it. Neat!

shall i open a can of worms and say i would perhaps keep an eye out for a knock off??

it's sweet, but a bit expensive...

probably shouldn't even go there...forget it.

This would be nice made even on a larger scale and work as a base for a daybed.

Not my style, but clever and attractive still.

I don't get the comment about a $500-$600 coffee table (that you don't have to assemble yourself) being expensive. A good coffee table should last you at least 10 years, and at that rate this table sets you back the cost of one Starbucks coffee a month for the life of the table. Assuming the knock off trade keeps their hands off and you care for the table, you might even make back a chunk of the original price when you sell it 10 years later, making the total cost significantly less. If you were to get only $100 when you sell it, the total cost for table including tax would drop to $3.70 a month. 12 cents per day. How is that not cheap?

I completely concur with RichardinLA. This table has style, and that should account for something, after all. And it is functional, and you can put your feet up on it, and it is easy to care for...

Speaking of the Mag Table, does anyone know if it could also be used as a tv tray when tipped up? I can't tell if in that configuration the top is tipped or not?

@richard- that's a bit too much math for me to handle and don't drink coffee, so kind of lost interest anyway...

i can understand $500 for something that will last a decade or more, sure...but in my defense, it is not very large and is simply a piece of bent plywood...

don't get me wrong, i do like it. just would drop that much for it.

sweetchuck --

The surface is flat/level when it's flipped upright - but it's rather small, so I don't use mine that way. I bought the bed-tray and use it as a lap desk/breakfast tray instead.

And I agree w/ RichardinLA - $500 for a solid, quality piece of furniture such as this that you'll use every day is NOT expensive.

I really like this table. I would get it if it were a little large and little taller.

when you spread the cost out over 10 years then yes it seems inexpensive. however, not everyone can afford the $500 today to get it. and i don't think the store selling this would be very open to letting you pay 12 cents each day either. :)

i wish i were 5 again, sitting in those mini chairs, playing with those sculpture things. that way i wouldn't have to worry about how much a coffee table costs.

"i don't think the store selling this would be very open to letting you pay 12 cents each day either."

No, but if the store takes credit cards, you could get one and make minimum payments for a few months...

"it is not very large and is simply a piece of bent plywood"

As with yesterday's post - just because something is small doesn't mean it's cheaper than a larger version...

...and you have to bear in mind that it isn't a plain old piece of plywood that's bent - it would break before it ever got anywhere near that shape:

Each individual slice of finish-grade veneer is placed in a curved form within a hydraulic vice which compresses and , steam-bends the wood veneer which is adhered to the previous layer one-by-one until the veneer sandwich reaches the desired thickness, then it's removed from the form, trimmed and sanded and coated with a finish.

If you're spending $500 on only one item, the Starbucks analogy is not too intimidating. But when you look at "investing" in great pieces for all your furniture (bed, couch, dining table, chairs, appliances, not to mention a car, computer, your home itself) you're looking at a completely unaffordable number of cups of coffee per day. I'm not encouraging the knock-off route (the designer isn't exactly cashing in like Herman Miller via Eames licenses), but $500 is a very large amount of money for most people.

On a side note, does anyone know where to find a grown-up version of those chairs?

Does anyone know how high this table is? It looks low - even for a coffee table :P

I believe Umbra also made tables much like this but in a warmer tone...bamboo-y if I remember? It was last year...my apologies if I'm a bit off.

I have this table, and those cosco booster seats too. it really is the perfect table for a even a very young child to sit at, though it might be a bit low for some as a coffee table, not high enough to put you feet up. I think this table was about $300 two years ago, so i was a little shocked at how much it costs now. I found mine on craigslist (NY) for around $150. You can get this table for half price on the pure design basement site, but it would need to be refinished though.

can of worms, commence opening! :P

we bought a knock-off of this table here:

www.njmodern.com

LOVE it! it's just the right height for our little one, and the entire surface is usable, thanks to the magazine spot. ours is the palisander finish, which looks like zebrawood - beautiful! and it's held up well too ... our 6 yr old eats, plays, sits, and beats on it, but it still looks new. check your local craigslist ads too, since this vendor sometimes offers sale prices - we got ours for $189 shipped! definitely recommend 'em. when you have 2 crazy kids, you don't spend $500 on anything but ER visits :)

"we bought a knock-off of this table here:

www.njmodern.com"

That place is just looking for a lawsuit - not only using the original designer's names on the pieces but in several cases, their photography too.

Gorgeous! I think the price tag is exceptionally reasonable - I would have expected it to be more.