apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Cute, but in a truly small space, it will take up storage space.

Most card tables are kind of ugly, right? Just because something is an alternative doesn't always make it better. This is marginally nicer for a much greater cost. A tablecloth or somesuch is cheaper.

I'm also having a hard time grasping onto the fact that most people buy a card table because they don't want or can't have a table up as a permanent fixture. Spending that much cash on something that only comes out when you need it is a little silly.

If you like it enough for real, it's a cute little table, and when you move, that will be easier. If you want to bring a table with you on vacation for some reason, it's also good. The other thing about card tables is, they are made for playing cards, what with having the typical upholstered textured vinyl tops. Not always the best surface for other uses, but then again, the drugstore and discount dept. stores usually sell small folding tables with a hard surface, just not usually square.

Maybe for a college dorm but otherwise, no.

This table looks like a lot of work for that price----esp. when you compare it to some of the crap I see around for that price and even more.

Follow UP----the price on this table looks better then the price on most of these dog/cat beds we are seeing this week on AT. $1,000 for a dog bed made like a basket for example.
Just the brass hardware alone on this table is worth about $100 if you had to go and buy it at Home Depot.

I'm going to go with gimmick on this one. I cannot come up with a reason for having to pack up your dining table, even in the smallest of apartments.

Guess what---these table and more are on sale now at Tuesday Morning.

https://www.tuesdaymorningoffer.com/dsp_productDetail.asp?pid=2567

Would you be more or less likely to pay $150 less for a table called Spiderlegs? They also offer a 30"x42" size with benches.

Good spot, poptart!

http://www.spiderlegs.com/products/

They have more information about the full line of products here, including chairs and different finishes available, not to mention different sizes and purposes.

there are so many better looking and sturdier solutions out there.

"camel tables" that adjust from coffee to dining height from the 50's (by john keal for brown saltman or neutra design). similar idea : tables with screw height pedestals (from antique french glass topped autopsy tables to modern italian wonders). tables that fold up from a wall (ikea used to have one) or down from and armoire or murphy bed.

and my personal favorite the maria table by bruno mathsson - from 9 inches closed to over 9 feet open.

this seems like a tailgate alternative more then something to save space for the home.

I just think it's interesting in the way it can be had a lot cheaper but not more cheaply made than originally thought. I do like the look of some of your suggestions, healthyhome, but sometimes I don't just have enough money to follow through. Space-saving alternatives are not new, but they can be somewhat difficult to find a variety of designs at a price-point you desire. Drop-leaf tables are common in that farm/butcher-block style, those dining room tables that can collapse the size of a sofa table, are also good, but when I sold furniture we only had a single source. If that's not the table for you, we cannot help. Butterfly leaf tables and what I have, a pivot convertible table, are fine ideas as well, but I also think can be serendipitous finds because they're more common in vintage. A lot of times, they don't flatten down the legs though. I have always wanted a classic gate-leg table myself and perhaps someday I shall. It's not necessarily all about being convertible or saving space.

This spiderleg is quite obviously for those times when you need a table (one of my first apartments was indeed so small I couldn't keep a table up all the time, and I still have my grandmother's vintage card table - which would be gorgeous except I ruined it - now covered with beautiful tablecloths as a vanity) but can't have it out all the time. When you have guests, when you need to spread out for a party, seat a few children at their own table, want to do a jigsaw puzzle, need a little table for doing art/craft, or live in an RV or extremely small apartment or rooming situation. I don't think it pretended to be your next dining room table.

At the time I couldn't keep a table 100% of the time, I did have a closet wide enough for a 30"x30" table top with legs folded, but this looks good for sliding under a sofa or bed or keeping in a smaller closet, or even in some small gaps you could have in a kitchen.

I expect to see these more cheaply made, probably in plastics or MDF or laminated pressboard, eventually, rather taking over the card table as the cheap additional table. May be less sturdy or heavier to carry, crappier for the environment and international labor situations. The design is just creative. There is a R mark next to the word Spiderlegs, so maybe that won't happen for a while. Given that it can be had a lot cheaper than at Tiny Living, I would say this is not a bad little table, for what it is.

I call gimmick. Way more interested in the coffee table to dining table, than briefcase-size-thing to dining table.

I guess it's not a bad alternative to the card table, but I wouldn't be interested unless it was a fraction of the price (and was cuter looking!)