Toddler table and chair set

[SJ mom]

Can anyone recommend a nice toddler table and chair set?
We are doing DS new room in our new house and he has shown a huge interest in table and chairs.

I prefer wooden furniture.
TIA!
Diane

[octmom]

We went to an unfinished furniture store earlier this spring and bought a really nice table with two chairs. They had several to choose from at the store we went to, and I suspect that most unfinished furniture stores would. The one we bought is made of parawood (if I remember correctly), and it is VERY hard. DS was banging a wooden toy on it yesterday and it did not ding at all. If you decide to go the unfinished furniture route (or any wood), I would avoid pine. It is soft and will get lots of dings and dents quickly.

I intend to finish DS's table and chairs sometime soon, but I haven't decided if we should just use a clear stain and let the woodgrain show through or paint it and use chalkboard paint on the top of the table.

HTH!

Jerilyn
DS, Sean 10/03

"Baby makes days shorter, nights longer, home happier, and love stronger."

[SJ mom]

Aewsome idea regarding the chalkboard ontop of the table. Now that is thinking out of the box. Please post when finished.

Diane

[hellokitty1]

Like the PP, we also ended up purchasing an unfinished table and chairs. At first we went cheap and bought this $30 set from AC Moore but when we got it home, the pre-drilled holes did not match up corectly so we knew it was better to spend the extra money. By the way, I believe it's "pear wood" not parawood. And it considered a hard wood. We ended up finishing ours with a dual stain/polyurethane (sp) all over including table top instead of painting color bc it is sitting in our family room and we wanted it to look like it fit in with the other furniture. We also did not go with the chalkboard finish because of the potential chalk dust. But that's just our opinion.

Good luck.

Vivian
Mom to Sydney (4/24/03)

[octmom]

Actually, I checked and it IS parawood. I think there is a lot of unfinished furniture made of this, because it is easy to find through Google. Here's one site that explains it: http://www.unfinishedfurnitureshowcase.com/parawood.html

I understand what you mean about the chalk dust. In another thread about chalkboard placemats (in the Around the House forum), a few people have mentioned dust-free chalk. I have no experience with this and don't know if it comes in all the colors that regular chalk is available in, but I guess it exists.

ETA: Since I haven't finished our table and chairs yet, I'm not sure how this will hold true, but my thought about the chalboard paint on top was more about ease of clean-up (paints, crayon, etc.) than about drawing with chalk on top all the time. I have NO experience with chalbooard paint, but in theory, it would be easier to clean up that some other surfaces.

HTH!

Jerilyn
DS, Sean 10/03

"Baby makes days shorter, nights longer, home happier, and love stronger."

[kaitlinsmommy]

There is an Avalon table by Kidkraft that looks nice, although it's not that big. Target also has a similar one in their Restore & Restyle section.

[ekbecker1]

I got the cutest wooden table and chairs from a retailer on ebay. Their name is gifts-and-toys. It was called Queen Anne or something like that. It's a round table and two chairs. They are made out of wood and have a dark cherry stain. They look just like my dining room table and chairs!

[zuzu]

We've had this set since last fall, and have been very happy with it. IMO, it will comfortably fit four toddlers, though it is smaller than some of the other tables I've seen that are marketed as "craft" tables.

Melissa, mom to Sarah (5/03)

[supercalifragilous]

I was just at Ikea and they had an unfinished set of table and 2 chairs for around $29 or $39 (can't remember). It was pretty basic but at least it's not as expensive as some of the other stuff I've seen.

[babybee1]

I think Ikea has a pretty nice set, actually--and it's really cute if you paint it (unfinished wood I think)...buybuybaby (check out website) also has some nice ones if you have a store near you. HTH!