Quirky or Just Functional?

(A coffee table is what I'll be sharing with you this week for Fun Monday. Our host, Jan over at The Prytz family , asks us to share a photo and description of the quirkiest thing in our home that we would never give away. Truth is, my table isn't exactly quirky. In fact, after a little googling this afternoon I find that it's not even that original, which surprised me. I do, however, like this table a lot because it's so functional.)

A few years ago I was re-doing my house in preparation for retirement. This work was long overdue because I'm not overly interested in stuff. I keep very few mementos. My living room furniture had weathered over 20 years of dogs sleeping on the sofa and teething on chair legs. I got some fine new leather furniture and was looking for coffee table. I wanted a TABLE--one that would hold all manner of books and magazines, and that would be sturdy enough to prop my feet on to watch TV and read.

One Saturday a couple of friends and I were searching through Annie's Attic, a little antique and secondhand furniture/junk store when I spotted this table:

I liked the warm wood, it's good solid lines and the spare rope trim. The salesperson saw that I was interested so she said, "The top lifts up if you just grasp the corners." I did and voila! The top raised up on some sturdy hinges to reveal a couple of cubbyholes. It was the perfect height to pull up to the sofa for a work or dining surface.

When I got my bargain home, think I paid about $250 for it, I forgot about using it for a coffee table. The table now sits off to the side in the living room and is my command center. I eat here, especially if it's something like soup that doesn't balance well on a tray. I keep watercolor and drawing supplies laid out so I can do a bit of painting whenever the mood strikes and not have to clean up. I pay bills and do finances here. I keep the table stacked with reference books, magazines and writing supplies. So maybe the quirky part is that I keep it in the middle of the room, not arranged the way a decorator would, but where it suits me fine.
If you look closely at the shelf underneath the library table in the photos above, you'll see quite a collection of photo albums/travel journals of my trips to other countries. I would hate very much to lose them because on these dreary wintry nights I may think, "Tonight I'd like to go back to Ireland." All I have to do is to take out the Irish album and I'm walking through Darena Allen's walled vegetable garden or watching her make scones at the Ballymaloe Cookery School. I would definitely not like to lose these albums or my quirkey/functional coffee table.

Now some time today head over to other Fun Monday places to check out what others are hanging on to, no matter what!