My boyfriend and I recently moved from a 1000 sq ft loft to a 750 sq ft parlor floor brownstone apartment. We had to purge. As antique lovers and collectors whose possessions are rendered (albeit by ourselves) priceless, you might imagine this was insanely difficult for us. Think “Sophie’s Choice”.

When we moved in to our loft two years ago, the prospect of having enough room for a dining table (in New York City!) really excited us. How incredibly fortunate we were to learn that my dad had been keeping this dining table in storage for the last fifteen years.  Built by my father, Peter Fleishman, this table had lived up until now only in my memories of little girlhood in our old apartment on West 86^th Street.

He recalls: “The solid maple table top and trestle legs [damaged and have since gone to recycling, now replaced by table bases purchased from a restaurant supply store] were shaker inspired. There was also a ‘shaker’ cradle, modeled on the shaker boxes with cherry sides and maple bands, copper rivets and all. It hung from the ceiling and swung gently so Lily wouldn’t get sick while she slept. There is no such thing as a shaker cradle, you can figure out why. The table is an enlarged similar shape, colored with old fashioned aniline dyes and French polish in the traditional manner that feels good.”

In searching for our new apartment, the thought of sentencing our table to another storage term pained me. New York City real estate be damned, we were taking it with us!

Contributed by Lily Fleishman.