published about 5 hours ago
While doing one of my usual scrolls through Facebook Marketplace in early March 2020, I came across a beautiful wooden table with a marble top. Listed for just $150, I knew that it would make a perfect alternative to a traditional bar cart. Within a few hours, I was bringing the piece into my Washington, DC, apartment.
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I would estimate the marble accounted for a third of the table’s list price, which was already pretty reasonable at $150. I had scored a deal snagging the piece, but at the time, I didn’t know just how many ways the marble would come in handy as time passed. Because the marble was totally separate and just sat on the table’s top, I’ve now used the gorgeous slab in three different ways, and I’m sure it has even more life ahead of it. Here’s how I’ve made this amazing find work for me over the past two-and-a-half years.
Version 2: The Dresser/Media Stand
After some time, the wooden bar table (that came with the marble top) was beginning to show a bit of wear, so off to the donation center it went. As someone who loves to shop secondhand and redecorate often, I had my sights set on a charming three-drawer dresser around the same time. When I picked up the chest (which was also from Facebook Marketplace), I was thrilled to find the marble slab fit on top of it perfectly. I tried this new setup in a couple of places; I first used the chest as a nightstand before opting to move it into my living room, where it served as a media stand/storage system below my Samsung Frame TV. I received so many compliments on this arrangement — it really helped “Frenchify” my living room, and I loved how the piece looked adjacent to my fireplace mantel.
Credit: Sarah Lyon
Version 3: The Living Room Side Table
Fast forward to summer 2021, and I decided to relocate from DC to New York City. The dresser and marble top went into a storage unit while I figured out the game plan for my new (much smaller) apartment. After some time and lots of rejiggering, I realized I wanted to add a side table to my living room and happened upon the perfect one via — you guessed it! — Facebook Marketplace. I couldn’t stop swooning over the barley twist design and knew this table would be a perfect accent piece between my two living room windows. After the item arrived, I realized the marble piece would fit on top of this new table wonderfully, too, and I was able to bring it to my NYC apartment while moving some other items up from DC. I’m still tweaking this setup a bit, but I couldn’t be happier with how perfectly the marble piece works… yet again!
The downside when dealing with a marble slab like this one is that, of course, it’s fragile and heavy, so you don’t want to be moving it around too often. I also kind of just lucked out in the sense that this slab fit on top of so many pieces of furniture. I wasn’t obsessively taking measurements before scooping up these items; they were just pieces I happened to like, and being able to use the marble with them was just the cherry on top! I honestly couldn’t be more thrilled with how each iteration has turned out though, and I’m glad I trusted my gut and scooped up the original piece that had the separate slab when I did. I wonder what the original owner would think of how it’s evolved since. If you’re trying to replicate this wonderful decorating kismet, one thing to make sure to search for — or ask about — is whether the stone top on a given piece is detached, which makes multiple furniture applications so much easier to pull off. You might skip this kind of a piece though (or want to find a way to secure the top) if you have small kids or pets.
