Ever since becoming an actual home owner this past year my outlook on spending money has changed drastically. I’ve curbed most of my spending on my various collections in lieu of saving enough money to make sure I can afford things like mortgage payments, much higher electric bills, and buying the small stuff like new roofs (that one hurt even though we knew about it when we bought the place.) So no more toys, Garbage Pail Kids, 35 year-old mom magazines, or animation cels. Though this has certainly been an adjustment, the upside to this is that I’ve been totally retraining my brain when it comes to larger purchases. When you nickel and dime yourself, picking up a bunch of small stuff here and there you really don’t feel the impact on your wallet, and it’s not until years later when you look back and wonder where all the money went. Scanning your shelves you could probably pick out a pricey treasured item or two, but you probably don’t see thousands (or tens of thousands) of dollars in the collection per se. But when you do save up for a bit and bite the bullet and make a larger purchase, that item tends to jump right out at you every time you walk past it. The first time you buy a new bed, couch, or refrigerator you tend to appreciate that item more than the rarest toy you might have (or at least, that’s been my experience.)
So, when I stumbled upon a small company specializing in designing and manufacturing a very particular, retro-inspired, piece of furniture, a piece of furniture I just happened to be in in the market for, I got pretty damn excited. But let me back up for a second. The significant other and I have been slowly making this new house we bought into our home, one room at a time. One of the areas we’ve been concentrating on is out cozy basement. Jaime is a video game nut, so we’ve been slowly turning the basement into a sort of retro clubhouse. Embarrassingly large TV? Check. Comfy overstuffed furniture for maximum marathon gaming comfort? Check. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle arcade cabinet marquee lightbox? Check. But something’s been missing, something we can set our snacks on, or set up the Lego Dimensions portal on so that we’re not jumping up constantly to move our minifigs around. We’ve been needing a coffee table, but nothing was really grabbing us, nothing was fun or retro enough to really speak to us. That is until this past week when I discovered Taybles!
I stumbled on the Taybles site after posting a picture of a cherished Some Kind of Wonderful cassette soundtrack on Instagram. The Taybles crew happened to like the photo, and out of curiosity I clicked through to their account and I practically fell out of my chair when I saw what they were up to…
Just look at that beautiful cassette tape table! I was immediately in love and absolutely had to have one. Jaime and I love dead media and this would be such a great way to solve our coffee table needs while also bringing in a much needed bit of retro fun into the space. It’s just too perfect. Constructed out of birch hardwood in a number of different natural stains, these tables aren’t just pretty to look at, they’re also pretty functional as well. The exposed tape section on the one side flips down to expose a hidden shelf where you can store TV remotes or wireless Playstation controllers. And the sunken tape holes are stainless steel cup holders (with embedded leds for some rad mood lighting.) I kind of want to marry this table.
Of course, like most things this freaking rad that I want for the house, these Taybles were a bit pricey. Okay, they’re downright expensive as hell. All of the selections on their website range somewhere in between $1600 to $2300 dollars. As much as we need a wicked awesome coffee table, there’s no way we can justify that price. I did consider not eating lunch for a few years, but in the end I resigned myself to never kicking my feet up on an oversized cassette tape.
But just as I was about to give up on attaining the perfect coffee table, a ray of hope broke through the clouds. I saw that there was an impending Taybles Kickstarter campaign on the way and I decided it was worth it to sign up for the mailing list. Then, yesterday I received a bit of news that got me excited all over again. According to the e-mail, the Kickstarter was going to have the coffee tables up at the much more affordable price of $250! Well, the campaign went live today and low and behold there are indeed two new models that they’re making available at a much more attainable price…
Whereas the tables on their main site are considered part of the “A-Side” collection, these Kickstarter tables are the “B-Sides”. They’re almost identical to the originals, except they lack the led lighting in the cup holders and instead of birch, these B-Sides are made of fir. Though fir isn’t a hardwood, it is one of the more dense and hard of the soft woods and is a much more readily available and cheaper wood. This is a pretty small trade off for making these tables well over a grand cheaper. The B-Side collection is available in two difference color schemes, classic black and retro brown….
And as an added cool factor, the tabletops on these B-Sides are manufactured of whiteboard material so you can customize your own mixtape titles for special occasions!
The kickstarter has only been live for just over 12 hours and they’ve already raised about $20k towards the $35k goal, so I think it’s a pretty safe bet that this project is going to meet its funding. If you’re in the market for a supremely awesome piece of furniture that really ties the room together you might want to jump on this kickstarter before its March 21st end date. I’m not sure if the company has any plans to offer these B-Sides after the kickstarter. $250 might still seem a bit high for a coffee table, but I can attest that taking a break from picking up vintage toys, comics, and collectibles for a few months is totally worth the savings so that you can pick up a rad piece of furniture like this.
If you end up backing this project do me a favor and tell them that Branded sent ya, and after you’ve pledged, come back here and let me know which version you’re picking up. Me? I’m going for the classic black…
