Do you use any kind of linens on your dining table? Or just keep it bare? We recently bought a new oak table and I definitely want to protect it from everyday use (we eat every meal on it), but I also love the look of it with nothing covering it.
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I really dislike the look of table clothes and placemats. I prefer the bare wood. We just use a brown placemat for LO, but it's otherwise bare. I feel like the only thing that could really damage it would be hard knocks to the wood, but that would go through a table cloth anyways!
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We use cotton tablecloths every day. Before we had kids we never covered it, but it has grooves in it so food gets stuck in those easily. Because of that, having it covered is easier for cleaning!
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@annem1990: I'm totally with you! I just wonder about protecting the investment, so to speak.
@LemonJack: our table has 2 leaves, so there are tiny gaps where the leaves come together. We've had a few liquid spills that have leaked into the leaf storage compartment underneath and you have to open the table and wipe up the mess, so that's another reason I'm considering some kind of linens.
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On our kitchen table, nothing. On our dining room table I use placemats only when we’re eating, not just as decoration. I don’t like how placemats look as decor, they seem very 80s to me. No tablecloths.
Looks wise I prefer a bare table with a centerpiece.
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@Jennibenni: agree about placemat aesthetics! Ha! That's not a bad idea though, to just use them when you eat and put them away the rest of the time.
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@lamariniere: I’d definitely cover it to avoid the extra work of cleaning up spills underneath. My only problems is that I have a really hard time finding tablecloths I actually like. I think most are hideous.
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@lamariniere: I know a lady who had a glassmaker make a glass tabletop to fit the table. It’s like a quarter inch thick with rounded corners, kind of like the glass you’ll see over tables at some restaurants. I don’t know how much it costs, but I thought it was neat.
You could try buffing out any future scratches with a wood conditioner. It doesn’t get rid of them but it fills in the color so they’re harder to see.
We had a local carpenter make us a reclaimed wood table. The good news is that any knicks to it would just blend in with the other imperfections. Though like you, I worry about water damage. I think that to some degree, you have to accept that this is your “kid” table for this season of life, and you’ll have to buy a new table once they aren’t such agents of chaos.
These placemats are non slip and have a lip so that spilled drinks don’t go everywhere:
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@lamariniere: we use a wipeable cover to protect it from LO but when we have guests we replace the cover with a runner
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Our table had planks with tiny gaps where crumbs get caught, so we use placemats to try to minimize that, but frankly they are really annoying. I’d rather just do bare and have a placemat only at the kids places. We’ve definitely had spills were the liquid gets between the planks and drips all the way to the floor. I don’t know that a tablecloth would prevent that though, unless it had a waterproof liner underneath or was vinyl- which I’m guessing isn’t the look you are going for.
@Hypatia: my friend had a heavy glass piece made to cover her table and it looks nice and is easy to clean. They ended up getting rid of their regular kitchen table and using the formal dining room table full time, and she didn’t want the kids ruing such an expensive nice table. Our formal dining room table has one but it’s very much a traditional, somewhat old fashioned, set that we bought with the house.
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@Hypatia: This. It's expensive to have done , but has been well worth it. I actually have a farmhouse style table, and the glass doesn't ruin the rustic look of it, but prevents spills and crumbs from getting between the boards. It's so easy to clean!
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@LemonJack: I totally agree! I think the only thing I would really be ok with is a white or light colored tablecloth, but that would be way too formal and get dirty so fast!
@Hypatia: glass is a good idea, but we change the table size somewhat frequently when we are entertaining, so it won't work. But I'll stay on the lookout for placemats like that for my LOs.
@Foodnerd81: yeah, I was thinking along the lines of something somewhat waterproof, otherwise, what would be the point of having a soggy table cloth AND having to clean up underneath?!
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My husband used some kind of wax/sealant on ours when he refinished it. Liquid spills bead up and it keeps the regular wear and tear to a minimum; and I just have to accept that cars and trucks will be run across it. I use table clothes or placemats for entertaining/holidays, but that's just because they're themed.
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We use placemats just for when we are eating and we don't leave them on the table when we're not (mostly bc the cat walks on the table...). For a while we used the cork placemats you can get at Ikea and I liked the look, ease of just washing off but then the cat started using them as scratch pads... freaking cat.
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I do like to use a tablecloth when we eat our dining table. I like the look of the plates right on the wood, but given the messiness level of our extended families and friends, we need the tablecloth.
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We have a really lovely wood table but use table cloths, and cork placemats where the kids sit to minimize messes. Mostly it's spilled milk (or somehow my dad always spills wine lol) but we just have a huge stash of cheap ikea tablecloths so we can swap it out whenever there's a spill
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Bare. I have plastic placemats that I put out when we eat and then wiped and put away.
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We use a table cloth only on special occasions because my boys are so dirty. We’d stain it every day. We do have a table pad that we keep on everyday, and maybe once my boys are older we’ll just use the bare wood top!
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I think I'm getting old, because I got a fall/Thanksgiving tablecloth for our round kitchen table and I love it. I love that I can throw it in the washer and dryer instead of scrubbing down the table.
Our dining table is bare wood but it has a runner and placemats. We never use it.
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We use placemats. I keep them out all of the time though...not because I like the way they look, I am just too lazy to move them around. We had a runner, but I like a bare table with a centerpiece more.
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I love season/holiday/fancy tablecloths, but I grew up with a mother who would get out the China, crystal, and silver for all major dinners and she always has tablecloths and cloth napkins in a variety of colors plus matching centerpieces. Haha. So it’s a very traditional look, but I like it.
I don’t have any of that stuff—mainly because I don’t have space to store it, but also I have an oval pedestal table so I feel like a tablecloth wouldn’t fit in style.
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Since we got a nice hardwood table, we don't use a tablecloth. It's high quality, so nothing has managed to damage it. Wet cups, neglected spills, nothing has mattered to this table.
We do use cloth napkins for environmental reasons. My favorite ones are black with white stitching. They look gorgeous with the wood table and don't show any stains! Maybe a black tablecloth would work for you.
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@Iced Tea: those napkins sound gorgeous...off to look for something!
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