The Hard Working Dining Table
How many of us have a separate dining room and how often do you use it?
Our house only has two rooms downstairs or 3 at a push if you call the postage stamp of a hall a room. One long kitchen and a living room the same length but not big enough to fit a dining table in so the obvious place to put a table is the kitchen. So is it a kitchen table or a dining table, that is the question? I think the former as our table works hard, its not just for show or the occasional sit down meal. Our scrubbed pine table does everything, we work from it, do homework, have breakfast dinner and tea around it, we coffee and cake around it, we sit and chat with friends around it, its an all purpose well loved piece of furniture at the heart of the home. Bringing me back to my initial question about separate dining spaces and how often you use them, I think the way we live our lives today has changed so much that we live more communally than ever before, having a dedicated room just for having a meal in is becoming a thing of the past but I suppose that is my own opinion and I’d love to know yours.
We bought our table with the intention of having it forever, we wanted the scrubbed top so we could make dents and have spills so that each mark became part of our history and after 15 years its still fabulous. So I’m not about to change it any time soon, well I might paint the legs, I’ve been itching to do that for ages. I do daydream sometimes about other tables for when the day comes for us to move or if we extend, so that I could fit in a bigger sleeker model in but it would still have the same daily jobs to contend with.
On the good value side IKEA do some fabulous tables like this one, then my mind wanders to the more desirable versions from HAY and Heal’s, my all time luxury item would be a Saarinen large oval by Knoll its dreamy. For now though I shall stick to my trusty scrubbed pine sturdy table that is part of the fabric of our family, there to create more memories around for the foreseeable future.
I shall leave you with my ever increasing Pinterest board dedicated to the very subject of dining for pure inspirational purposes of course.
Jx
Images 1-6 my own ~ Image Source 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 & 12
7 Comments
Sally
We have the traditional layout of front room and dinning room long hallway and kitchen at the back. Our dining room has one wall opened up into the front room. As for dining in there that unfortunately ends up when we have guests or Sunday dinner. I definitely would love to add a table in the kitchen.
Jane
I think that’s it, open plan spaces so you can use the table in different ways rather than being separate. I know my house is small but having the table in the kitchen really works x
Jane
Multi purpose tables are very useful indeed and you definitely use yours well Becky!
I like eating at a table rather than on my knee, maybe I’m old fashioned but we as a family like a good natter over meals!
Jx
Evie Squadrille
My ”dining” table is also a workhorse-it’s where I conquer life…my apartment is 432 square feet, so everything has to be multifunctional!
Jane
I like things to be multi functional Evie! Your table sounds just like mine. Jx
Barb
We have a small-ish apartment and decided to forgo the living room in favour of a dining room. A long bench along one wall provides any casual seating needed. Not what most people would choose, but it’s working very well for us.
Jane
I like it that you have chosen the dining space over the living room, good for you Barb. Jx