Yesterday we were the recipients of some real furniture. [The aforementioned] Lily and Claire have a great-grandma who's moving into a smaller place. We were the lucky ones who got a very very nice dining room table and chairs.
Our first dinner table was handed down through my mom's family. My grandparents had it. My mom and her sister both had it in their homes. I love it for the memories. I love it for the border around the table: the border served the purpose of keeping glasses away from the edge of the table, as well as making a nice roadway for Hotwheels for little boys. But the bracing near the floor didn't allow for the chairs we have now: we could sit only two chairs around the table. (Definitely not a sufficient quantity of chairs!) There was also the problem that my mom and aunt said the table wobbled enough that children would often be groused at for shaking the table when someone was writing. That table is now used for sewing.
Our second dinner table was purchased for $20 used. Not in great shape then, but it was intended to serve only as our schoolroom table. Here it is, 18 years later, and holding up the dinner plates. That table was relegated to the garage today, awaiting more sorting of furniture, hand-me-down clothes, and cleaning of closets.
With the table, we were given the table linens and a pad. We put it on, desiring to keep a piece of "real" furniture in nice shape. But then Andrew had a question. "Why do people have nice furniture if all they're going to do is keep it covered up to protect it?" Hmmm. Good question. I don't have an answer for that yet. Nevertheless, I have seen altogether too many accidents with markers and epoxy to leave beautiful wood available for daily abuse.
Monday, July 09, 2007
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There are some nice vinyl tableclothers with flannel backing that would protect from markers, etc., and wipe off just like the table you have now. They probably don't sell that stuff off a roller like they used to. That was always a big treat - going to the dime store for a new tablecloth.
ReplyDeleteI'm going through the buffet this evening, getting rid of stuff and figuring out what to keep and eliminate. I found some tablecloths in there. One looks long enough for the table WITH a leaf in it, but is green and red with holly and silver bells. Oh well, it would do for now as marker protection.
ReplyDeleteI also found that white tablecloth with hand-done embroidery (by Mary?) that fits a small round living-room table. That stays.
Jo-Ann Fabrics usually has the flannel backed vinyl on a roll, but I would suggest the clear vinyl that is also sold on a roll. It's very cheap, and the clear vinyl allows you to enjoy the wood color of the table. I currently have such a set up, although I have a tablecloth UNDER the vinyl to hide the much-abused wooden table top belonging to our own hand-me down table.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it nice when nice people give you nice things? We had a similar thing happen a few weeks ago when a couple in our congregation called up to ask if we wanted some living room furniture (they are doing some remodeling and turning their LR into more of an office/study for the husband). We ended up with a beautiful Lazy Boy sleeper sofa & matching loveseat (in colors I love and would have picked out for myself) plus a sofa table and two end tables. It would have been years before we could have purchased anything like this. I was able to throw out two old sofas that we had acquired last year because no one bought them at the youth garage sale and to retire a couple of those round particle board side tables with the screw on legs that you get from places like Wal-Mart for $10. The new (actually five years old but like new because they never used it) furniture actually ended up in our rec/family room rather than living room (the living room has the piano, a small organ and our stereo plus an old church pew for the piano students to sit on when they come in).
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to have a family room that looks like you might want to spend some time in it!