A table, or the space for a decent table is probably one of the most important things to me in my own home. They have to be big enough to sit eight comfortably and wide enough to hold not only your plates, but big serving platters so that everyone can help themselves.
They need to be multi-functional - for kids art projects, working from home days and sitting around the table and talking nights. A table where you can spread out a full sized paper or sew a dress is essential.
They need to be well loved and show the signs of the events and memories that have taken place. Hopefully it might be one that's been passed down, hunted down, or a bargain find from a second-had store. At the other end of the scale, it could be the thing you've saved up for, commissioned or coveted. Either route is superb.
I don't think a table is the place for mdf, copies or mean proportions. I'd rather have an old door on trestles! No sharp corners for small heads and nothing that screams this season.
We have two tables - a £30 Victorian table that fits six. It's been a great compromise whilst we've been waiting to buy a house. And in storage at Heathrow is the (table) love of my life. A two metre long wooden table made from antique Matai. I've served my nieces their first risotto at it, ate dinner with Ed for the first time together, had countless dinners including christmas around it and sat with a glass of wine and read many books at it. It has wine stains, scuff marks and teethmarks from puppies teeth. It talks about the last ten years of my life, so it's fundamental that as we look for our new house, this table must fit....
I think that a table says a lot about what your home means to you and how you like to live. What does yours say?
4 comments:
My table is one that my husband bought before I met him. The table is round and has four chairs but we've squeezed eight around it before. There are nicks and scratches in it from where I have hit it with a rotary cutter once or twice, a water stain from a time we dyed Easter eggs. Sometimes I wish we had a long table that held more people but it suits us for now and has been a central part of our home which is all that matters.
Loved reading your post on tables - which are the love of my life too.
We have a table that was made for us in Nottingham from sycamore and has an old oar used as the central foot bar! It is carved with our names on one side and the places we have lived with it: Nottingham, Copenhagen and now Beijing. The other side has the saying "The mill will never turn with the water that has passed". I love to be reminded of the need to enjoy today because it wont come back. It is beneath my hands as I type this now.
Hope you will enjoy my new blog about my love of tables and all that goes on there. www.thefableofthetable.blogspot.com
Glad to meet a kindred spirit. Ingrid
Thanks Ingrid - I'll be sure to have a look. You're right Annette - your table sounds like it suits you perfectly!
Ours came from the Scouts Jumble sale. They wanted £8 so I gave them a round £10, no need to mess around with change that way. Ten or fifteen ears on we have certainly had our money's worth. The table is sturdy modern pine and had seen better days on the top. It had clearly been used for family meals and art sessions.
I haven't seen that top fo ryears now. It's always covered with a a swirly yellow, orange, verdigris impressionist flowers plastic-backed tablecloth that I love to bits. If the table is actually cleared it can seat eight comfortably and I made an extension which allows us to seat another three - only used once because I now use it as a sewing table (when haven't dragged the machine downstairs and colonised th ekitchen table).
If I was transported back in time and found myself a Miss World contestant I would hope that every family could have a large kitchen table, it really is the heart of the family.
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