Do you use a tablecloth every day? If so, what kind?
I must know.
Pointless question
Published
Pictures of my life in a thousand words . . . more or less.
Pictures of my life in a thousand words . . . more or less.
Do you use a tablecloth every day? If so, what kind?
I must know.
Actual Unretouched Photo 
There is one on my long refectory type of table in the kitchen. Yes. Every day. And it is cotton and checked in red, yellow, green and blue. And this is important?????? Huh??!
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No. But I might start, to hide the marker, crayon, & scratches from my lovely children.
Steph
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No. Are you kidding? It would have to be washed after every meal. Or do you take it off to eat? Sometimes I might use placemats. But even these are a pain to keep clean. Better just to be able to wash the whole table off each day. My kids can’t even have a snack without messing the table up. And let’s not even talk about markers, etc.
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I love tablecloths. I look at them in every nice kitchen store I go to, every catalog, every store like Pottery Barn, etc. I just dream of a nicely set table. Sadly, my table is set with vinyl Sponge Bob place mats. C-L-A-S-S-Y. =) I never actually buy the tablecloths that I love so much because I know they will be ruined within the first 2 minutes of placing them on my table. Someday when my boys are older I will dress up my table.
Don’t the negative people bother you. There is always someone wanting to rain on a parade. I’ve learned that the exact same email can be sent to 3 people and it will be interpreted in 3 different ways. Emails are difficult that way.
Have a great week!
Tammie
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wow, too bad I didn’t just enter a contest to see how many times I could use the word “table” in a paragraph! Ugh!
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No table cloth but placemats. I should use a table cloth because I have to vacuum the crumbs out montly that fall in the cracks of the table.
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I love tablecloths too, but never use one because the kids spill so much. There are those vinyl ones, but I hate the smell at the table from them. I use one of those stain release ones at Christmas and other holidays, I have them in deep green and burgundy to hide the stains.
I actually took my long lace tablecloth (which was my Mom’s) and folded it in half lengthwise and hung it over my curtain rod in my bedroom. It makes a pretty antique valance.
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Are you kidding – with 7 kids? NO . . . WAY!
Same for placemats – what a colossal waste of my time.
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No tablecloth. Not even for special occasions. I don’t even think I own one anymore. I did, but they all ended up in garage sales or donated.
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No, never! I have a very nice kitchen table with pretty curved and beveled edges, and to hide them would be a shame!
Mr. P does use a placemat, though.
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I have a clear vinyl tablecloth, and underneath it is a map of the world. Not particularly stylish in the larger world, but in the world of homeschooling it is quite chic!
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Nope, the table is bare. I would need to wash it every day between the girls and hubby!
Plus everyone tends to gravitate towards the bis ottoman as a dinner table!
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A tablecloth? I don’t even use a table every day.
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yes.
as long as it isn’t plastic, I’ll buy it.
I have 6 checkered alone, at least one for every holiday and a birthday topper…
for the kitchen.
I rarely use one in the dining room. They seem to be more civilized when we are in the dining room. Though we still use cloth napkins. Environmentally friendlier …..
Now when the kids were young and had not yet honed their table manners, we had a wide array of vinyl placemts … Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast … Thomas the Tank Engine … even Curious George 🙂
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Yes, I have one, but here is the secret: it’s only on the table when we don’t use it. So my kitchen looks pretty…
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No. I wish I could. I have a *gorgeous* tablecloth from Anthropologie that I’d love to use. I had it on the kitchen table for awhile, but got sick of taking it on and off for every meal (too pretty/pricey to stain).
We have a formal dining room, too. I think the wood is too beautiful to cover.
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Not around here. I’d spend half my life washing it and the other half keeping it from sliding onto the floor along with the plates full of spaghetti.
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I only use tablecloths on special occasions such as Christmas. Sometimes I use placemats. Most of the time just the bare naked wood table top.
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I buy fabric and toss it on as a tablecloth. I just went to Wal Mart and got a beautiful white lace fabric for $2/yard. It’s easily bleached and easily changed. For thicker fabrics that unravel I use no sew tape and wash it on the gentle cycle.
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I am the same as Robin…but I am just too lazy to use a table cloth for everyday. My kids would spill milk from their cereal on it every morning – I reserve placemats and tablecloths for when the company comes over, since we don’t have a “formal” dining room. Plus, since we homeschool, I can’t imagine using a table cloth — the kids would destroy in in a heartbeat. You asked.
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I use a khaki colored vinyl one with felt backing now, because my two daughers destroyed the top of our table with Easter egg dye (even after covering it with waxed paper). Anyone have any suggestions for cleaning up absorbed food coloring? 🙂
As for the vinyl smell, that went away after about 3 days. I just wipe the table with my dishcloth after meals and it stays fresh.
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I have a whole bin full of them in the basement. Haven’t used one since my oldest child got out of the highchair, for reasons already listed by others here, in particular the pull and crash scenario that I could see my 1 y.o. causing. 🙂
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Yes! I have dozens of them.
I also have grown children and (now) a main floor laundry area.
(The key to using a tablecloth is to place a clean fresh tablecloth on the table every morning, and then immediately pour a 1/4 cup of sticky liquid on it yourself. It will happen eventually anyway, might as well initiate it first thing.)
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Never. And paper plates and paper napkins when I can get away with it too. I’m hopelessly non-domestic.
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Congratulations on winning the contest. It was my total pleasure to vote for you and thanks for the reminders.
I use a clear vinyl table cloth. I usually keep something under it. Either a fancy cloth or the kids art work. I’ve used maps and leaves in the fall. It wipes up so much easier than the wood finish on my table. Right now I have a clear vinyl with butterflies on it that I got at walmart. Around the holidays I found a lacy clear vinyl one.
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Oh you bet I do, on both tables! The ‘vintag-er’ the better. I am always scouting for them at garage sales and thrift stores. Love em. And I keep one in my picnic basket and one on the picnic table once the sun starts shining.
Do you?
~K!
P.S. Mean people make me mad.
xoxoxo
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Every time I eat at the dining table I use one. However we tend to eat in front of the tv at the coffee table. It annoys me. However my dining table is often covered in rubble (from emptied out handbags and shopping etc). When I do use the table, I tend to use a multicoloured print tablecloth because it hides stains well, you think they are just part of the pattern.
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Ya know…I find this post from you very interesting :). When I visited you (lastweek?), I noticed & admired your white/yellow tablecloth. It reminded me of how I use to always have a tablecloth/table runner on my kitchen table…until I started collecting placemats at garage sales (placemats are easier to toss in the wash). I miss those tablecloth days!! My grandmother ALWAYS had a tablecloth on her table…I liked that. Like sheets on a mattress…it was the rule!! I do keep one on my diningroom table at all times though…does that count?! (giggle) The one that is currently on my diningroom table is one from the church garage sale that is red vintage with dogwood branches/flowers on it. I collect old linens from garage sales & thrift stores all the time…those are my favorites.
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I am a tablecloth junkie! Use them all of the time -cloth-I have a whole cupboard full. The colors pretty much revolve around the seasons, and I like them bright and festive. I began using them years ago to cover up some ugly tables and I have used them ever since- even when my kids were little. When the tablecloths become worn or too stained I use them for picnics or I cut them up and use the material for other projects. They make great pillows, curtains and puppet theaters.
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Not since we bought a nice new pretty table 😉 But before then, I would use one of those cheap waterproof wipe-clean ones and then usually put a pretty cloth one on top (that way when the kiddos spilled a little something and I didn’t know about it right away it didn’t ruin the table). My mother-in-law would usually cover her pretty cloth one w/a clear plastic one.
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I have a couple of blue gingham checked ones that I use for the kitchen. For the dining room, I have a lace runner in the middle of the table with the flower arrangement and candles on it but no tablecloth.
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Only when the grandkids come over and then I race to throw my (specially-purchased) vinyl tablecloth on before the spills. Wish they made tiny tablecloths for my nice upholstered chairs, too.
This reminded me that we have a bin full of linen tablecloths we bought when we lived in Europe…all of which are pristine because they have never been used. I must have been in a linen-buying phase!
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Every 2nd or third day I’ll put a tablecloth on. I only buy the awesome water-repellant ones (they look like a satin-type fabric, and when water spills it beads up. So cool!) on clearance at Linens N Things. Or is it Bed, Bath & Beyond? I never remember which is which.
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Yes, I have a cotton cloth on the table — a red and white swirly thing with a blue trim. I used to just have placemats on the table, but this year I switched to tablecloths. I love it!
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Yikes, no tablecloth here. My dining room table was a conference table in its previous life and so very hard to find tablecloths that fit. It is 4 feet across and 7 feet long.
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No, instead I use these absolutely amazing placemats that I got from Kohl’s. I have a beautiful mahogony table and would hate to hide it under a table cloth. My old yucky table from my husbands bachelor days DID hide itself though, that should be noted!!
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NEver, not even on special occasions.
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I love how tables look with tablecloths! All the tables that aren’t used everyday for eating do not have one. I ALWAYS use one for anything even slightly a big deal, but not generally everyday.
Do you?
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I use a tablecloth at Christmas, but almost always end up removing to because I don’t like crumbs. Our table is a glass top and wrought iron so its beautiful without covering it up. I wish I would set the table more often…I do dream of it.
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Yup. Washable. Cotton. Yellow or blue and white or flower, or pink. They get washed at least every other day; I find it much eaiser to shake out a table cloth or toss it in the washer than to actually wipe off the table.
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No table cloths. My wood table has a crackle finish, which I didn’t want to hide under fabric, but it was starting to chip. So every few years I lightly sand the surface, brush on polyeurethane…. and it wipes up like a dream. Kid proof, clean and pretty!
Why do you ask?
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Yes – a piece of clear plastic from the fabric store. Under it are a world map and a U.S. map, which look great on the wood table. It makes for nice reference material and for fun conversations; it also wipes up easily and is cheap enough to replace if it just gets too funky.
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