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why do people use those oilcloth tablecloths?

(52 Posts)
MacaroonIncident Thu 11-Jun-09 16:10:57

why not have a table you can show off

MacaroonIncident Thu 11-Jun-09 16:11:09

(they always look a bit grimy to me)

Have you been snooping round my house?
<<narrows eyes suspiciously>>

MagNacarta Thu 11-Jun-09 16:14:23

Oh, I'm with you - our wooden table tells a story of our lives since we got it 10 years ago. Small indentations where the dc's would bang things when they were babies, a burn mark from candles during a dinner party etc. No oil cloth for me.

Blu Thu 11-Jun-09 16:14:37

We have a VERY nice table top on our expensive (for us)Habitat table, but as we only have one table to serve all purposes, the oilcloth (it might not be genuine oilcloth) makes a good everyday surface to protect it from all DS's activities, stains, burns, scratches etc etc.

And it isn't sticky or grimy, I don't think.

notcitrus Thu 11-Jun-09 16:15:49

Are you offering to buy me a dining table?
Fab! [goes to look at catalogues...]

Our very practical extending oak table was battered when my parents bought it in 1975 and doesn't look better now. We do have a cloth-cloth for special occasions, though.

Blu Thu 11-Jun-09 16:16:20

When I had an old pine tabletop, it absorbed what came it's way - it looked good 'distressed'.
Our current table would just look 'ruined'!

Hassled Thu 11-Jun-09 16:16:33

It's to make the house look like a Laura Ashley showroom. Which is what we all aspire to, as I'm sure you know.

Plus, it avoids felt-pen on wood incidents.

cos we're idiots and bought a table with a glass top - it was hard work pre kids with smearing. now i shudder to think! also v noisy and ours need no help in the din at dinner stakes.

ButtercupWafflehead Thu 11-Jun-09 16:17:36

Where do you all buy these oilcloths of which you speak?

(I can only find old-lady floral/tartan ones hmm)

BodenGroupie Thu 11-Jun-09 16:19:07

Cath Kidston or John Lewis by the metre....I need to get out more blush

MacaroonIncident Thu 11-Jun-09 16:19:46

£125

ikea
binnable when knackered

TheProvincialLady Thu 11-Jun-09 16:20:32

It's because they come pre-greased and with a bag full of sticky crumbs, so you don't need to go to the trouble of doing it yourself.

or that Dunelm Mill place.

have you seen how much that cheeky mare kidston charges for oil cloth? £20 a meter! shocking! why doesn't ikea do it?
grump.

MacaroonIncident Thu 11-Jun-09 16:21:09

beacuse its naff?

ButtercupWafflehead Thu 11-Jun-09 16:21:25

really? are they gross, then?

MacaroonIncident Thu 11-Jun-09 16:22:17

they are a bit middle aged arent they?
a bit Joanna trollope

MagNacarta Thu 11-Jun-09 16:23:00

nafferoony

ButtercupWafflehead Thu 11-Jun-09 16:23:04

Are actual cloth ones alright in the fashion stakes?

Or do tables have to be naked?

Because I quite like having a bright red table with white polka dots, and find the idea of spending £125 on a table and 'binning it when it's knackered' far FAR naffer. hmm

£4 from Tiger, bargain and pretty!
I bought it after DS (2.5) spilled milk for the umpteenth time and it went in between the glass and wood again = a bugger to clean.

MacaroonIncident Thu 11-Jun-09 16:25:00

LOOK AT Joianna trollopes hair

that is YOU that is

Oh and it's a cheap ikea table too but it's the cleaning which is tricky

MacaroonIncident Thu 11-Jun-09 16:26:15

lol at buttercup

i like em in leggings

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