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Original poster

Tell me about your dining table!

59 replies

GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat · 30/08/2018 20:02

Exciting stuff I know but we are about to change our playroom back in to a dining room and I’m losing myself in a world of tables, chairs and benches!

I’d love to see what you’ve got, do you love it, and most importantly does it work for family life? There’s five of us but I’m a cm so it regularly needs to fit 7/8 plus up to 10 at Christmas and special occasions.

Extending would probably work best for us and I love oak wood in particular.

OP posts:
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BigFatCurlyHeadedFuck · 30/08/2018 22:49

We have a beautiful skovby extending oak dining table and 8 chairs with a lovely cream upholstering. We never use it but we have it 😬

PickAChew · 30/08/2018 22:55

Ours is an octagonal table made of 3" thick Dutch oak. It's bloody heavy! Got that and matching chairs for £60 off gumtree.

ToeTouchingTitties · 30/08/2018 22:58

One of this companies Hudson reclaimed wood tables. It's made from old church pews - the chairs weigh a tonne! You can get different sizes and they even do extensions.

www.eatsleeplive.co.uk/collections/reclaimed-wood-dining-furniture

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Home improvement
w4yty · 30/08/2018 23:00

I have a Porada Infinity table and it's gorgeous, similar to this pic but we have it in a different colourway

Tell me about your dining table!
JellySlice · 30/08/2018 23:30

We've got a rectangular French Oak table with pull-out extensions at each end. Unextended, it seats 6 comfortably and 8 cosily. Extended, it seats up to 12. Apart from the fact that it's solid and beautiful, what made this one stand out is that the extensions are 50cm long, rather than the more common 40cm. 50cm allows the diner to tuck their chair in under the extension, rather than have the table leg in the way.

We had the choice between a hard-wearing, glossy, permanent urethane (IIRC) varnish and a waxed finish. We chose waxed, because damage can easily be sanded off, unlike with the urethane varnish. Also preferred the softer sheen of waxed. About once a year or two we sand it down lightly and rewax. The table shows some marks, but we have chosen not to sand everything off - it doesn't look scruffy, it has aged beautifully with us.

DandelionAndBedrock · 30/08/2018 23:43

We have a Lewis Calia table. Ours isn’t exactly like this, but it does come in oak. We have ignored all instructions about oiling etc and it is fine 2 years in. They did have an extendable one but we didn’t have anywhere to store the extra piece, so it didn’t work for us.

I recommend benches if space is at a premium, because they tuck right under.

NotTheQueen · 30/08/2018 23:56

I love so much of that site toetouchingtitties - the reclaimed furniture looks lovely!

This is our new table
www.houseofoak.co.uk/foundry-182cm-dining-table.html

It’s not to everyone’s taste, but we saw it a year ago and loved it. We walked away as the price was too much at the time, but we got it on sale a few weeks ago. The annoying thing was we would have loved a matching bench seat, but they don’t make one. We found a bench seat and four chairs from Baker which we hope will compliment it. If not, we’ve spent so much now, we’ll have to live with any jarring effect.

We went a bit matchy matchy when we furnished our first home, now we’re trying to focus on things we like and hope that our friends are too polite to say it if they don’t like it.

Tell me about your dining table!
PurpleTigerLove · 31/08/2018 00:17

Kitchen table is round . Diameter of 120cm . Dining table is rectangular and can seat 12 when extended . If you have room get a round one . Much more sociable and can easily squeeze another seat in if needed .

NonJeNeRegretteRien · 31/08/2018 00:25

www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-lydia-glass-top-dining-table/p3043802

We have this... and we have benches... usually children are more compact than adults so I imagine you’d get 3 children to a bench or 2 adults and an adult at either end...

Anyway, I love it, because it’s glass it doesn’t seem as imposing in our open plan living space...

NapQueen · 31/08/2018 00:28

We have a 4 seater rectangle from ikea. It needs replacing. We are on holiday atm and the holiday house has an oval. Its amazing as we can spread around it rather than being trapped elbow to elbow.

IvorHughJarrs · 31/08/2018 00:44

Ours is a big old oak table with leaves that pull out at each end, bought second hand. Unextended it seats 6-8 and extended it seats 10-12. It is wider than modern tables so there is more room in the middle for dishes, wine, etc

QueenofLouisiana · 31/08/2018 07:23

We have an oval one, we keep t extended as the dining room is being enough and I don’t have space to store unused chairs. Fits 6 easily and 8 at a push. I like the fact that it has a central, thick leg so you don’t get rammed against a table leg if you squeeze an extra person in.

carrie74 · 31/08/2018 08:51

Ours was kind of made for us: there was a place locally that uocycled old furniture. So we chose the top (a beaten up old door), and the legs (which had come from a Georgian table). Here it is (chairs bought separately at a chair wholesalers near my parents):

Tell me about your dining table!
WhirlyGigWhirlyGig · 31/08/2018 09:23

We have an oak rectangular, extending Padstow table and chairs from M&S.

Slaymill · 31/08/2018 09:26

My current oak table is from an ex showhome shop it's really small as it had to fit in my last postage stamp house. It is now swamped by the kitchen in my newer home.

I love that table Carrie74 could you msg me the shop name.

happymummy12345 · 31/08/2018 09:33

Ours is a solid beech wood rectangular one, seats 6 people, doesn't extend. We would be unlikely to ever need to seat more than that, but we could probably squeeze in another 2 if we had to.
I love it. Since we moved in here it's the first time we've had a proper table. Previous house was a small space saver one that I hated. So it's nice to have a proper one in the middle of the room

lucysmam · 31/08/2018 09:40

Ours is glass, similar in style to Dowser's but with legs rather than a central support. I love it...but...wish I'd waited a while to buy the fancy black glass one & gone with cheap and cheerful when the girls were younger. It's looking a bit scratched :(

It's chairs are huge too - it came with six but would easily seat more on smaller chairs.

BigBlueBubble · 31/08/2018 09:42

It’s really difficult to find a 10 seat table that isn’t extending, unless you have lots of money to spend. In the end we got a custom made table - raw steel frame topped with reclaimed planks for £500.

Tubbyinthehottub · 31/08/2018 09:47

I love mine. It's got a really thick chunky oak top, seats 8. We have a bench on one side and chairs around the rest. It cost much more than I was planning on spending but it's such a beauty I had to have it. Never really cover it unless maybe painting.

Amicompletelyinsane · 31/08/2018 09:49

We had a standard 4 seating rectangle table, the table Is a good size but I childminded so we made a bench for one side, so a chair either end and 2 on one side, bench on other. It meant I could fit a fair few little ones on the bench without needing a huge table

Juanbablo · 31/08/2018 10:23

We have this table, it fits 8 people. Currently only have 6 chairs round it though.

www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/tables/dining-tables/tingby-table-white-art-40348923/

BiddyPop · 31/08/2018 10:38

I think ours is pine. It's a farmhouse style rectangle, and we can easily sit 8 around it but it looks fine with chairs for 6 everyday (4 decent solid farmhouse chairs but we gave away the 2 carvers as the arms were annoying and we now have a bench on the inside against the wall, 1 chair at each end and 2 along the outside).

For bigger groups, we used to add a drop leaf table we had in the kitchen (we had a separate dining room/living room in our old house - now it's a kitchen/diner and separate living room) but that is now in my DMs house. So I intend getting a plastic folding table to add to the end instead - although I can always borrow the folding tables in the Scout Den if necessary (as long as no other leader is having a party the same night!).

My DM has a great trick if you are extending the tables like that. Cover the tables themselves with plain white covers - she uses plain flat bedsheets. Then put a coloured cloth over the top - your usual cloth from the single table spread diagonally over both, or 2 small ones diagonally across both, or a nice long runner - and add some flowers or other decoration to match/contrast with that coloured cover and it makes the join almost disappear.

MargaretDribble · 31/08/2018 10:58

Chanandla when you say vintage...how old roughly?
I am thinking ours must be heading that way. Bought in January 1985 in a sale, it is dark brown, oval, with a butterfly leaf to extend. We keep it extended all the time and it seats eight, but 10 can fit round if needed. It has a padded table cover and a cloth on it, so really it doesn't matter that it is now old fashioned.

carrie74 · 31/08/2018 11:55

Sorry slaymil they're no longer trading unfortunately, one of the owners got ill and I think may have died Sad

Sgtmajormummy · 31/08/2018 12:23

Our dining table was from IKEA about 20 years ago. It’s pine (well pockmarked with dropped objects, so bear in mind OP that pine is a soft wood) and seats 6 comfortably so probably 8 for them. The chairs are the extras from the kitchen table but I’m hankering after some good solid farmhouse chairs, more for comfort than aesthetics.

It has a leaf but it’s rarely used. We usually eat in the kitchen so the dining table is where craft, homework, computer, board games, accounts, family meetings, school peer coaching and anything else gets done!