Anyone else wish they had a dining table for special occasions

[Meetmeunderthemoonlight]

Happy Easter 🐣

Just going to make beef and red wine stew for dinner tonight, chucking everything in the slow cooker as trying to have a low effort relaxing day. It's made me realise again how much I would love to have a dining table for occasions like Easter, Christmas, Valentine's, Birthdays. My house is small with no room for one, but oh how I would love to set a table to sit at for nice occasions. Just having a slight moan really.

We did the same when DS was tiny, he had a high chair that wasn't high but a cube sort with a table and sat him up to the coffee table.

How small is your ability to conceive of lives unlike your own? Some people live in flats. Some people live in overcrowded conditions.
And some thoughts should stay inside your head. It’s really just a matter of taste, empathy and good manners.

Yes, I also think if you have teenagers, they're useful for homework and revision. I never think desks in a bedroom are a great idea.

That's very sad. We use ours for every meal including breakfast, homework, having a brew, kids crafts, my work prep, piling crap. I can't imagine life without one and I'm sorry you are in this position. Am I naive to think you could store a pasting table and deckchairs somewhere? I'd give up the sofa for a table and chairs but I'm glad I don't have to.

Why don’t you buy a small trestle table and some folding chairs for occasional use. Store them under a bed or similar and get them out when you need them

Yes it's a double edged sword or being poor, you not only don't have a big house but you are also always covered in spilled food

😂funny!
It was more like - preferring a tray on the sofa, the kitchen island, a coffee table?
No judgement - unlike you! 😜
See my other posts for further enlightenment!

You certainly avoid chopsticks (or I did!) until we could afford a table.

Louder for the people at the back of their massive dining rooms

My big dining table is covered with my doom piles. The plan is to get rid of it and get one of those fold up ones, so one less place to dump stuff lol

Ah. Doom piles. I cannot seem to avoid them.

They can always fashion a bib from all the tablecloths they never use.

Or learn to eat more carefully...

Oh FFS, give over!

No one lives in a house that's smaller than a caravan - caravans have a small dining area with benches. And no one has a house that doesn't have a wall that could accommodate a foldaway table the size small bookcase.

And what does taste have to do with the price of fish?

Thank you! A lot of people seem to be on the moral high horse with additional snark this morning! 🙄

I do like a breakfast bar though. Have they gone out of fashion? Handy things. We had one when I was growing up and I used to do my homework there while mum cooked.

Oh dear...kitchen island😆

Although, I have such a tiny bungalow that I sleep in the conservatory (quite nice actually) but even I have a nice little table in the living room. I just have one small sofa and the table. You just have to think very carefully about the space, minimise your belongings while also thinking about aesthetics.

I have a small dining room and larger living room. The dining room literally only fits table and 8 chairs. Nothing else. No other furniture.

Help me out here, what's funny about a kitchen island?
I've never had one - not to my taste, but I wouldn't judge people who have them.
Or conservatories.

Um well we're talking about people who don't have space for a table, possibly because they're poor. It's highly unlikely they'd have a kitchen island!

I'm not going to feel guilty about having a conservatory when it's my bedroom! It is very useful for growing seedlings too :).

That's a change in priorities over generations. My mother grew up very poor as did her father. The kids shared one bed and they didnt have a sofa but they had a table to eat round.

When I lived in a small flat I had an ikea folding table, quite small really but it fitted in the large living room. Folding leaves. I’ve still got it in storage.

Oh, so you were being judgemental. Right.
It's entirely possible to move into a house with a kitchen island and not have space or money for a table.
We moved into a house with a kitchen island and ripped it out, but not everyone has the budget for that.

My DM has a kitchen island but then she has a large kitchen. Me, only a small kitchen so no island.

It depends how a house is spreads out, family owned a bungalow which had space for tables on kitchen and for one in living room (we didn’t have that). Ditto my aunt’s bungalow one small room had the round or square dining room table. But it could’ve been used as a third bedroom.

I lived in a studio flat and had a drop leaf table which when folded down was about 1m x 30cm. The entire place was about 250sqft which included a bed and a bathroom. I’m under no illusion that people live in small properties but I’m still surprised the OP doesn’t have a dining table.

I have always had a table. Even when I lived in a tiny studio flat and it was a fold down from the wall one.

We used to live in a tiny mews house and we had a (small extendable) table instead of a sofa.