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.

Yes, you're right about the configuration. I personally dislike kitchen islands, it freed up the space for a table, a boon when you have teenagers (qv)
I wouldn't laugh at people who have them, it's all about choice. I think it's true about how your property is laid out, as well as lifestyle and budget.

Where do you eat your meals?

Obviously not.

Lots of people eat their on their knees off trays whilst watching TV

Growing up in a two up, two down with loads of us, it was a plate on lap for the younger children, adults and teenage siblings sat at kitchen table which was tiny.

When we first got married, a table was priority for me so we bought a small two seater crammed into a corner. It did the job. We just didn't have the money for a larger home to accommodate a big table.

Now, some 35 years later, we have finally got the large dining table to seat our extended family. But, it isn't used that often; probably twice a year. We all eat informally in our kitchen or, if just DH and me, on trays in front on the TV.

When it has too many stupidly placed doors in a small room.

How is this helpful to the OP?

What has this really got to do with poverty though. Its as much about priorities as it is cash. A second hand table is no more expensive than a second hand table. And a table and chairs might be easier to collect without the expense of either hiring a van or taking out a loan to buy a new sofa with delivery incl.

I don't have a tv so a sofa would be way down my list of priorities, but a desk and dining table are going to get more use. As it is I have a sofa in the kitchen, which in reality is a dog bed! No one uses it.

second hand table is no more expensive than a second hand sofa.

This is exactly my problem.
I live in an old terraced house that was originally double the size and has been converted into 2 houses.
Despite all the posters insisting there isn't a house existing too small for a table unfortunately mine is.

I hear you, OP. A few years ago, I lived in a tiny one bedroom flat (I’ve stayed in bigger hotel rooms) and I couldn’t fit a dining table in there either, not even a small one.

The first thing I did when DP and I bought our house was commission a bespoke dining table and benches.

I hope you’ll get your wish someday.

Judgmental, narrow minded and incorrect

This attitude. Good god.
Yes we can have small collapsible tables that we put in the middle of the floor. That's not ' having a dining table' . You cant middle class priorities floor size.

Sorry I didn't expect a lot of comments and went to clean my oven. Will catch up with the thread.

I sometimes eat lunch from a tray on the sofa, if I’m alone or there are two of us, but if there are several family members and if it’s a special meal, it’s nice to eat at a table, plus it teaches children manners and social interaction. Surely there is room for a small fold- up one?
Plus, I would be worried about greasy spillages from a tray on my lap. I also hate to see children eating from a plate while sitting on the floor, staring at the TV. Some older ones don’t know how to use cutlery, tearing at the food and eating with their mouths open.

Poor people really are savages

I love origami-style furniture and often see

Pictures with frames that fold down into tables
Hall console tables with extra “leaf”s
Bookshelves that swing out into tables
Sideboards with double tops that rotate 90 degrees
Coffee tables that can be raised to table height
Butterfly table and chairs sets
4 stools that nest together into a cube

So if you can clear the space in the living room for one day, there are some solutions.

Nah 100% on the money !

We just bought this one for our new house. It's bloody brilliant as can add as many leaves as we need depending on number of guests. It's currently set up in the console style but will have it out later.

www.mobilifiver.com/eu/en/easy-extendable-console-table-with-extension-leaves-holder-45-305-x-90-cm-rustic-oak/?

Well it was you who said it so obviously you're going to think it's on the money.
Glad you agree with yourself 🙈😆

You can get great folding tables and put in living room for meals and then Fold up again

Not about being poor. As a child we were very poor, didn’t stop us having manners. However our parents were quite strict in the fifties!

They know where OP could eat their food. It's an attempt to have a little dig about the OPs etiquette.

We’ve got one of these which is slightly too big when extended https://www.skovby.com/en-gb/products/dining-tables/skovby-33

in my first home I had a fold down table that on sunny weekends id put on the garage forecourt outside and we’d eat outside. And then if raining we’d put it up I. The sitting room and no one could get out their chair once in. I had very understanding friends!