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 have a fold away one
I've seen loads on freexyle over the years all kinds of sizes

I love these!

I think storing chairs takes up more room than the table, really

Yes, I've got some folding chairs, but they're not very comfortable, tbh.

Definitely look into folding tables OP, hope you find something that works for you. I would not be without my dining table (in the lounge, we don't have room in the kitchen and no dining room but thankfully plenty of room in the lounge), we eat at it every day and I use my laptop there and the children do their homework at it and we use it for board games. Vital piece of furniture for us.

Yes it can do. Children learn from example how to use a knife and fork. They probably won’t, sitting on the floor with a plate stuck in front of them, but if they see others doing so they will learn. As we have seen there are many types of table for the smallest of rooms, and yes, it is common to see a huge corner unit, when there would have been room for a decent sized sofa and table.

I have got 4 sewing machines on mine

That’s rude.
As someone that’s lived in a studio with a pull down bed ( that took up all the living floor space) and a minuscule hostel room I think a fold away table is doable in most spaces
However in many cases it’s not space itself but too many people in a space that’s the issue. When a living room is also a bedroom/ wardrobe/ storage area it’s not practical to have a table

Do you work for Temu?

We're planning an extension just for this reason!
We currently eat at a makeshift breakfast bar style surface

I don't work for anybody. I have got a basic machine, a basic embrodery machine, a serger, and a posh machine that sews and embroiders.

We swapped our dining table for a kitchen island.

Table Privilege - that's a new one that The Guardian and the BBC will probably now incorporate into their guidelines.

I have a couple of dresses that need shortening…

We used to have a separate dining room table and kitchen table but got rid of the dining room when we extended as it was dead space. Now have a lovely big kitchen table which seats 10 comfortably and more at a squash - having a big kitchen table has totally changed the dynamics of the house.

How ridiculous

So why is it rude to say you're privileged to not have had to live in the way you are describing?

I can't imagine not having a dining table or it not being important. Even as a skint student I had a dining table.

Have you looked at Murphy tables? They basically fold out from the wall. We have one in our tiny shepherds hut, with folding chairs ( they can go under a bed or stored on hooks on the wall) When folded down it's the size of a tiny console table. If you look on Etsy there are loads of them.

That's what we've got and I linked above. It's bloody brilliant but weighs a fuck ton.

We bought a dining table and chairs before anything other furniture in our first house. We did the house up bit by bit so lived in one room, we slept on a mattress on the floor and used the table and chairs for everything else.

I don’t think it would feel like a house without a table! Even in my tiniest studio apartment I had a very small one. We use ours for all meals and I think I’d struggle if I had to choose table or sofa.

Where do you eat your normal meals? Surely a table is a basic?

Seriously?

Not sure how this is helpful to the OP who has neither!

Even the studio flat I rented when I left uni had a table. It is the heart of the home. Where we all eat, sure a tele dinner is nice every so often, but you can't catch up and talk balancing food on your knees - plus its terrible for your digestion. Where would you do zoom calls? Is that people prioritise the space for 60 trillion inch tvs these days?