To wonder what to put on wooden furniture tops

[Girlwhowearsglasses]

Variety of dressers, sideboards, bedside tables and chests of drawers.

Amy space gets colonised round these parts - and they all need something on them to protect them.

At the moment I have lots of fabric placemats and tablecloths folded in half, but I've never seen anything else suitable and they look a mess. (Except vintage lace or crochet but that's usually not narrow enough)

We had a big clean out and I washed the mats this weekend and already there are mug stains and scratches

Do normal people just have drink mats and the rest of the surface is wood and remains 'un-colonised' with shite?

Current shite:
Key bowls
Bowls of mystery bits
Change bowls
Vases
Wierd Chinese music bowls
Laptop
Homework pile
Bowl of various chargers
Notebooks
Ornaments
Candle on tile
Plants
That's just downstairs.....

Do you mean to protect the surface?

I had a piece of glass cut to put on top of dd's new dressing table. Looks really good.

Yes

We use glass too on items which need protecting by that we don't want covered up - cheap, easy to clean, hard-wearing, practical and can be held in place with little sticky blob things if need be.

I have a beautiful 1950's drink cabinet that I use as a TV unit - it has it's original glass top - so glass!

we use a table protector under a table cloth for the dining table (has saved it from the cats claws), similar to this:

argos

On our side table/dresser I have slate table mats (that have felt pads underneath) big enough for a lamp to sit on and the odd cup of tea.

That being said the dresser is currently 'colonised with shite' as you so nicely put it so the mounds of paperwork are protecting it right now (it's actually pretty old so I have sanded it down and re-stained it in the past)

Glass protectors. Brilliant idea for my new furniture that's coming soon. Don't want to cover it but it is at risk!