If you have young DC and carpet round your dining table...

[GiraffesAndButterflies]

... wtf do you do to keep it respectable?

We have just moved to a new house with a carpeted living/dining room and changing to hard floors is (sadly) not affordable right now. I have a 4yo and a 1yo, the carpet is off-white and I cook a lot of tomato based pasta dishes! At the moment I have a couple of towels catching spillages. But they look horrible and it's a PITA changing and washing them. I tried a plastic tablecloth under the table but it was insanely slippery, I took it up again after barely half an hour. Are there non-slip splash mat type things? Am I missing a better solution?

These are easy to clean with wipes and non slip too

I used a shower curtain under the high chair and a dog

I used to use a cheap shower curtain when we were visiting rellies with carpets. It was a fabric one (as opposed to smooth plastic) so not too slippery.

If you don't have eBay, Argos sell them too

I put a plastic art mat under when we visit my parents.

tissues I actually have those!!! (God knows where, still packed in a box...) why did I not think of that! Thank you!

feesh for a brief moment of madness I seriously considered a dog - bit of an extreme solution though

We have a similar set up. The carpet look horrific until I had it cleaned recently!! I nearly ripped it up in rage but realised the floor underneath was just as bad.

giraffes- I think manufactors calling them play mats is misleading, they should be renamed 'saviours for parents before they tear up the flooring in rage mats'. I have half the living room/dining floor covered them!

*manufacturers

Clear plastic mat from Jojo Maman Bebe. It's a godsend as our carpets are very pale and show every stain.

We have an oilcloth table cloth on the floor. I bought it online. There are sites with loads of patterns and you can have exactly the size you want.

I 'think' I got ours from Only Oilcloths.

www.onlyoilcloths.co.uk

Big pieces of oilcloth from the local market stall. And a dog - nothing lasted long in the floor while he was around.

I brought a 6' x 6' oil cloth floor mat from eBay. Cost about £8 and was idea for covering my new carpet.

Omg if I had carpet under my table it would look horrendous now. And that would be under dh chair alone look into these as well. They have little spikes underneath to grip the carpet and you can wipe them clean easily too. Iv only seen them as a runner though.

Was going to suggest those see through grippy runners. Also a dog. Alternatively, we got a dark blue easy clean rug from IKEA that went under the table.