Do you use a tablecloth while eating?

dandy-candy

My dining table is a rather tired pine one, so I have a tablecloth on the table to make the room look nice. When we are actually eating though I whip it off because I don't want food or drink spots on it, but my DH thinks I'm weird :rotfl:

Do other people leave them on when it's just family eating?

Farway

Unless it is antique embroidered lace then just leave on & use place mats as well

Pollycat

I have 2 dining tables, one in the dining room which has a protector & tablecloth to keep the sun off it.
When we use it or all through late autumn to early spring, the cloth & protector comes off - not to save the cloth but because I like to see the table.
Our pine casual dining table in the kitchen never has a cloth on it, we eat at it twice a day and use place mats.

elsien

Only to wipe my mouth on.

Gers

Wouldn't say it's weird, perhaps not what I would do. You may, of course, have young children who will be messy so it's understandable.

Have you looked at the wide range of pvc table covers available now? Very pretty designs and wipe clean.

Gloomendoom

We have a plastic one on the dining room for day to day use with cushioned underlay. It gets swapped for something more fancy on special (child free) occasions. We've never used one on the kitchen table.

PasturesNew

No ... but then I've never had a table

Mum used to have different cloths on her table. A white/embroidered one for non-mealtimes, laid diagonally so you saw the wood at the corners. For mealtimes a full tablecloth that draped down all four sides was put on the table (not a posh one, just a plain one that was big enough to cover the whole table).

catralense

I don't tend to, except for special occasions, but we have an old and battered pine table too. But I quite like it, if I'm honest. It was second (or maybe third) hand when we got it years ago, and I specifically got an old one so I wouldn't have to worry about the kids battering it/colouring on it, etc and now that they're older I can't bear to part with it.

Maybe I should whip out the tablecloths a bit more frequently...

DianneB

No cloth here, use mats for hot plates and just wipe the table over. It's quite a nice Ducal Pine one so responds to a good polish as well.

Teg-Rem

Always, I inherited a lovely table from home and everyone just dumps stuff on it so to keep it nice we unfortunately have to have one on permanently or it would look scratched and horrible, We use a foam back plastic most time but special times the fancy cloths come out.

Prinzessilein

I don't have a dining table.....but I do have a rather beautiful coffee table - dark wood, stunning carving - I have a variety of cloths for it some are simple cotton cloths for 'everyday' but for high-days-and-holidays I have some hand-crocheted lace tablecloths made by my Mum.