How I made my DR table seat 12 instead of 6, in time for T-giving

14 years ago

Here's my problem: my oval dining room table only seats 6 but we typically have around 12 for a holiday meal. I love to entertain, but hate to have to seat half of my guests at the kitchen table. So i came up with a way to "make" my table into a banquet sized table so we could all have dinner together.

I've put together a little slideshow for you all at Photobucket in case you wanted to copy my solution to an all-to-common problem. Cheers!

Here is the before and after:

Here is a link that might be useful: instructional slideshow

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Comments (19)

patty_cakes
14 years ago
There ain't nothin' like a creative *AND* smart woman!! Way to go! ;o)
barkingmad
14 years ago
WooooHoooo! Standing ovation and that's entirely within my skill set. Can you figure out a way to extend my dining room an additional 5 feet as easily and cost efficiently?
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Well, I know I am blessed when I got the call from my BIL's wife, saying she is the luckiest person in the world to have us as family. We had such a wonderful dinner. Good people, good food. I love leaving a dinner where I want to bring everyone home with me because the day was too short. My niece made mention that I was looking very stylish the last couple times she has seen me and I blamed it on our 'How not to look old thread!' (Of course, I admitted that I had splurged a tad on my wardrobe and hair - in celebration of Max's first paycheck, which meant a raise for me. We have another wedding coming up so it was fun to talk weddings, dresses and posture while the family bartender was mixing some kind of drinks. LOL! We spent the night at my MIL house and I got another wake up call. She is 85 and needs more help than she is getting. We must remember to use our dishwashers more as we age, not less. Also, dish soap should never live in the back of a cabinet, if you aren't using the dishwasher. Luckily, Safeway is really close. We stop by Safeway on our way home. We buy every thing we plan to eat at her house while we are there... Amazing that the rest of her house is sparkling clean. I am going down after Christmas to bleach her dishes and silverware; throw out her expired food, etc. All this said, do you know she is natural brown haired? Uh huh. She dresses nice too but her lower oven is now being used as storage. OK. After Christmas, I'll be on it. I love my DH's family. They are wonderful. Informed, happy, giving, educated, appreciating, fun. How lucky are we? We had the best day.
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I give you my house...
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I am not totally clear about how guests see the front door when they approach the house. Are you saying that if they want to use the front door, they have to park in the cul-de-sac, or that there is a separate turn around there, or what? Which room do you regularly use for home schooling? Where do the kids do desk work, etc? The other question is how do you entertain, and whom? If it is family, casual gatherings where food tends to be the 'event', then I can see that people collecting in the kitchen/fireplace area makes a lot of sense. If you entertain larger groups in a more 'sit around and talk' style, then certainly you want to take advantage of Room C and move them out of the kitchen. It seems that if you want people to use the front door, you are going to have to make a concerted effort to direct them there. That means more landscaping, perhaps path lighting, etc. and maybe a path from the driveway/garage that also leads to the front door. Larger shutters in proportion to the windows to make the front of the house more important. Colorful pots of flowers, etc in season. I guess you could even make up a cute sign that hangs by the kitchen entrance that says something about "Please use the front door" and directs them there. But old habits are hard to break, so don't be surprised if close friends still come to the kitchen door! As for the remaining rooms, I think that using the kitchen/fireplace area for family dining and a small seating area makes the most sense. That way you can take advantage of having the casual dining right in the kitchen area, but also have a nice place to relax by the fire, perhaps for you to sit (if you ever get the chance, LOL) while the kids are coloring at the table, etc. Use room B as your home schooling area, and keep the computer there. Make room C the entertaining guest space, and even if guests come in the side door, direct them there. Take their coats and hang in the closet, then move right along into the room. Have you considered, given the size of the space, putting a dining table and chairs at the front end of the room C? It would be a more formal dining space, work for parties, and keep the guests in that area. You could then have seating in the rest of the space. Perhaps that table could even be a drop-leaf style, so that it would be able to be closed up a bit when not in use, pretty upholstered dining chairs set on each side, and the other chairs used as seating in the room. As for the small closet by the garage, I assume you use the garage instead, and have put in either hooks on the wall or perhaps a couple of the RTA cabinets to function as closets, or maybe cubbies for each person? Put shelves in that small closet and use it for storage of homeschool supplies or canned goods, etc. I know that as a home schooling parent, you care about spelling stuff, so just thought you might want to update your photo album with 'cul-de-sac' instead of cauldesac, and 'entrance' instead of enterance.
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gscience, I just remembered your kitchen -- you have the blue Big Chill, right? I really like your kitchen and I see why you want a table like this one. It would fit your kitchen style really well; it's probably the closest thing to chrome dinette that you can get in wood. :) I am not getting into the chrome vs wood debate (I think they'd both work in your space) but I don't know how easy it is to find a chrome one that will seat 8 like this one; maybe that will help the decision. Or I know -- you can buy my old oak one (cheap!) and that'll force me to make a decision on a table for us. [big grin] [very very off topic] How are you liking the Big Chill? Were you able to see one in person before buying? We won't need a new fridge for a while longer (I hope), but I like the idea of a standalone fridge that doesn't need a fridge cabinet, and the Big Chills are pretty cool (sorry for pun...).
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Hi, My DR is approx 11 x 12 it has an entrance open to the kitchen and a large opening to the living room. I have a 36x60 rectangle with rounded corners that epands to 78" in length. I have four good size chairs around the table at all times and two arm chairs in the corner of the room flanking a large window. My table is Canadel and its solid wood made in Canada; you pick the size, finish, color, style of chairs etc. This worked well for us in the space. We have a larfe china hutch built in the kitchen but could fit a small buffet in the DR in the future. I agonized over shape and size and lived with tape outlines on the floor forever until doing the semi-custom route. BEfore this table we had a 42 round and it made the room seem smaller than the 36x60 does. best of luck
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kiko_gw
14 years ago
Fabulous! Now, what about the chairs????? Or are you building them right now?
tomorrowisanotherday
Original Author
14 years ago
LOL, kiko! There is NO way NO how I'd attempt to make chairs. Plus, if I tried, I'd NEVER IN A ZILLION YEARS get even the first one completed. I am a *starter* not a *finisher* kind of person, LOL!

Thanks for the kind words. It was super easy and cheap. Just thought I'd share :)
momfromthenorth
14 years ago
Totally clever and I second that standing ovation!
Thanks for the great idea!
covingtoncat
14 years ago
Kitty approves? :) So handsome.
redbazel
14 years ago
Clever, clever, girl. The cat helped, right?

Red
donnawb
14 years ago
Great idea! Then if you live in FL you can reuse the plywood for your windows.
learn_as_i_go
14 years ago
What a fabulous idea! One word of caution - just a few weeks ago I got a massive splinter in my thumb just by brushing by a similar piece of plywood in my garage. I would recommend that you consider a covering on the underside of the plywood table since people will be sliding in and out or perhaps crossing their legs.
folkvictorian
14 years ago
What a great idea - good job, T!

You know, I'm a bit surprised that no Gardenwebbers have offered to send their relatives to your house now that your table is so big! ;0)
teacats
14 years ago
Brillant project!!

Honestly you are darn clever to figure out all of the logistics of joining the two tables!!

Very well done indeed! :)

Jan at Rosemary Cottage
tomorrowisanotherday
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks for the tip, Learn. I actually got a splinter myself doing this project. I did run the sander over the edges before I put it together, but never considered the leg-crossing aspect! I think I'll just duct tape that pad to the underside so no one will get hurt. Hopefully that will take care of it :)
User
14 years ago
I see Learn took care of my concern too. Great job though Tomorrow!
pmartin
14 years ago
That's awesome, I wish my parents would do that! They host Christmas Eve every year for 18-24 people! They go through no trouble at all. They pull 3 tables together, uneven and 3 different shapes, throw the table cloths on and presto seating for that many people. Oh, don't forget the plastic patio chairs too! Don't get me wrong, we're very happy to have a place to be on X-mas eve and eating the yummy Ukrainan food she prepares. I just like all the i's dotted and t's crossed when planning which includes a well thought out seating plan.
dcclerk
14 years ago
That is so well done! I am wildly impressed and now have the bug to make huge tabletops, too :) Thank you so much for the tutorial!
zeffyrose
14 years ago
I have a question----What are the measurements of the two pieces of plywood ?

We've been using these two tables ---It would be much better to use the two pieces of plywood--I'm sure my DH could follow your instructions.

Thank You, Florence

{{gwi:202895}}
tomorrowisanotherday
Original Author
14 years ago
Forence, the sheets of plywood measure 8 x 4 originally. One of the sheets was left at that size and the other piece was a 4 x 4 (half a sheet--cut with a circular saw). I just cut what worked in my space, though. You could do your piece larger or smaller as needed. Just make sure you have the support you need underneath. The fun thing is you can take it apart and use it next year too.

BTW, your table in this picture looks very nice!
zeffyrose
14 years ago
WOW----that is such a great idea --We usually need enough room for 12----

Your home looks lovely.

Thanks for the information

Florence
sadie709
14 years ago
Dear tomorrowisanother day
I love your dining room could you tell me what color the walls are painting. I am searching for the perfect gold.
thanks

How I made my DR table seat 12 instead of 6, in time for T-giving

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How I made my DR table seat 12 instead of 6, in time for T-giving

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