I always love to set a beautiful table for the holidays and want everyone to feel welcome at our holiday dinners. Today, I’m sharing a few hacks that can help your holiday dining feel special, comfortable and inviting!
Add a temporary table top to expand your table.
Use a bench for seating add more people around the table.
Get breakfast chairs that coordinate with dining chairs so you can bring them in for a bigger dining room grouping without compromising the look.
Buy 54” wide fabric on a roll to keep to use as a large tablecloth.
More People Than Table Space?
While we usually have a few holiday dinners every year, this year Thanksgiving was our biggest in a while. We had 9 for dinner and while my table can seat 8, tightly, that one more is just impossible to fit in comfortably.
We had a dinner with nine family members at my mother-in-law’s bday celebration a few months ago and we separated with 5 in the dining room and 4 in the breakfast room. While it was nice, we do prefer sitting all together.
Here’s a hack that helped me get all 9 in my dining room at once with even an extra place for number 10 if needed.
We had a big piece of plywood, 8’ long x 4’ wide, in our garage, that had been unused for ages. That is a great size for a 10 people tabletop, if your chairs aren’t too big. That size provided about a foot more length-wise and about 8” more in the width for my tabletop.
I decided to put it on top of my existing table and drape it with a fabric.
This plywood sheet was 8’ long x 4’ wide and expanded my dining table top extra inches needed to seat additional people.
I had some black felt from when I had my studio outside my home, we used to make presentations on it, to protect the table top and provide a black backdrop for our samples. I used that as padding between the actual table and the plywood sheet and again, between the plywood sheet and the table cloth.
Cover plywood with felt before tablecloth goes on top.
I was able to fit 3 people comfortably on each side and have room for two on the ends.
Two place settings on the end fit comfortably with a 4’x 8’ table top.
There is plenty of space between each place setting with an 8’ x 4’ table top.
I will say, this was 3/4” plywood and it was heavy. If I was doing this from the start, I’d go with thinner plywood. We will be cutting this in half, so that will make it easier to manage for storage. I want to cut it lengthwise, down the middle, as I have several storage shelving units lined up in my garage and the two pieces can rest on top.
Use a bench for cozy seating.
I haven’t done this myself, but have wanted to try. Using a bench for seating can get more people at the table.
It works great with children or younger people, I wouldn’t put the aging parents on a bench, even if it was upholstered. I know I like my own seat at the table. :-)
Here’s a cute dining room where I proposed a bench for this family with young children.
A bench is great for young people and can help you squeeze a few more at your holiday table.
Get breakfast room chairs that will coordinate with dining chairs.
When you are designing your home and buying furniture, consider that you might need to pull up additional chairs at your dining room table for holiday meals. If your breakfast room chairs coordinate, it all looks purposeful and planned.
Here’s an example of breakfast room chairs and dining chairs on a past project that would work together just fine!
Dining Room with full upholstered chairs
Breakfast room with armless side chairs that could coordinate with dining chairs.
Buy 54” wide linen on a roll for tablecloths.
I have a bolt of neutral linen I got years ago to cover my tackboards in my studio and in my home office. I have made a table cloth out of the leftover fabric that fits my table, but it wasn’t big enough for my bigger tabletop this Thankgiving, with the plywood top.
So, I just rolled out the fabric and used what I needed. I didn’t even have to cut it, as when I doubled it, it was the perfect length.
I also have burlap that I’ve used, in a long bolt, and it works well too for a textural look. I don’t worry about the edges being hemmed, although you can do fabric glue for a no-sew hem. I just prefer to spend my time setting a dazzling table so no one notices the unfinished fabric edge.
With linen, that frayed edge is great after you wash and trim up the loose strings on the cut edge. Frayed edges are on trend now with ribbons and bows, if you haven’t noticed them all over Instagram lately.
Frayed edge linen doesn’t need hemming.
This is a great way you can add on to your dining table and have plenty of fabric to cover up any add on you want to do, even if you push another table up to your dining table.
You can do so much with a simple, natural linen fabric, including make a nice tablecloth for an oversized table top.