Do you use tablecloths or napkins?

caseydog said:
I prefer a rustic and masculine look for my furniture, so no tablecloths for me.

I do have a good selection of placements for food photos, but no matched sets. If I were to set the table with placemats, they would all be different. :laugh:

CD
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I don't like tablecloths because the wood of my tables is so gorgeous. It's not feminine or masculine and it's not rustic, but just too beautiful to cover up.
 
JAS_OH1 said:
My "table top" looks very good, according to my husband, yet I still put clothes on everyday! Well sometimes they are just fresh pajamas, but still...
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:laugh:


JAS_OH1 said:
I do like a nice, crisp tablecloth when in a restaurant
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Same here.


JAS_OH1 said:
yes, I know that the server wiped down the table and sanitized it, but how many times was the cloth used on other tables and has it been rinsed out thoroughly in between? Likely not.
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I’ve read before that the dirtiest thing in a restaurant is the tabletop, because the wiping cloth is filthy, and they do a half-assed job wiping it down anyway.
 
I love my dining and kitchen tables. Beautiful woods but.....my family needs to work on cleanup. I use a linen tablecloth on my dining room table. It is rare that we eat there. For the kitchen table, a plastic flannel backed one. Gasp. Not pretty but it serves its purpose. I will use cloth dining linens when we have people over. Sometimes, paper dinner napkins. Fine dining restaurants must use linens in my opinion.
 
Everyday meals - Placemat and paper napkins.
Family holiday meals - linen cloth and napkins, china, crystal, silver ware or very dressy stainless flatware.
If I entertained the china, crystal and linens would be used more often.
My Aunt, Dad's eldest sibling, entertained a lot. When she planned a dinner party she set her table days in advance and draped the table with dry cleaner bags to keep the dust off of her place settings.
When we eat at a fine dining restaurant, I expect a linen cloth and napkins.
 
I have a couple of Cutwork Embroidery sets for 12 that my Great Grandmother made... I think we've used them, I don't know, maybe 5 times in all the years of inherited them, but I do love them when the table is all set with the china, silver and glassware.
I also have everyday type tablecloths and napkins, but for the most part, for just DH and I, it's placemats and paper napkins.
 
We bought a timber veneer table when the kids were small. It’s scarred all over from many parties and kids pressing too hard when writing.

Part of me wants to chuck it. Part of me can’t bear to. It’s such a mess it’s almost always covered now. Especially as we’ve polished floors in the new place.

We have many table runners - red, aqua, navy & buff plus a few hand woven gifts from traveling friends.
I have plain black, chambray & heavy callico table clothes.

I DON’T have fabric napkins but probable will in the future.
 
Here´s the wife and a friend at a lunch party we did a while ago:
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I use paper towels for napkins; if I have company, I pull out seasonal or holiday paper napkins.

I use placemats for company. I do have a tablecloth for the four-person deck table, which comes with a hole in the center so I can stand up the umbrella.

I know of a rare few people who always keep a tablecloth, and sometimes even a full setting of dishes, on their dining table. Obviously, such folk don't live with cats!!!
 
Mountain Cat said:
I do have a tablecloth for the four-person deck table, which comes with a hole in the center so I can stand up the umbrella.
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I didn't know such things existed, but I suppose it makes sense.

Mountain Cat said:
I use placemats for company.
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Aw - you must be very lonely to resort to this. Sorry, I couldn't resist...:shy:

Mountain Cat said:
I know of a rare few people who always keep a tablecloth, and sometimes even a full setting of dishes, on their dining table. Obviously, such folk don't live with cats!!!
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I can't imagine doing that. I did use to have cats but they were trained not to go on surfaces. I couldn't ever get used to the idea of those paws (which had been in a litter tray or in the dirt outside) tramping over my kitchen counter. But maybe you mean they pounce on the 'overhang' of the tablecloth and pull it off?

In fact I do use placemats (but that is all). The reason is that I have a glass dining table and without placemats the plates sort of clatter unpleasantly. It would set my teeth on edge!
 
Mountain Cat said:
I know of a rare few people who always keep a tablecloth, and sometimes even a full setting of dishes, on their dining table. Obviously, such folk don't live with cats!!!
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That’s us most of the time. A set table just looks nicer than a bare one. Right now, though, all that’s on the table is a bowl of fruit, because I have it cleared for the eventual phone repair tech visit (tomorrow).

Over Christmas, it was weighted down with all the cakes, cookies, and other treats, so no place settings. I’ll probably leave it unclothed and unset for the next couple of weeks, then get the Spring tablecloth out sometime in early March.
 
We only use a tablecloth at Christmas time, the rest of the year we just use placemats. Our dining table is white glass so its very easy to clean and I like the minimalist look. We don't leave it set with crockery, just with the placemats and a candle holder or vase of flowers as a centrepiece, but we do eat at the table every day.

Apart from special occasions we tend to use paper napkins rather than fabric ones....they're one of the few disposable items we use. I just couldn't be doing with all the laundry and ironing if we used fabric napkins.
 
TastyReuben said:
That’s us most of the time. A set table just looks nicer than a bare one.
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Now, that would drive me NUTS. All of our china and crystal were on display in an antique china cabinet with glass doors. I was fine with that. The formal dining table was Ethan Allen. We only covered it with a table cloth when we used it. There's no way I'd hide that table under a tablecloth all the time. It took six months to get it, and we paid a fortune for it, so it was going to be on display for everyone to see.

CD
 
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