The table should be a beautiful place that calls families to gather.
My husband and I have decided to start making this more of a priority in our home.
Some of the practical ways we are doing this . . .
1) Eating together at the table for breakfast & dinner. (I am still working on making breakfast every morning . . . let's just say it has only happened once this last week! Thought I should add this lest you think I have it all together! I don't.) Kyria even joins us in her little infant rocking chair.
2) Skipping our usual Sunday lunch eating out after church. Instead, we invite extended family over for lunch from the crockpot! This is great because after we eat everyone hangs out talking and playing games. If it's nice we go for horseshoes, washers, or ladder ball. If it's raining, as it has been the past four days, we play cards, the wii, or some type of group game. This has turned out to be even better than eating out!
3) I have been trying to put a little more effort into making our tables a place that draws people in! I figure if we are going to frequent the table more often, we might as well make it a lovely experience to look forward to!
Here are some table ideas fresh from my little farm home . . .
I hope these settings will inspire you! You don't need a perfect table, large house, or expensive china. Just get creative, and make what you have beautiful!!
This is our dining room table. I found the lace cloth at the bottom of our linen tub (when I was folding all our fitted sheets!) The flowers are silk ones we used for our wedding. The milk jug was given to us - a janitor at the school where I taught found it at a garage sale! I stuffed the bottom with corks that won't fit what I bought them for, and tied some raffia around the top. I used two small mason jars, filled them with coffee beans, and added an unscented candle. Then I tied twine around the jars. These plates and bowls are simple, and I like the off white because they will match with anything! The cloth napkins were a gift for our wedding!
This little table for two sits just outside our kitchen on the back porch! I love eating out here with Skyler when it's warm! I added this wine bottle, and the fabric flowers my sister-in-law used for her wedding decorations. Our light yellow dinnerware was a gift from Skyler's mother for Christmas (she is a Celebrating Home consultant)!
Here is our sweet picnic table! I love sitting out here when we have guests! Here I used a folded twin-sized sheet, a burlap square, and freshly picked flowers! Silk flowers are nice, but fresh flowers just seem to remind me even more of our Creator! I think they add the perfect touch to any table! NOTE: Even though I love fresh flowers, they can be so expensive. Instead of buying them, try looking around your home for fresh ones! I found these while on a walk with Kyria! ANOTHER NOTE: Probably not a good idea to steal flowers from someone else's yard . . . just saying! :)
If we have a group over, and it's raining outside we can always make do by putting up card tables in our living room! Here I am trying to keep the same warm/welcoming feel going with our table as I have for the living room! I used the same sheet from the last picture, two karosene laterns, and a wire container with three small candles. If God blesses our family with many more children, we may have to get creative with a more permanent table in our living room! People used to live in one room houses, I am sure we could make it work! :)
Finally, here is another way to use those same card tables! I think this would be pretty for a nice brunch with the ladies! I used another sheet, burlap square, some books wrapped together with raffia, and the same mason jar with coffee beans from earlier!
Oh yea . . . and we don't have a full set for the cream place setting . . . Do have a similar situation at your home? No problem! Just make one space stand out! I think this would be especially great for the kiddos! Maybe the kid who has the best attitude, or the one who is caught doing something nice gets to have the "special seat"!
I would love to hear your thoughts, and how you are making the tables you have beautiful!
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Very cute ideas. I'm trying to be a bit more creative with our table lately too. For years is served double duty for both eating and school, so putting things like table cloths and vases of flowers on it just weren't very practical. Now that two of our girls have graduated, we only have three left to teach and we have a table set up in the sewing/all purpose room that we use for school. I'm enjoying have a vase of flowers or bowl of lemons and limes in the middle of my table.
ReplyDeleteVery pretty! I have a large antique table in our dinning room/eat in kitchen. I don't want water marks on it so I have a simple white plastic table cloth that doesn't look plastic and try to spruce it up with a pretty table runner to compliment the season. I also try to have a glass cake stand full of treats for the husband and kids. Currently it holds carrot cake cupcakes for the hubby's birthday today. I have a picnic table outside by the fire pit that desperately needs help! You've inspired me to sand it and get it stained so we can actually use it again. We are getting a hot tub soon and I'd like to make that whole area our outdoor sanctuary.
ReplyDeletelooks lovely :) I've been thankful to collect a couple of solid colored tablecloths that I can use most of the year by changing the "accessories" seasonally! a nice table does make eating at it more appealing and homey!
ReplyDeleteI love this post. Generally my table has just enough area cleared to put down two plates...
ReplyDeleteI'm happy that you are not going out to eat on Sunday after church. My husband and I have always been very convicted about it - what sort of witness does it give to employees of restaurants who obviously did not attend church when, now that we've finished worshiping we come to be served by non believers?!?! The Lord says keep the sabbath holy and so why should we have others work on our behalf as we seek to be holy? I love that you are serving others on this day - and letting the crock pot do the work!