Wednesday, October 4, 2006

The Table

I got to thinking about the table: the kitchen table, the dining room table, just the table that visitors see when they are in your home. The table that you see when you are in your home. Thinking again about the difference that makes a difference got me to noticing tables.
Tables in the homes of wealthy, chic friends and aquaintances are noticably different than tables in the homes of my "friends in low places". Wealthy, elegant tables are generally bare looking. If the wood is very fine and lovely, the table is actually BARE and the wood is on display. Otherwise, a tablecloth is in place.
Let me clear: A tableCLOTH is in place. A tablecloth is made of cloth, thank you. It is not vinyl, or flocked backed something or other. It is cloth. I have acquired several at Odd Lots and at places like TJMaxx and HomeGoods for very little money. They are typically cotton. Personally, I look for machine washable cotton in a tablecloth. They are going to get alot of wear at my house and that likely means spills. If they don't go in the washing machine, they don't go on my table. They can be found in a variety of patterns and colors. Choose wisely. Avoid the cutesey: no bunnies or Santa Clauses please. Choose vibrant colors that go with your home. I have come to love a french tablecloth that I picked up a year or so ago. It has classic colors and patterns and looks terrific laid out on the table.
Secondly, a tablecloth is pressed and clean. This means that it is "clean looking" too. No spots, stains or spills should be evident. That dark spot that won't come out is the death of that particular tablecloth for me. If its not clean and attractive, there is absolutely no point in putting it on the table. Its purpose is to cover the tabletop and make it more attractive. Stained and soiled is NEVER attractive. I also press my tablecloths lightly before spreading them on the tabletop. Wrinkles look sloppy and unkempt. This is true of my clothing and its true of my table's clothing too. A lightly pressed tablecloth looks sharp and dignified. A wrinkled sloppy mess looks.... well, like a wrinkled, sloppy mess.
Now, the trick to the bare table look is keeping the table top looking bare. In my house the dining room table seems to beckon to the variety of clutter around the house. I end up with piles of junk messing up my fabulous looking table .... which doesn't look so fabulous anymore. The key seems to be a strong centerpiece. I don't mean the classic floral arrangement centerpiece. For starters, its not strong enough to ward off the clutter. Besides, it looks dated and like my mother moved in suddenly. I need large, chunky pieces that dominate the table and say "this is MY space, don't you DARE put anything here".
Some ideas:
--- a large round rattan basket filled with fruit or reeds or rattan balls. Mine is about 18inches in diameter and only about 3 inches high, but it holds the table space securely
--- large hurricane glasses. I use three because my diningroom table is long and narrow. They line up along the center line of the table. I can fill them with whatever speaks of the season, lemons, dyed eggs, Christmas ornaments, apples. Or I can just set a large pillar candle in each one and be done.
--- a large piece of pottery. I'm thinking almost an urn-sized piece here. I own a large Southwest Indian water jug made of adobe clay that might work perfectly here. Or a huge blue flow ware ginger jar that I collected years ago. I need something large and substantial.
--- a soup tureen. At my sister's house, we used an old unused soup tureen to anchor her table and ward off the junk that her children were accustomed to piling there. It needed a strong tray underneath it to help it claim the space, but it worked beautifully.
--- a handful of large pitchers. Not the plastic kind, hopefully if you're living the budget bon vivant life, you've gotten rid of those ugly things. But I am thinking of that size -- just pottery or even glass. A small collection, just 3 or 4 in the center of the table should anchor it nicely.
As with everything else in the budget bon vivant way, the bare table does not take care of itself. It needs to be cleared of the stubborn junk that insists in lodging there despite the best efforts of our tablecloth and centerpiece. Junk breeds junk, we all know that intuitively. The table needs to be cleared regularly, at least once a week. Frankly, eating dinner at the lovely table once a week is a sure way to get it cleared regularly. And besides, its a pleasure to eat at such a beautiful table.