My son (bless his little smarty pants heart) complained last Christmas. He was "tried" of eating Christmas Eve dinner in the entryway. Hmmmm. That made my blood boil and I poo-pooed his complaints. "Don't come then," I thought to myself. But of course, that would never do, so I turned over possible solutions to the Where-Can-Everyone-Sit problem. We have between 15 and 20 people and I have a very small dining room.

Now, I still had a problem. There's a good chance that the evening will be pretty cool and we would be needing a nice fire to warm everyone up. That being the case, I found it impossible to design a two-table configuration, as one table would end up being too close to the fire. I had to get everyone out on the patio and away from the fireplace.

Just a couple of months ago, we had a set of drop-down drapes installed on the two exposed sides of our patio overhang. I lowered the drapes and got all my white folding chairs from the shed. I arranged them in a slightly curvy line, making sure that the chairs weren't too close to the fireplace in case we'd have to light the fire.

The best part about this is, you can arrange the chairs in any way you want - slight curve, major curve, no curve, or, in my case, a curve closer to one end than the other. (Am I making sense????) It turned out that, despite what I imagined was a small space, I have 10 chairs on the outside curve and 8 chairs on the inside. And if need be, I can add a chair at either end.

What you don't see are four utility shelf brackets (meant to support 10" shelves) mounted on the top of the legs.

The table top was cut and . . . . .

In addition to being able to configure the chairs any way you please, you will also note that this is sort of a "pedestal table" with no legs near the edges, so no one needs to straddle a table leg.

Here's the other things I wanted to say. Dollar Tree has solid red plates. Yep. $1.00 each. You order them online and have them sent to your local store (unless you're lucky enough to live near a store that has them in stock).
Almost as good as a garage sale find. I know you all have a couple of Christmas sets, but this turns out to be lucky for me, as I've never had so many people sitting at one table, so it was easy to use just a little of this dish pattern and a little of that dish pattern. Now, for $20, I can have all 20 people eating off the same colored plates.

Well, it's been good to talk to you again. Hope this wasn't too boring.
OA

Hope you can find time to get back here more often during the holidays.
hugs, Karen

The red plates are Dollar Tree's "regular" swirl plates that you see in different colors all the time. Not as vivid a red as I'd like, but hey, beggars can't be choosers.

Normally, I prefer to mix-and-match patterns, but for some reason, unless I'm stacking different materials, as opposed to setting them next to each other, (china salad plate upon a pottery dinner plate, for example), I just don't like mixing the materials side-by-side. Don't ask me why, it just doesn't fit for me.

Since the dinner will be outside, I'm going for the Cabin in the Woods look. Jeanne, I'm looking into sending you a plane ticket to come and help me out. You're the resident expert when it comes to pine cones and pottery. My pine cones will be coming from a bag they sell at the grocery store. I have a feeling you go out and collect your own.

Well, I'm working on the tablecloth this morning. It's made out of burlap. I'm not happy about having to work with fuzzy old burlap. It's all over the house by the time I'm done.

Yes, I do go out & gather my own pinecones & greenery ... you'll find some good ones I am sure! Have fun, OA! TFS! Jeanne S.

ps I remember you do have a HLobby, right!

Also, where on earth did you find those ornaments in the first picture? I HAVE TO HAVE THEM. (Hmmmmm. Why do I think you're going to say you've had them for years?)

Hope you will share your Holiday decor with us.

Punk

I think your red plates are the same ones I've seen here. They've had both plates and bowls in several colors. I got the green bowls and just LOVE them and have wanted to get back and buy more. They are a good size, shape, and weight, and they are such an appetizing color of green that they make everything look good. :)

Just over a month ago I spotted a bolt of burlap on a lower shelf at Joann Fabrics. It has the word "believe" printed in red - all over it. The entire bolt was $10.99.
I used that for the top of the table cloth. I purposely made the top look like it was made from big patches of the fabric.
Then I edged the sides in red and white tiny check gingham. I'm going to make matching napkins (Figure I can use them for our Fourth of July Party as well).

Here's a picture.

My grandchildren will be painting the legs red this weekend. I just love free labor!

I still remember the adorable 'Lemonade' stand
all of you made together. One thing for certain,
you know how to be a Special Gramma. So glad your
back sharing another neat project.

Punk

Went to Dollar Tree and found some felt Santas to use on the table.

I hadn't gone to Hobby Lobby in quite a while. Was a little surprised at the prices. Not cheap there! Looked for some fake garland to use down the center of the table. Even though it was 50% off, it was still expensive. Very good quality though. Perhaps that was the reason.

Not much in the way of Thanksgiving. One measly isle. Poo.

I am really looking forward to seeing the final product, because your smaller tables are always so incredible, this one will be incredible X 43, LOL.

TFS,
Candy

Your image (up aways) of the table cloth on the table w/sunshining on it made me think of our last get-tog & one of my little gr'son's wore his 'sunglasses' while eating cause of all the sunshine coming thru on the porch @the table! So you may want some 'shades' in a Santa dish or something, OA! LOL!
Jeanne S.

If you've got any tips of suggestions, let me know.

Thanks for sharing your Christmas in July. I'm really good help but don't have the talent like you. Maybe I could sing and play my accordian!LOL

Punk

Wella, wella, one anda, two anda, . . . . ..

You can come, ONLY if you promise to play the Beer Barrel Polka.

The truth of it is, (and I know all the gals that visit this site know it), there's not much to putting together a decent arrangement (or a table for 20), if you have the will to try. You just need to have the guts, (Oh, my mother hated the word "guts.")
My husband is always kidding me about having a ton of self-confidence that's "founded on absolutely nothing at all." Actually, he's quite proud of me, but he's a terrible kidder, too.

What's so neat about this forum, is the encouragement we all get when we first find this place. Suggestions on improving a setting are just that - suggestions. You just can't get your feelings hurt around here. Believe me, that's not the case everywhere you go. I know my place settings and vignettes have shown improvement over time, and I've seen it in others.

Of course, you are welcome at my house anytime. Come in the summer and you can see movies on the lawn.