apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I love the rug itself in #1, but sadly, its lovely faded appearance makes me think it was used in the traditional manner of a rug before it became a table cover... ew :-(

Eating off a rug, no matter how clean it looks doesn't seem right. #4 is an Ikea curtain? It's an interesting material.

Yeah, the worn rug on the table kind of grosses me out, even if it is clean. I like the other ideas, though, especially the saris.

In the 17th century Netherlands, carpets were so precious imported items that no one would have put them on the floor. They were placed on walls or on tables (cf. paintings by Vermeer, De Hoogh etc...). Whenever people ate, a white linen tablecloth with finely ironed pleats was placed to protect the carpet.
I love carpets on tables personally, and I was thinking of using one as a bed cover.

Put a piece of glass on top of the rug. Then you get your fashion and your function too!

Quilts work well for this ... particularly the French kind called a boutis.

http://www.justfrench.co.uk/shop/Mas-daposousvan/Quilts.php


http://tinyurl.com/yesnnlz

Loving the saris on the table. Not loving the rug, though. It seems like you would be eating off the dirty floor. It might work if the rug didn't seem so... used.

gross!

For Halloween I put down a standard black tablecloth and then a square piece of shimmery spiderweb fabric that I got for a less than a dollar. For Christmas it's the same but the tablecloth is white and the fabric has snowflakes. I like that the tablecloth still shows through the fabric but creates an almost three-dimensional effect with the simmery fabric. Not that my idea is that unusual, but it does look pretty awesome and I've had a lot of compliments on it.

clampers - put a piece of glass on top of the rug? what would an adequately thick (that wouldn't crack) piece of glass cost & weigh? Cumbersome & tacky.

And Mr. Poitiers, even if 17th century folk might have put a rug on the table, we've come a long way since then... plumbing, electricity, etc. ... -toilet paper.

This just doesn't seem like an idea worth pursuing.

We have a family tradition of glass tops for heirlooms - my father's mantra is "Protect the wood!" - and they are surprisingly inexpensive. When he refinished my grandmother's desk for me, he had a glass top cut for it and it cost $40.

Ugh. When we were living in Holland, I used to hate going into restaurants and bars where there'd be rugs on the tables -- a 'quaint' custom there that drove me nuts and always had me heading for the door. Could not get past the 'ick' factor.

I won't put anything on my table that can't be thrown into the washer and dryer.

i agree with most of the comments - eating off of something that's been under people's feet is a very uncomfortable thought.

Or you could try Plexiglass after you get your panties out of that twist, @krunkinator.

Uh...I would not be comfortable eating off an old rug like many other here even though it's been cleaned.. It's like putting your feet with shoes on on a dining table.

I love it.

But I make rugs. I'm running out of places to display the ones I keep too. :-)