With each new season comes an array of fresh, beautiful table linens. They're pretty enough to make you want to throw a party just so you can use them. That said, unless you entertain every weekend or change your table linens every day, owning 100 table cloths seems silly, but owning one or two just seems boring. How does your stash compare?
In my own home I have 6 or 7 pieces that I love. I'd like to own a few more, but to help keep my linens paired down, I don't own anything specific. I shy away form holiday specific pieces and keep things real with modern prints and mid century patterns that will go with almost any occasion.
There's always something new, bigger, better, brighter, prettier, and I really do have a hard time keeping my wallet sealed instead of purchasing left and right. Maybe if I did I would entertain more? Maybe if I did I would have to iron more. Maybe if I did I would have to figure out where to store them all!
How about in your home? Setting the prettiest party and holiday table is important. Do you have special linens in your home? Are you a placemat fanatic? A cloth napkin nerd? A tablecloth collector? Do you have loads of them because you just can't decide and the internet is full of tutorials for making your own? Let us know below!
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Do paper towels count? I don't own any table clothes or napkins.
I have almost no table linens. But if you were to ask the same question about bed linens, look out! I'm addicted. If there is a recovery program for such an addiction, I need it.
Total cloth napkin nerd. I have a stack with enough cloth napkins for 30 people or more, which comes in handy at my parties. They mostly all go into a stash together, so it's the luck of the draw. I have very few tablecloths or placemats mostly because I don't have too many places to store them.
If there's one thing I've learned about myself over the past x amount of years, it's that I don't like to iron linens! But I do try to always use cloth rather than paper napkins, so I have lots of colorful cotton ones that look even better the more they're washed. Whenever I see them on sale, I grab them. As for tablecloths, I have a few that I use outdoors, and some nicer linen ones that I never use. So that's the lesson I've learned: buy what you know you'll use (often), and don't bother with what's beautiful but impractical. It's a waste of space! Plus, I hate wasting money at the dry cleaners, and I know myself well enough to know that I'm not about to do it myself. Lucky for me, I'm a fan of the casual table. (And for those larger, more "formal," gatherings, I don't mind renting linens.)
I hate place mats, particularly on my round table. (Oval with leaf inserted.) They just seem awkward and cluttery.
Often I just have the table bare except for a grouping of IKEA blue glass bottles.
When I entertain, I like to have a tablecloth and cloth napkins, partly because it protects the tabletop --it's not expensive, gorgeous furniture, but still, why wreck it? (There is ALWAYS a spill, it seems.)
So I have one oval tablecloth (when I have six at the table) in black with matching napkins. My dishes are black, and I use gold chargers if I'm being fancy.
I have a white and a green round cloth (no napkins) for when the table is not extended.
And because I got a whole bolt of "quilting" fabric in an autumn leaf design for $3 at the flea market, I'm about to sew a Thanksgiving cloth and napkins -- why not!
Come to think of it, I guess I also have a Christmas cloth, but at the moment I don't remember what it looks like! (Guess I'll dig it out soon enough, though!)
That's enough!
I've got two drawers of our built-in buffet dedicated to table linens. I'd love to own more but it's a cost issue (because I don't want to buy low quality linens) more than a storage issue. I love scowering second hand shops for beautiful vintage linens! I've focused my table clothes more on season rather than any particular holiday. A tasteful snowflake motif can be used all winter, not just for Christmas, ya know? I have a little more fun with placemats and I also have about 20 white linen napkins that have come out only at the annual holiday party so far. But I think of good quality table linens as something I'll keep until I'm an old lady so I don't mind using up precious apartment storage space on these future heirlooms.
I use and re-use two sets of Pottery Barn tablecloths and napkins from the 90s for the few holiday dinners that I do each year. They are still lovely and unlike anything out there today. So I say, if you see something you love now, grab it, because you'll still love it down the road and it will be ever more distinctive as styles change.
does anyone know where to find some modern/ non grandma looking table cloths? i would like to protect my glass dining table, but still look clean and modern. any tips would be appreciated!
Well, since we don't have a dinner table, the only tablecloth I have is a basic washable white lace square that I've used approximately 4 times.
I have a bunch of napkins. 18 winter print, 18 summer print, 12 black (?). I use them every meal.
Oh, and 4 white.
This is gonna be embarrassing. I have six tablecloths, 30 cloth placemats and--get ready for it--240 cloth napkins. I inherited most of my napkins from my mother (who entertained a LOT), and we use around 36 as our dailies (change daily) another 36 or so as our "good" napkins (for parties and such) and the rest for the large parties we have 4-6 (or more) times a year (with anywhere from 20 to 70 people on a given occasion). It is so much easier to use cloth and wash than to spend the $$ for paper and toss, and since I already have the napkins and have the space to store them (a built-in side board in the dining room) it is not a problem to keep them around.
12. 12 white starched bleached cloth napkins. Used daily.
No other table linens. I have a pretty round glass tulip table. Never satisfied with the round linens and I do not like the heavy feeling.
I do not like placemats. I have about three dozen simple white hemstitched linen dinner napkins and a couple dozen matching cocktail napkins. I have just send them out to be laundered and pressed and store in a box.
I buy them from Bumblebee Linen they are inexpensive and look like beautiful european linen. I buy pillowcases from them too. I love their linens for mixing my good matteo white linens. Cannot beat their prices and nice quality-
I get these-
http://bumblebeelinens.com/dozen-white-hemstitched-linen-dinner-napkins-inch-p-45.html
I've never seen the point of tablecloths in a casual dining room. Why would you cover up beautiful wood--which you can easily wipe down--with something that you have to take off, launder, and press? Besides, our table is huge--7 feet long without the leaves--and usually has at least one cat on it. I'd rather not have them jump on the table, then have the tablecloth, ceramic centerpiece, and cat all come crashing down on the floor. No placemats, either. We do use cloth napkins, though, and those are in a holder on the table.
Bed linens has been my 'drug of choice' for some time now, but I recently scored 6 50% linen/50% cotton napkins for $9 on One Kings Lane and am absolutely thrilled, so I think I might be developing a problem. All I think about is getting coordinating placemats.
I have a couple table runners and placemats that match all of them. I mix it up mostly with cloth napkins and centerpieces. Everything from different flowers and colors to types.
And I'm getting really into lanterns lately too.
I love table linens. Most of them are vintage finds. This weekend, I scored a free heavy wrought iron wine rack, and now have my fav tablecloths rolled up in and stored in the wine rack.
Some linen napkins for everyday use. One white linen tablecloth (a wedding gift) that is only used about once a year hehe. No placemats. We use paper napkins for a party, because we only have a party once a year and I don't want to store 20 cloth napkins just for that:) For a handful of guests we have enough of those linen cloth napkins.
Tons. Vintage. Used constantly.
I use tablecloths all the time; I have no use for placemats, which I find too fussy to use and wash or wipe. I was shocked to realize that I had enough tablecloths and cloth napkins in my stash for our wedding, where we had 160 guests.
I don't like tablecloths, but I love table runners. I have a few of those that I change out with the seasons and occasion. I have dozens of cloth napkins as we use those primarily for both casual dinners and entertaining. I am always on the hunt for new and vintage sets. I received a set of placemats as a gift and I never use them. I suppose it's time to donate...
I have one basic natural/flax colored cotton/linen tablecloth and 8 matching napkins that I use every day. But I have at least a dozen other tablecloths, runners and squares that I've bought on various trips or received as gifts that I use to change up the color or feel for different seasons or occasions. I love pulling out the bright, cheerful tablecloth I got in Norway for a casual summer party or the woven silk runner from my trip to Vietnam for something fancier. Linens and textiles are some of the easiest souvenirs to bring home and I love the memories associated with all the different pieces!
I do love table linens, they make a statement and are conversational pieces during your get-togethers and dinners. I decided to open my Modern Linens Etsy shop because I was always looking for nice, clean, modern table linens and will find very expensive ones.
Hi ,
This is quite a stretch, but i"m trying to find Laurabellk and I saw she has a post here. I am looking for the Laurabellk who posted a picture of the most beautiful memory babyquilt I have ever seen.(posted on a different site several years ago) I am wanting to have this quilt made and wanting to get in touch with her. I'm just joined the group and haven't seen a place to just post my own topic, so am posting here for now. I would appreciate any help.