Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Common House Tables

[Kay Argyle (kay.argyle]

> ... the best common house tables:
> 1. Are not round.  Round tables take up way too much space ... (etc.)

For a while our dining room had two round tables, on loan. They seated eight
(72"?). They were always the first to fill at meals and were much missed
when their owner moved and took them with her.  We have talked about
replacing them, but we have enough perfectly functional rectangular tables -
about once a year the common house committee has a conversation along the
lines of, "That table is wobbling pretty badly. Could you take a look at
it?" "Let me see ... I should be able to fix that."  "Oh darn!"

It's true that round tables don't seat as many as compactly as rectangular
tables. For most events, that is a nonissue.  We have several tables that
spend most of their time leaning on the wall in the back hall and are only
needed occasionally. (We could sorely use storage for tables and chairs -
it's more than your life is worth to walk down the back hall in the dark.)
A few times we tucked the round tables in the hall and borrowed extra
rectangular tables (not to mention chairs and place settings) to shoehorn in
an expected overflow crowd.

What with student violin recitals, meet-the-candidate nights, seed swaps,
craft sales, and two separate dance groups using the dining room, folding
tables are an absolute necessity to us.

Kay
Wasatch Commons