Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Dining room tables

[Ann Zabaldo (zabaldo]

Hi all —

After Sharon Villines and I looked at a zillion tables one year I concluded,  
and I believe Sharon did, too is that this “ideal” table would have to be 
custom made for all the reasons Karen cites below.

However I want to weigh in here w/ a different observation.  My experience w/ 
round tables is that they certainly save space in a room.  They look nice.  But 
the conversation is limited to people on either side of you.  It’s hard to talk 
across the table.  Ditto w/ looooooong rectangular tables.  One person posting 
in this thread mentioned multiple conversations at a long rectangular table.  
Not necessarily bad but it can also leave a person out of the conversation if 
no one is sitting beside them.

Churck Durrett once posted to this list the ideal size and shape of a dining 
room table for cohousing.  I attempted to find that message in the archives.  
Did not find it.  

So Chuck … can you post that information once more?

Inquiring minds want to know ...


Best --

Ann Zabaldo
Takoma Village Cohousing
Washington, DC
Member, Board of Directors
Mid Atlantic Cohousing
Principal, Cohousing Collaborative, LLC
Falls Church, VA
202.546.4654

"Handle every situation like a dog. 
If you can’t eat it or play with it, 
Just pee on it and walk away.” –Author Unknown


> On Nov 19, 2019, at 11:21 AM, KAREN A CARLSON via Cohousing-L <cohousing-l 
> [at] cohousing.org> wrote:
> 
> Regarding Linda’s list: it’s unlikely that you’ll find tables that suit every 
> item. I was on a working group that was looking for such tables. Stackable 
> light weight tables aren’t as well made as heavier ones. Folding leg parts 
> often are placed close to the ends, thus making it awkward to sit at the 
> ends. My best advice is for several people to plan field trips to churches, 
> hotels, schools, student unions, etc., and see what’s available. I found only 
> one stackable table that was fairly good looking but it was so narrow it 
> barely accommodated diners sitting across from each other (but was useful in 
> the banquet room where we saw it).
> Good luck. Please share your findings.
> 
> Karen Carlson
> Arboretum Cohousing
> Madison, Wi
> 
> ________________________________
> From: Cohousing-L <cohousing-l-bounces+kcarlson2=wisc.edu [at] cohousing.org> 
> on behalf of Catya Belfer <catya [at] pobox.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, November 19, 2019 7:37:22 AM
> To: Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
> Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Dining room tables
> 
> We have landed on lightweight folding rectangular tables, that seat between
> 6 and 8 people.  They are ugly, but we put table cloths on them.
> 
>     - cat
> 
> Catya Belfer
> www.catya.org<http://www.catya.org>
> CuriosityktCat.etsy.com
> www.mosaic-commons.org<http://www.mosaic-commons.org>
> 
> 
> On Tue, Nov 19, 2019 at 12:34 AM Linda Hobbet <coho [at] lindahobbet.com> 
> wrote:
> 
>> We are researching tables for our dining room. I imagine have similar
>> criteria:
>> 
>> 1) Collapse, stack, and/or fold-up so they take as little space as
>> possible when we want to use the dining room for something else, like
>> dancing, a performance, etc.
>> 2) Easy to move around.
>> 3) Well-made so they last a long time.
>> 4) Affordable.
>> 5) Healthy (glues and finishes, etc) and environmentally sustainable.
>> 6) Good-looking.
>> 
>> What is your community using and what are the pros and cons.
>> 
>> Thank you,
>> Linda Hobbet
>> 
>> --
>> coho [at] lindahobbet.com
>> 706-202-7178 (mobile)
>> 919-596-4558 (home)
>> www.VillageHearthCohousing.com<http://www.VillageHearthCohousing.com>
>> 
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