Best way to protect dining room table?

[v-girl]

So, while we were sofa shopping this weekend, we found a too-good-to-pass-up deal on a dining room table. It is a beautiful dark tobacco finish Hooker dining room table (72" long, 90" with the leaf). It is definitely too fancy to be a school table, but the price was definitely right ($199 for a $999 table) so we went for it. Our plan to use it in the formal dining room in our next house (assuming that house has one) so we would like to protect it somehow so it does not get damaged while two middle-school girls and a Kindergarten boy do arts & crafts on it, along with regular school work.

My in-laws have a table pad on their table, but the whole set was given to them with the pad already in place so MIL isn't sure what we should look for or where to look.

Help. I plan to put an oilcloth table cloth on top for extra protection. The kids will have to use writing pads for school I guess.

[GreyhoundsRUs]

Could you create your own make-shift one? Huge piece of felt, piece of plywood, topped with oilcloth?

[v-girl]

Maybe.

[GreyhoundsRUs]

Or several smaller pieces for ease of removal/storage...

[Pollyanna]

There are several companies that sell products like this: http://www.originalfactorydirecttabl...ewproducts.asp. They are not cheap but so worth it to protect your new table.

[ladymoreta]

Haha those are much classier solutions! My first thought was Glad Press & Seal!

[GrayMatterWife]

You can have table pads custom-made, but that will cost you more than your absolute-steal-of-a-deal on the table.

Congrats on the great buy!

[v-girl]

This doesn't look like MIL's table pad, but I think she has the expensive kind. Do you think this would be good enough? http://www.amazon.com/Comfort-Shield...ing+room+table

[spotty_dog]

I'm searching around here for some advice that was given around the time I bought my table. Was it Amiens? Phoebe? Someone had a piece of glass custom cut to the size of their table, sounded really ingenious.

Martha Stewart recommends a 1/2" pad, which from a quick google sounds like the fancy, usually-custom ones that run over a couple hundred dollars. For just keeping it in shape for the next few years I would think the thick felt like you linked, plus an oilcloth, should do it. Three years of daily use with absolutely no protection (not even wax), Thanksgivings, and a couple other gatherings with big dishes, and our dining table is really only suffering from the scratches of cats using their back claws to dig in and launch themselves in a mad dash toward or away from each other (grr ). I have a feeling yours will fare fine.

[poky]

I'm searching around here for some advice that was given around the time I bought my table. Was it Amiens? Phoebe? Someone had a piece of glass custom cut to the size of their table, sounded really ingenious.

I don't think it was me that said it here, but I had that done years ago, though it wasn't for a dining room table - it was for a cedar chest I was given, and was using as a coffee table. I wanted it protected, so I called a few local glass shops and found a guy who would cut a piece to the right size and buff the edges so they weren't sharp, too, for pretty cheap (it was a plain rectangle, nothing fancy). The glass broke in a move, but I don't use that chest as a dining table any more anyway - it worked really well to protect the wood while I did, though!

Keep in mind that for dining table size, it's going to be BIG and it's going to be HEAVY, and you're going to have to be careful not to get anything under it that might scratch the wood if the glass moves (though for that size, I don't think the glass moving around will be much of a problem).

[Pollyanna]

Instead of glass you could have a piece of plexiglass cut to fit the table. It would be lighter and easier to move if you are concerned about the weight,etc.

[poky]

Instead of glass you could have a piece of plexiglass cut to fit the table. It would be lighter and easier to move if you are concerned about the weight,etc.

That's a good idea. It's more likely to get scratched up, and you're going to need to think about how to keep it from moving around, since it's a lot lighter, but it would likely be easier to deal with, and if you cover it with a tablecloth (or remove it completely) for entertaining anyway, then it won't be a problem if it gets scratched up.

[mommax3]

I think I was the one that posted that. Our decorator suggested that we get class to cover the top of our dining room table so we could still enjoy how it looked w/o having to be paranoid about damage. It has worked great!