nice wooden table

My Coffee table is the one with stories , it is just child height for messing about and is long of solid oak . DD3 was getting ready for her Wedding , all a flurry of sleek vintage finery in ivory , wee grandson was very quiet down under all the adults gaze , the crowds parted and there he was , right beside the bride standing beside the low table with an opened bottle of scarlet nail varnish !
As I watched in horror from the far side of the room a glistening blob of bright red dripped towards his pristine white shirt and the hem of the dress .
His Mum moved like lightening and swooped him back out of harms way , the blob is still on the very edge of the table ,
He had managed to paint his wee nails without any damage to his or any one else !

I'm with Tanith also.our large,quite old pine table is full of dents, scratches, ballpoint pen marks etc and now as all the grandchildren are getting older they love to talk about who made which mark and when!
It's a table of memories..I remember my DD who is 37 now.. used to lie on it whilst chatting on the landline to her friends..it's seen lovely times,arguments,board games,card games,arts&crafts etc..My DD has already claimed it for herself one day ?

Susan...…..How about a child sized plastic table and chairs for arts and crafts?
Then as others have suggested cover the table when they eat.

Our big pine table is 37 years old. Currently in dining room but previously been a kitchen table. Always has a tablecloth to cover the battered surface!! We have 3 old Laura Ashley fabric table cloths. Lovely cotton. Wash and iron well.

Quite a few places sell the PVC coated thick tablecloths - JL, Dunelm etc or you can buy it by the metre from fabric shops.

I have plastic placemats for the grandchildren. They all have their own and know when they set the table to go and get their placemat. Sometimes you can find personalized ones at toy shops or kitchen shops. It helps to protect the table for arts and crafts, and dinnertime.

When I tried at Christmas to set the table with a nice tablecloth, my little 3yr old went and got her Sesame Street placemat and insisted I use it.

I'm with Tanith. I want my table to look used, and to reflect happy family times (whuch are few!). If gc are painting etc a vinyl tablecloth will protect it.

I made my own from 2 metre oak worktop and steel A frame legs. I oiled the oak and it looks lovely but I use an oilcloth on it to protect the surface, I learnt my lesson after a spillage was left and marked the surface causing me to have to sand the surface again and oil it again. If it happens again I think I'll use a clear varnish.

when we moved I was determined my nice table would be on view !
It lasted till Christmas when I bought a lovely bright Christmas oilcloth to protect it from paint etc , then it was folded up , out with DD1 and I spied a cheerful spring oilcloth .....................

I have a large piece of jungle print PVC coated 'tablecloth' (John Lewis) that goes on the dining table if Gdcs are doing anything messy - painting or play dough etc. - I don't even have a kitchen table. They are too young to be reliably careful so it's no use expecting or hoping for it.

You should have asked us before you invested in a gorgeous new table!
Oil cloth, glass, a wooden board?
Our KT tells all kinds of tales, the most infuriating was when teenaged DS decided to cook popcorn to sell at the fair. He put the burning hot pan down bang in the middle of the table and then blamed the table!!
Red dye, clay, paints of course, play dough, even food preparation.
It's in your kitchen. The clue is in the name.

That long river company has loads too.

We have a table in the kitchen that isn't used for rolling pastry etc. I love the fact that it is lovely compared to the battered pine one.

I think it depends what you want the table to be.
If it is indeed a kitchen table, the scuffs and knocks from baking and veg prepping are part of its charm, but if you really want to preserve it as a dining table, there are no end of lovely oilcloths in John Lewis (other stores are available) to brighten or go with your kitchen.

Why on earth buy a kitchen table that is too special to deal with the hard use a kitchen table always gets.

I can understand protecting a dining room table from hard wear, but in the kitchen?

I have a lovely pine kitchen table itwas my pride and joy when we bought it 25 yrs ago nowadays it’s covered in dents,scratches and marks but I still love it. All the damage is from all those years of family meals, GC drawing,painting,rolling pastry and a hundred other activities and I sit there every day to eat my meals remembering all those wonderful memories.

Protect it as best you can but don’t mind the odd mishap if it happens.

We have recently bought a lovely table for the kitchen - it's my pride and joy. I bought an oil cloth which goes on before the dgc come and only comes off after they have gone.

Horror! Their, not there.

I have an eight-seater, second-hand pine table. New Zealanders seem to cover there widely available pine furniture with a particularly disgusting brown varnish, instead of burnishing it with beeswax. The table has been maltreated and my grandsons have done some awful things to it when they were cross. What I need is some time with the sander and then some time with the beeswax to bring it back to life. By the some time has happened, the grandsons will be too old to cause any more damage.

Then, there are eight chairs…

Try oilcloth when they visit. You can get lots of designs, protects from spills too and when they go just fold it up and put away.

I, too, have exactly the same problem. Glass is a good idea - but might be expensive ...? I put my pad on when the grandchildren are coming, and roll it up and bung under the sofa when they've gone. Can't think of any other solution. (Except handcuffing the grandchildren ...?)