My life on the table

Lovely post :-) Wish I'd read it before I cleared my table ready for this evenings visitors.

However, before I cleared it there was a vase with roses, curtain pole fixings, packing stuff and instructions for 2 picture lights and some odd screws.

We are finally putting our living room back together after having the floors ripped up and replaces so I don't have the normal amount of books, paperwork, and "stuff" on the table but it's good to know I'm not alone in leaving bits of my life on the dining table :-)

My small table near my chair is overflowing with bits of yarn. A crochet hook and a half finished a Niffler (from JKRowling’s Amazing Creatures.) A bottle of glasses cleaner so that I can see what I’m crocheting and my IPad.

I so love to see houses that are lived in, showing the personalities of the folk that live there. It seems the fashion now to have houses that look like furniture shops, where no one lives or has personal possessions. Mine looks more like a second hand shop. Not a mess but interesting. On my dining room table at this moment is a printer that should print when upstairs, but refuses to print unless attached to laptop. A mini speaker so that I can hear sound on my laptop, my mobile phone,a tv controller and a pen. Of course my laptop next to the misbehaving printer. I live alone so I upset no one. My lounge looks more like a furniture shop I'm sad to say. But if I keep the doors closed visitors think am a very tidy person

My dining table is set for dinner with pretty silk flowers surrounding candle holder in the centre.

My study desk is much more reflective of 'me' ... half made crochet tote bag, camera battery on charge, nail polish waiting to be applied, wooden model yacht from last summer's holiday in Cornwall, glass of water, latest WDYTYA magazine folded to show an interesting article, printer instructions (cant get the blooming thing to work!), heart shaped dish containing a broken necklace waiting to be repaired and the essential pen/notebook to help me to remember things.

I agree with lindylou.
I can’t abide clutter.
My dining table just has salt and pepper pot, and two tablemats.

How on earth can you find anything underneath all that stuff.

Half of my dining table is laid for our evening meal which DH is cooking. The other half sports three craft books, the left over remnants of my recently finished Macrame, my pincushion, my next sewing task which I need to draw a pattern for, two Which magazines, a David Austin brochure and a pen. This is actually quite tidy for our table, any flat surface in our house gets cluttered, usually with my stuff. The words tidy and minimalist are just not in my dictionary!

Don't have a table in my kitchen. The dining table at the moment is set for Sunday dinner, they all 6 of them arrive in about a half hour. Otherwise it always has a vase of fresh flowers that get pushed to the side for dgc homeworks or a game of ludo. It is never cluttered.

However, my coffee table only a few yards away is a different story. Todays Sunday papers and supplements, one has a half done crossword and a completed Sudoko. My drinking water bottle, phone, tissues, wipes. Biscuit barrell and three empty coffee mugs. (Sis in law called earlier). Spectacles case, two pens, a tape measure, sellotape, blue tack, hand cream, car keys. Letters from Bank and Hospital appointment.

I'm off to tidy/clear up my coffee table......

What few items would portray me? I can't actually think of anything which says 'me'. I do have quite a lot of 'admin' on my table (which is why I'm looking at GN) but it's for someone else. I think I'm feeling sorry for myself now....

I think it would be my bowling bag in the hallway, my knitting in a bag either on the sofa or beside it.The daily newspaper somewhere in the same area. There are usually my tablet and speaker ready loaded with a good story to listen to whilst knitting or the tv remote so i can find something to watch that isnt demanding whilst i knit. I have several pots plants and gardening mags too. Oh yes, my mobile would be beside me too.

Anrol I sincerely have to say, and do hope I don't sound like a creep, but I absolutely love your collection!

Mine, now I'm a cripple (OK to describe myself thus?) is slightly different from what it would have been.... On the little table and next to me on the sofa:

Dog leads and the small dog's sling. Dog - small. Current 3 or 4 books I'm on. Small dog. Cup and saucer of the week - this week fairly plain one. Flask of coffee. Errrr how can I hide a secret stash? Well, it's Asda's Whirlies (packed with sugar tut tut), small dog, squares of cotton I'm simply edging. Pot of dog treats. Laptop. Dog - small. Sewing Box. Hand cream (very sore hands). Big notebook. Very small dog. Small notebook. Pens. Powered wheelchair + bag - nearby.

I know it is very unfashionable but after a period of clinical and disciplined austerity regarding all areas, I have decided to embrace clutter! I like having some things around! Obviously not ridiculously crowded so they are falling over onto the floor! But it's nice to see the things I'm doing and all their colours and simply the variety of interesting things around. It reminds me a bit of my first real job as a Teacher in a Primary school. I loved my classroom! Seeing my things around me sort of reflects that there are interesting and enjoyable things in life. Even the glue-pot, which should be in the cupboard, reminds me that I did some interesting craft and that there is more to come...

One of my coffee tables holds a lot of my stuff.....slimming world, good housekeeping and good food mag, a pile of cook books I chose for this weeks meals, notepad and pen to jot down menus for the week and shopping list, always a half mug of tea, also on there at present credit card bill lol....

No dining room, but my kitchen table stays mostly tidy between meals. I do love magazines, and will read while I have my coffee in the morning. It is the centre for newspaper reading, arts and crafts with grandkids, but it does get cleared up constantly.

Same with coffee table in living room. Books, coffee mug, knitting etc. do get put away. In the centre there is usually a smallish plant or vase of flowers, currently a white kalanchoe.

I do enjoy hearing about everyone's items, since it does tell about your life. I like a house to look lived in, but tidy.

My little used pine dining table is 30 years old now and the surface bears all the scars and dents of family life. Usually the only thing on it as an Edinburgh crystal bowl or a vase of flowers. At the moment it has a pile of dried washing on it which I shall iron while watching Homes Under the Hammer.
My new kitchen table is covered with a PVC cloth in shades of grey and beige and on it are 4 placemats to take hot dishes, my husband's iPad and a large glass bowl ( originally bought to make large trifles for family gatherings) containing 4 mangoes and some apples . There is also a label I have made to put on the old garden pot which I was hoping to plant up with bedding plants but it turned out to be made of asbestos. This label reads "Warning- Asbestos, do not breathe Dust". The pot is 1.1 metres in diameter and is wrapped in heavy duty plastic ready for the council contractors to pick it up tomorrow.
On the coffee table I have the tv remotes, my knitting, iPad, mobile phone , some coasters and the current edition of the Radio Tmes as well as the half finished cup of cold tea which will now be discarded for a cup of coffee as I finish watching HUtH and the ironing can wait.

justwokeup. Oh poor you! You deserve a huge pat on the back - admin for someone else! That is kindness beyond generosity in my book! Maybe being a thoughtful and helpful person who thinks of others is difficult to represent in objects on the table.

My dining table has nothing at all on it, I like to see the wood.
The coffee table near me is another story though, and at the moment has various magazines, a few coasters, two empty coffee mugs, a box of kleenex, a high pile of about seven books waiting to be read, a Kindle, glasses case, a bowl of apples and two birthday cards waiting to be written. Bizarrely, there is also a screwdriver and a red nose ‘wolf’ which DGS must have put there at the weekend.

Just loved reading all your posts and thank you for being so generous to share your tables with me. It warms my heart to think most of us are very similar.

Dining room table has a table runner and a decorative bowl.
Now, my favourite table is in my craft room.
On this table -: 2 ideas books, a partly made lap quilt, my small transportable sewing box, a pack of wool and the pattern for my next crochet project, a 3D fabric caravan that I made at a workshop and some photographs that need sorting.

Nothing apart from a decorative flower bowl ! I detest clutter - inside the cupboards however are a different story!

writing paper/craft items/cat on breakfast table/yes i know cats are not meant to be on table...trays of jewellery(i priced jewllery for salvation army charity shop). magazines on this england /evergreen magazine.kitchen is full of gardening items packets of seeds ..and bird food...i have cleared table of little bits today and cleaned the fridge out.......and vacuumed throughout. made my hips hurt but its done for this week.

First of all - a lovely post.

My harmonica. Sudoku. My phone. A piece of writing. Gym gear. Walking shoes. Comb and lip stick. Photos. Book. My harmonica, first and last.

My life is in two parts, the sofa and the dinning table not far away. Next to the sofa is a footstool piled high with cutouts from the paper, an iPad and an empty yogurt pot with a spoon in it. On the floor in front of me is my sewing, a load of patches waiting to be put together to make my quilt and also a small tray with an empty plate and glass. There are also three books on the floor.
The table is more more formal with a plant in the middle and two baskets that contain his and her paper work waiting to be done. Also my glasses. The laptop usually lives on the table but is on the sofa with me at the moment.
Does anyone use their table for the reason of eating?

Not much changed in 5 months. Dining table is just the same . Craft room just as messy but different projects on the go.
A case for DD2s laptop, a box with all materials for the next craft club project, a recently finished crochet blanket, a pattern and 2 beaded necklaces that need finishing plus several other bits and pieces.

Better a creative mess than an idle tidiness.

My dining table has a stretched out sleeping cat on it.
In the middle is a Lazy Susan with our last name and
Est.1966, to commemorate our 50th wedding anniversary, given to us by our DG 3 years ago.
I try to keep it cleaned off most of the time.

This is a nice thread. I envy you Pageturner, I'd like a sleeping cat on my table It irks me the table tends to be a general dumping ground. Most of the time it's just the two of us, so we eat at the breakfast bar perched on kitchen stools, so the table accumulates stuff. Two sets of house keys and our car keys, the post, which comprises of the important to be filed away, eventually after a while it's sorted and mail shots/circulars go in the recycling. At the moment there is a "Smyths" toy catalogue, I'm on their mailing list from a previous purchase, I've left it there for the GC to peruse to give me ideas for Christmas. When our sons visit, they always dump their sports bags/or rucksacks there grrrr! they get swiftly moved, I hate that sort of stuff being dumped on table that is used, albeit not everyday, for eating food off.

The essence of our life is spread round the house, such as photos of family, my laptop, husband's tablet, books etc., pens for codeword, crosswords, husband's Spanish CDs and Spanish books. Probably the coffee table is more indicative than the dining room table of our day to day lives.