a bench made of chairs Last week,  we posted our best recipes for how to brine a turkey, make side dishes and freeform tarts, and some suggestions for wines to serve at the feast. If you’re having a crowd, now’s the time to figure out what to serve all this on, and where the guests will sit…

We went back into the Archive to dig out links for how to make big tables both round and rectangular, and a variety of makeshift seating options, including our favorite bench made of chairs. We’re posting it early, in case you need to stop by the lumber yard for plywood of planks.

The essential liberating rule of thumb: nothing needs to match…neither tableclothes, nor napkins, nor dishes, nor chairs…nor glasses…

mismatched chairs: ikea
photo: ikea

Here you go:

holiday resource: makeshift seating
how to seat a crowd: chair bench
copy this: hinged, folding/expanding table top
sawhorse tables as solution + sculpture
d-i-y expandable table pt.1 (round) for holiday and other celebrations
d-i-y expandable table pt.2 (rectangle) for holiday and other celebrations
one big swell table from several smaller ones

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2 replies on “thanksgiving logistics: makeshift tables + chairs

  1. One of my greatest “dinner with friends” memories was a gourmet potluck dinner night where the hostess had laid two doors down on the floor and supported them with bricks. Everyone brought pillows to sit on the floor around the makeshift table. It was so great to lounge at this table with plenty of room for all the food, eating all evening and lying on the floor afterwards when we ate too much. Good times and good improvisation! One of my favorites.

  2. What a wondrous memory…especially “eating all evening and lying on the floor afterwards when we ate too much.”

    What a vision, and an idea!

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