If you’re planning on hosting a crowd, now’s the time to figure out what tables you’ll serve everyone on, and where the guests will sit…

Here’s our best mostly makeshift ideas.

Ad hoc seating options includes our favorite bench made of chairs designed by Kei Okano. It requires a wooden plank, found, unearthed from the garage, or bought at Home Depot. Magazines are perfect for getting your chairs the right height.

Kei Okano
Kei Okano

The liberating rule of thumb: nothing needs to match…neither tableclothes, nor napkins, nor dishes, nor CHAIRS…Ask friends or neighbors to bring one.

mismatched chairs: ikea
ikea

Stacks of oversize art books morph into excellent stools. Magazines strapped-together with a belt work fine (no platform needed):

magazine belted stool

We keep a stack of Ikea’s bent plywood Frosta stool — a knockoff of the famous Alvar Aalto stool —on hand for impromptu parties. For plywood stools in a hurry, you can order them from Amazon fast and just as cheap.

aalto stool knock off

If you need a big table for everyone to sit at OR similar-size, same height tables pushed together make for great huge dining table:

Sally Schneider
Sally Schneider

You’ll find instructions here for making a REALLY long table out of two sheets of plywood end to end using smaller table as “bases“(saw horses would also work)…

Sally Schneider
Sally Schneider

Cover it with several table cloths or Kraft paper and no one will ever know you’ve completely rigged it…

Sally Schneider
Sally Schneider

A friend figured out a clever way to make a big round top to seat twelve or fourteen; it would fold out-of-site when not in use.

Tara Mann
Tara Mann

As the resourceful Snoopy discovered, a ping-pong table makes a great dining table.(Video link here.)

If you’ve found illumination, joy, or inspiration in this post, please consider supporting Improvised Life. It only takes a minute to make a secure donation that helps pay our many costs. A little goes a long way towards helping Improvised Life continue to live ad-free in the world.

Support Improvised Life ♥

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *