Want to upgrade an event from a casual picnic to a formal dining soiree? Add crisp tablecloths to your tables.
There’s something immediately elegant about eating atop pressed linens while dining. But tablecloths can also feel like a waste of money when you only use them every blue moon.
If you’re not accustomed to hosting formal dining events, here are 7 unexpected purposes for tablecloths around your home.
1. Window Covering
First things first. Tablecloths aren’t just the crisp white linens you see on the tables during formal weddings.
You’ll find tablecloths in a wide range of prints that can add visual interest just about anywhere in your home. Think of windows in your home you could spruce up with a touch of color or texture.
Enter the unused tablecloth. Put your tablecloth to work year-round as a way to filter sunlight helping to protect your furniture and keep the rooms cool during the warmer months.
Add a pocket along the edge so that your tablecloth can fit over a curtain rod. Aim for smaller windows like in a bathroom or over the kitchen sink.
If you have an oddly shaped tablecloth, you might benefit from using two small nails to hang the cloth instead of trying to install a rod pocket. Rod pockets are best when used with rectangular table cloth styles.
2. Protect Furniture
We’ve all seen old movies where kids trespass in an old abandoned mansion. Inside, there are always rooms filled with furniture covered by a balance of cobwebs and white sheets.
Using furniture coverings used to be a common practice to help protect high-end pieces from sun damage and dust. You can model this same technique using your wholesale tablecloths.
If you’re leaving a vacation home for the summer or going on an extended vacation, cover up your wooden furniture with a tablecloth. You might not have enough tablecloths for all the furniture in your room.
Prioritize furniture pieces that are closest to windows or more likely to accumulate dust. You’ll have less cleaning to do when you return home.
Simply add your tablecloth coverings to the washing machine and your furniture will look as good as new.
3. Halloween Costume
Once your tablecloths get stained there are few ways to upcycle it. You wouldn’t want to use it in a visible area because it could cheapen your room decor.
But what about an old tablecloth as a Halloween costume? Creating a ghost costume from a white tablecloth is a tried and true design that works on both people and pets.
You can get as creative as you want with your ghost costume to spice things up. Add white crepe to give your costume an ethereal feel.
A colored tablecloth can be perfect to go as the ghosts from Pacman. The possibilities for costume designs are endless.
4. Outdoor Canopy
Single-use plastic tablecloths are terrible for the environment. You get great use out of them during an event but don’t consider them for any other use because they’re plastic.
A great way to reuse your plastic tablecloth is as an outdoor canopy. This is especially true if you already have a pergola in your yard. When you want to enjoy your seating area during a light rainfall, you can drape your tablecloth over the pergola.
You can also have the tablecloth as an additional layer over an existing canopy. The added layer can help diffuse sunlight on a hot day providing shade for a delicious nap.
5. Room Divider
A great way to break up a large room is by using your tablecloths as room dividers. This idea works when you’re dividing up one section of a room and as a substitute for a physical door.
When you only want to divide a section of the space, consider hanging the fabric from the ceiling. You’ll need long strings to attach to each corner.
Each attachment should be long enough to allow the tablecloth to reach the floor. Use sections to create privacy while you work or as a dressing area.
6. Bedspread
Tablecloths with bold or interesting print can double as a bedspread. Pair your tablecloth with muted colors so it becomes the focal point for your bed.
If the table cloth is too small for the actual bed, you can also add it on top of a foot locker or bench at the foot of your bed for a splash of color.
7. Wall Hanging
Large intricate tapestries make amazing wall hangings. If you’ve got an interesting table cloth, you can use it to fill blank wall space in your home.
This idea works best with a bohemian style home decor. Use two tiny nails to secure your tablecloth to the wall. This idea is great because it works no matter the size of the tablecloth.
Use it with a variety of tablecloth designs to add layers to your eclectic style.
Tablecloths Through the Seasons
There are tablecloths that only make an entrance once per year. It makes sense for Christmas and Thanksgiving tablecloths to be limited to the holidays they serve.
But generic tablecloths can be repurposed in just about any way you’d normally use fabric. Get creative in adding touches of color and texture to your home so you can maximize your tablecloth use.
Take your time choosing prints that can be repurposed again as tablecloths when you’re ready to use it again. For more information and lifestyle tips, visit our blog for updates.
