42 
House & Garden 
THE SUSTAINED POPULARITY of the LONG TABLE 
Its Utilitarian Value and Possibilities in Decoration Have Established 
It as a Household Necessity 
W. G. WOODS 
D ame fash¬ 
ion decrees 
the designs of our 
dining tables just as 
she does our frocks, 
our hats and our 
furniture. 
We may have 
grown accustomed to 
moving in a groove 
—to using the same 
style that was the 
vogue in our grand¬ 
mother’s day when 
the round or oval 
table, polished or 
covered, seemed the 
only proper type. 
But who would be 
content with such 
monotony ? Surely, 
the vogue of the re¬ 
fectory table, redo¬ 
lent with its associa¬ 
tion of monastic and 
baronial days, is a 
happy relief. Be¬ 
sides, the refectory 
table affords so 
many fascinating 
possibilities in deco¬ 
ration. 
In the four illus¬ 
trations here we see 
demonstrated its 
quick adaptability 
not only to the dining room but to the hall 
and library where antiques and reproductions 
of antiques are grouped. 
The happiest results in furnishing can be 
achieved through the consistent use of a long 
table. It is superior to a small, cluttered table 
or a number of tables. In a room of average 
size the refectory table will dominate—and to 
the good of the other furniture. Make no mis¬ 
take about that, and remember it when you 
plan to buy a long table. Its very dignified 
simplicity demands equally dignified and sim¬ 
ple furnishings about it. 
Their Romantic Past 
These long tables were in use as far back 
as feudal times. In those days, it will be re¬ 
membered, the whole household, including 
servants, sat down at the same board. Your 
position in relation to the salt cellar decided 
your social status. Would that social distinc¬ 
tions were so easily marked today! There was 
a fine democracy about the Middle Ages, a 
truer democracy, one is often tempted to feel, 
than the democracy of today. The long table 
stood as a symbol for it. 
It has other associations, to be sure. We can 
see the cowled figures that sat about these old 
boards, eating in silence while the lector read 
from a tome of the saints’ lives. We can see 
it in the manorial hall when the hunts folks 
gathered around it after the chase, and piled 
on it their trophies and sat about to drink of 
steaming punch. And we can see it—in our 
own, steam-heated homes, thanks to Dame 
Fashion, who has revived it for our delight. 
The earliest tables of this design were made 
of oak, and were used in England and France; 
later on they were copied in Italy and Southern 
England, being constructed of long walnut 
boards laid on trestles and devoutly polished so 
that no spot showed on their surface. They 
varied in length and width, but were generally 
from 6' to 8' long and from 2' to 4' wide. Many 
of them in castellated homes were very rich in 
carving, to harmonize with the magnificent 
furniture in vogue especially during the reign 
of Louis XIV. 
Our forefathers copied the idea in our early 
American homes where furniture was scant. 
They devised the “Table Borde” — plain 
lengths of pine or oak fastened together and 
laid upon rude trestles. They were thus made 
removable because in many Colonial homes the 
kitchen was also the living room and these 
tables occupied too much space for permanency. 
Although many are cleverly imitated, the an¬ 
tiques cannot be reproduced in such graceful 
designs and it is perfectly possible to determine 
the old from the new. Generally they are 
finished in walnut or mahogany, polished every 
day that they may shine without trace of stain. 
Types of Tables 
Elaborately carved bases are fitting for the 
dining room where the furniture is equally 
ornate, but the plain top is in better taste for 
use in long narrow dining rooms where old oak 
pieces are used for setting. It is perfectly ad¬ 
missible to shorten the “long borde” table to fit 
the size of the room, 
and the supports can 
be either trestles or 
legs, to make it fall 
in with the type of 
furniture used. 
The selection will 
depend, of course, on 
the house and the 
room itself. A farm¬ 
house interior is 
wrongly treated if 
richly carved pieces 
are used. Far better 
is it to purchase two 
lengths of either oak 
or hard pine. Sand¬ 
paper them to proper 
smoothness adding a 
filler and finishing 
with wax well and 
regularly rubbed in. 
Such a table can be 
made by a village 
carpenter and it is 
much more fitting 
than a richly carved 
and expensive an¬ 
tique would be. 
The bench com¬ 
panion to the long 
table is not so read¬ 
ily found, although 
reproductions are 
aplenty. It has been 
replaced by chairs of 
the same period as the tables. These are gen¬ 
erally covered with leather or velvet to match 
the color scheme of the room. But one should 
be careful in “matching” a long table and its 
chairs to any color scheme, for, as was said 
above, a refectory table is a dominant piece of 
furniture; it is the most important object in 
the room of average size and anything which 
detracts from its dignity only ruins the effect 
of the interior. 
And that brings us to the subject of what 
objects should be placed on the refectory table. 
That depends entirely on the use to which the 
table is put. We may consider each class 
separately. 
For the Living Room 
In the living room: Here the refectory 
table can be backed up to the davenport which 
faces the hearth, or, if a davenport is placed on 
either side the fireplace, a table can be placed 
behind each of them. Or again, with a daven¬ 
port at either side, the table can be placed at 
the farther end, making a fireplace enclosure. 
In any of these positions it can serve for maga¬ 
zines, books and writing. Such accessories as 
lamp shades and correspondence fitments will 
be according to the decoration of the room or 
one’s personal taste. 
There is a subtle affinity between an oak 
board and wrought iron and crude pottery. 
All three bear the maker’s mark of individu¬ 
ality. Hence pottery bowls—such as the Ital¬ 
ian Capri ware—or wrought candlelabra har¬ 
monize perfectly with such a table. The 
