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Dressing Up The Display


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I am working on my booth. I want to add a skirt to the display table. I have seen it done with Velcro, coming undone and falling off. Can anyone tell me how they keep the bottom of their tables covered? Of course I want to do this in the most economicly way possible.

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I've found the ones from Home Depot to be the least expensive.  This is a one piece table cloth.   (no clips, toppers, etc to buy)

 

http://www.homedepot.com/p/The-Folding-Table-Cloth-6-ft-Black-Table-Cloth-Made-for-Folding-Tables-3072BLK/203335986

 

I helped someone design a booth last year and this is what they settled on for the tables.  They are a good buy .. less expensive than the skirting, quicker set up and no velcro wearing out issues.   We put black ones in this booth.  The client wanted the beige but I talked them into black because I thought the beige would show more spots.    They have since told me they were pleased with these table cloths.   (we used the 6 foot folding tables and they are a perfect fit)

 

The Velcro is never that secure after a few uses.   Seems like many conference tables use a staple gun to secure skits. 

 

(These only fit 6 foot tables and the black will pick up lent as one review showed so they just take a lint roller.  Also they do not wrinkle and are washable. The person I helped uses various fabrics, runners in seasonal colors to spice up the top.  This spring he used turquoise and lime green ... it really looked good over the black).

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I cut and sewed my tablecloths to fit my tables exactly, with the hems hovering right above the ground. I fold the sides around to make boxed sides, then pin them in place with upholstery pins. They are cheap, and fast to set up and take down. I'm not a great seamstress, but I can sew a straight line.

 

 

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Not being able to sew in a straight/non-straight line, I employed the goods services of my spouse to make similar table covers. She also made me one that fits over a stack of the plastic bins I use to transport pottery; putting the empty bins to use as a small table in the booth.

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The fabric is pinned to the fabric. I have a show in 10 days maybe I can snap a picture of how it works.

 

All of my tabletops and shelves are from Ikea. If you are referring to the freestanding unit on the right, the metal shelf uprights are from The Container Store. One note about them ... they were taller when I bought them, I cut them with a hacksaw to be the height I wanted.

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Great booth Mea ... I hope you don't mind if I comment a bit.

 

Chantay ... I hope you are taking booth design tips too from Mea's set up ... Not hard to tell she has a design background. : - )

Notice where your eye is drawn and how it moves around the booth and almost pulls you in. There are no objects that look tippy and nothing sticking out to warn people with bags and parcels away. Everything is obvious and simple. Plus she has that nice private spot behind the curtain to do the wrapping or keep extra inventory.

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Great booth Mea ... I hope you don't mind if I comment a bit.

 

Chantay ... I hope you are taking booth design tips too from Mea's set up ... Not hard to tell she has a design background. : - )

Notice where your eye is drawn and how it moves around the booth and almost pulls you in. There are no objects that look tippy and nothing sticking out to warn people with bags and parcels away. Everything is obvious and simple. Plus she has that nice private spot behind the curtain to do the wrapping or keep extra inventory.

"There is a back!!" Now what to say to that Customer.

Great booth, great pots, I love your pots.

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I bought a set of shelves at the Container store that I thought would work for events, the Origami shelf.  They fold up flat and are very slick!   But they don't look quite as nice as Mea's.  However they work GREAT in my studio for drying shelves!  I have taken note of Mea's booth for about a year now, trying to tweak mine.  Thanks for posting Mea!

 

Roberta

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Just because I was doing a show this weekend, I took some shots of the pinning of a tablecloth, and my booth. I am very much in the early stages of doing shows, and this iteration is still in progress, and done very much on the cheap and/or free side. The space I had to fill was 5.5'x10' wide, and I wanted to create a space that people could step into somewhat to shop away from the crowd.

 

All fabric was purchased at a local charity sale or at thrift stores. I have a large mug tree that stands at the front left of the booth. I got it from a guy who was retiring and having a studio sale. It outweighs me, as the base is a fired stoneware ring filled with cement. (I will post a pic of it in the next post. Data limits exceeded.). I have here a 4' table with wine boxes from a friend who used to work in restaurants covered in fabric (I found people were paying too much attention to the brand of wine, so they are covered). The card table has 2 electrical spools painted with leftover house paint on top, and battery powered puck lights for spotlighting. I will likely switch to a plug in option should I keep this design element. The batteries die after about 12 hours. There are small wooden spacers between table and spools for stability. The stool is from ikea, and it blocks my wrapping/till area that is behind the card table from the public. All overstock is under the tables. I got the string lights from a Target close out sale, and the sign is made from fabric and spray paint, and hung with a spray-painted piece of free rebar. The template for the letters was a free one I printed from the Internet and cut myself. I did pay full price for the interlocking anot fatigue mats, which started off ugly brown. They received a decorative paint job using house paint that I will say chips horribly, even with a top coat of spray varnish. I was glad to have the mats, but will have to rethink the paint job. (it will probably get power washed off and fixed somehow.)

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Chantay (and anyone else interested),

 

Here's a photo of the back side of my display tables, to show how I pin the tablecloths to create boxed sides. It only takes two pins. Easy peasy. When I am outdoors in a windy situation, I will use a few more pins to keeps things from shifting around.

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Yes, and the issue with it for me was the folds of cloth that drug the floor in the corners, I was constantly trying to tuck or tie it to something under the table for fear that someone would trip on it.   I took a table cloth that is long enough to almost touch the floor on each side of the table, since mine sit out from the wall, and then cut the extra over hang at the ends to 2/3 the table width, Then used the big straight pins like Mea has to make a hospital corner on each end.  .  Looks very tidy and quick to set up.  You would need to experiment  bit with the exact amount to leave at the ends, enough to cross over each other and not leave a gap, and not so much that it won't be snug and lay flat.

For price, you can't bet the unbleached muslin painter's drapes from Lowe's. comes in several sizes and is a quiet neutral oatmeal color.  For the table where dark pots will go, I add a black diagonal cloth over that and it looks OK, since my shelves are black metal.

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  • 4 weeks later...

When we used table, we had our skirts hemmed by a local artisan who made clothing, cost me a couple mixing bowls.  She added elastic in the upper hem, but I secured them with snaps that i purchased  in a kit from a hardware store.  Male end screwed into the table, female end was grommet into the fabric. still use them when I need extra display space.  It was very easy, if either piece of the snap wears out you can replace it.  The elastic was only to keep it snug around the table.  If I had to do it over, I would probably go with Mea's design. 

 

Chad

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