Update Your Tablescape With Chargers

Update your table's look with chargers!  No not the kind you plug in your phone.  These are charger plates.  Chargers can be used in a variety of ways.  They are a little larger than the average dinner plate and often seen at restaurants holding the place until the dinner plate comes.  Sometimes it is taken as you are seated, sometimes it is taken after the salad course or dinner course.  They can be used as a way to protect your table cloth during appetizer, soup, salad, or dinner course.  However, the common consensus is to remove them before the dessert is served.

There are so many varieties and styles, materials, and textures.  Porcelain, glass, plastic, metal, woven, etc.  Many, I noticed, are not food safe.  Think of them as a kind of round special place mat.

One kind of charger has a special story at my house, because I made it from a part of my surroundings from the last thirty years.  Yes, I said thirty years.  We had a pine tree by our fence that died, so when the men came to cut it down, I asked them if I could have a few feet of the trunk.  They said, "Sure," so I took my log to the local lumber yard and had them to cut it into 1 inch disks.  They had never done this before, so they were curious as to what I was planning on doing.  I explained I was going to make them into charger plates, and they commented on how the wood was interesting with the tannin from the bark making designs and patterns.

Once my wood disks were home, I sanded them and applied mineral oil to finish them.  I read that applying with a cloth would work, but these were very dry pieces of wood and it just was not covering well.  Pretty much not covering at all, so I got the idea of using a clean paint roller brush.  This worked perfectly!  It easily coated the chargers very quickly.

Above, trying out Thanksgiving table ideas.

Above, the Easter table.

I am thrilled with how they turned out!  I also use them as trivets to hold big heavy cast iron pots.  Multipurpose!