No Dining Table? No Problem! This Easy Hack Means You Can Still Create the Perfect Holiday Dinner Party Set-Up

You'll be shocked at how easy it is to pull off this viral dining hack — and your guests are going to love it, guaranteed

An illustration of tablewares.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Goodee, Anthropologie, Revolve, Moda Operandi, Target, Terrain)

One of the hardest parts of apartment dwelling is that you (usually) don't have access to a dining room table. You have a couch and maybe a coffee table, sure, but lack a piece large enough to host multiple people and lack the room for one to begin with. 

This holiday season, however, blogger Sara Toufali has shared the easiest space-saving, renter-friendly, and budget-friendly dining and hosting set-up for those that identified with that first statement, and all it involves is a cheap folding table and two pillows, poufs, or supports of your choosing. And while that might not sound luxurious, I promise you're going to be blown away by the final product. Combined with the tablescape pieces I've sourced from some of the best home decor stores, this alternative dining solution easily transforms from a simple budget hack into a vibe-y, high-end meal.

The perfect dining alternative for table-less homes

Using two storage containers or pillow poufs that she seemingly already owned, Sara then rested a cheap, plastic folding table on top to elevate what will become the dining surface a bit off the ground. Next, to hide her handiwork, she simply draped a large colored flat sheet on top of the structure, so that each piece of the rig was cleverly concealed underneath.

The results are instantaneous — what was once a bootleg option becomes an elevated solution, even more so after she adds a gorgeous selection of floral accents, decor pieces, and tableware. If you're a dining table-less host this holiday season, or just flat-out looking for a new set-up to try, your guests will absolutely love this playful arrangement. 

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Brigid Kennedy
Style Editor

Brigid Kennedy is a Style Editor at Livingetc.com, where she scours the internet for the best and most stylish deals on home decor and more. After earning a degree from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, she spent the first 2.5 years of her journalism career covering U.S. politics and culture at TheWeek.com. She describes her design style as colorful and clean, and in her free time enjoys reading, watching movies, and curating impossibly niche playlists on Spotify. She recently relocated from Manhattan to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she's decorating and DIYing a new home downtown.