A Dining Table Bench For Function and Elegance

By definition, a table is a piece of furniture that has a flat surface (usually round or square) with attached legs that hold it upright. A table is used to hold a variety of objects ranging from food to boxes, merchandise, or an endless variety of things for various purposes. We are all familiar with the modern table and how they are used, but the question is can you define a table based on the types of chairs that is uses, if it even uses chairs at all. Many early table designs incorporated drawers. This was common as the table could be used for additional storage area and would not typically utilize chairs. Today, a table that uses drawers is commonly referred to as a desk, which may have one or more drawers in its base.

But a desk, and a modern dining table for that matter, use a standard chair or stool as its matter of seating. A picnic table and some other outdoor tables use benches in lieu of chairs or stools to seat people. Although common for the outdoors, an indoor table rarely uses a stool for place settings. Can this still be classified as a table? By definition yes, although in today’s modern interior having bench seats anywhere in the home would be considered a major decor gamble.

The reason for this is that bench seats take up quite a bit of space and cannot be easily moved from their static location. If you think about it, how many times have you seen someone take a bench seat from a dining room to the kitchen to add additional space? It’s not very likely, although if a room has sufficient room and a seating arrangement that would not change often, there very well could be a use for a dining room table with a bench seat. This is not to say that a bench seat is not useful, but having one in a dining room can severely limit the mobility and space of a room.

My husband and I butt heads on decorating, big time. My husband has our home looking like a bachelor pad, he mounted his guitars on the living room wall, has a HUGE clock that says Irish Pub on it hanging in our dining room. He had pictures of his buddies on the walls. And also he has a thing with collecting plants so they are EVEY WHERE, half dead and he will not let me throw them away, each plant has a story apparently. And now he has built a work bench in the laundry room and gets saw dust all over the clothes and has decided that he can spray paint his guitars down there. He had this house before I moved in, if we had both moved in at the same time I would have said "HECK NO" to about 90 percent of this stuff but now its up and he is not budging on getting rid of anything. I am embarrassed to has anyone over and I hate that my husband gets SO mad at me when I ask him to not spray paint in the house and wont let me have any say on decorating. What do I do, I am sooo sick of fighting but I hate that I am humiliated by my house. Please help.

I have a one-year-old chihuahua who has never fully been potty trained. Although he would do fine with I’d take him outside to pee in the warm weather, he would usually poop inside. He never learned to let me know when he needed to go, and would just silently slip into the corner when my back was turned and I’d notice it too late to redirect him.

He REFUSES to go in the snow, and since I live in an apartment, I have decided to indoor train him. I just bought a puppy patch three days ago. I’ve been really buckling down. I reluctantly turned my house topsy turvy for the blasted dog. I overturned a bench he liked to hide under, and blocked off the dining room, which is where he has inappropriately decided he would like to do his business.

I now have complete visibility of him when I am home, and whenever he shows signs that he needs to go, I redirect him to the kitchen area where his spot is. But he won’t go. I do it over and over and OVER again… and he just doesn’t get it. I want to be in there with him when he goes, so I can immediately praise and reward him.

He went 2x yesterday on the patch — peed AND pooped on it this AM (with some help) and I over-exaggerated my praise when he succeeded. But initially, he will continuously run around sniffing and whining when he feels the urge, and I’ll have to redirect him OVER and OVER… to no avail. He will opt to HOLD it for hours. Literally! He started showing signs that he needed to go about an hour and a half ago… but refuses to go where I want him to.

I have even sat in the kitchen with him when it’s time to go, put the baby gate up, and only gave him a direct route to the potty patch. This has worked the past two days in the AM. As soon as I wake up, I let him out, sit on the floor, or make tea in the kitchen, and he will go within 15 minutes, since he’s been crated all night. The morning is no problem.

But is it normal for them to hold it for HOURS during the day? It’s driving me crazy because I can’t leave him alone at all. I am trying to see EVERY successful attempt so that I can instantly reward him.

Even if I DID leave him in the kitchen alone, I would have to listen to his incessant whining all day. I had to deal with it for over an hour yesterday. It was intolerable. I was ready to drop-kick him!! He is SO stubborn! And the separation anxiety doesn’t help.

I am not going to be able to do this when I’m at work. I just leave him in the tiny kitchen area with his food and water, bed, toys, and potty pad. He almost always goes on the pad… except poop. He will poop in the middle of the floor. I have heard that is a harder habit to break.

When he needs to go potty, he runs around whining, as I’ve said, trying to find his former (unacceptable) spot and gets irritated that he can’t get to it. This is good, but it also shows the fact that he doesn’t get that he’s supposed to look for this NEW spot.

How long is this going to take? And will it be harder since I won’t be there to reward him when I’m at work?

It must be noted that I do give him a LOT of love and attention. He certainly isn’t neglected.

I am just about to lose it! It’s only been two and half days… but I’m just not sure what is working and what isn’t. How long do you keep trying things before you learn that they don’t work?

Do I need to wait until he actually STARTS to pee in the wrong spot to redirect him? I am looking for the warning signs, because I thought that was best, and I really don’t want any more pee on my carpet.

Any ideas?? I’m at my wit’s end! Am I on the right track…. or am I missing something?

(Dog had to pee two hours ago… was running around like mad… and now he’s asleep on the couch, under the covers. Go figure! This is what is confusing to me! How often do these guys have to go??)

So I have two other dreams that I was wondering if there was any meaning to them.

I had a dream a while back that I was at school, and I was sitting there talking to my friend and cousin. Suddenly, a desk fell on top of me, so I pushed it off and I got up. I tried to tell my friend about how much it hurt my knee, but she couldn’t hear me. I soon realized that I was dead, and I grabbed my cousin, trying to get his attention. I didn’t mind that one of my best friends couldn’t see or hear me. What upset me the most was that my cousin was unable to as well. I sat in the corner, lonely, when another one of my friends approached me. She could see me, and she said it was because she believed that I wasn’t dead. I realized that I had to get to my mom to show her that I was still here before she got the news that I was dead, for I wanted her to be able to see me. Unfortunately, I woke up before I got to my mom.

Another one now!

Two nights ago, I had a dream I was at a skate park with my sister and my mom. My sister was sitting on a bench, but she fell off and landed on the thing that the people skate on. She ended up breaking her back, and her body went completely numb. For a moment in my dream, I was my sister, and I couldn’t feel anything but a slight tingle in my arm. We ended up taking her to the hospital, but my mom and I had to go home to grab something for her. At that point, my sister was undergoing surgery. My mom went to use the bathroom before we went back out, and I saw my sister walk out of the dining room and into the kitchen. She started making a bowl of salad, cheetos, and mayonnaise, and I backed away slowly, asking her why she was there. She asked me, "wouldn’t you like to know?" I backed away into the den, where she sat on a chair and ate her weird bowl of food. I told her, "I am afraid of you.." to which she replied, "Ha. Funny. I should be afraid of you!" My dream self interpreted this to mean that she was implying that I was evil. My mom came out of the bathroom and saw her, and yelled "Get out of here! Get back to your body! You don’t belong here!" and my sister ran out the front door.

Can anyone interpret these dreams for me? I know they’re both strange, but I’d like to know the meanings..

yesyes i know its a very long paragraph, but can you plz tell me what i should add to make it more descriptive??

I wake up with a jolt, and I know we have hit the bumpy terrain known as Tikota Road. I have been sitting in the same painful, smelly, and uncomfortably warm seat for hours. My back hurts and I’m hungry, but I know that it’s worth it. I had slept through an entire eight-hour bus ride! I can feel the anticipation in the air, for everyone is ready for camp to start. The counselors tell us that we will be pulling into camp in about 5 minutes, so we should get our things ready. I quickly shove my iPod into my bag and try to remember the words to our camp song, the song that I have spent many nights screaming at the top of my lungs, while my friends join in as if we were the only people in the world, and we would be with each other forever. The words come into my head instantly, and the tune soon follows. I start to get that feeling in my stomach, the one you get when you are about to get on a plane that could take you anywhere in the world. The one that makes you feel so nervous but so incredibly excited at the same time. I know that it’s that time. I take a deep breath and turn to Olivia. She smiles and we hug each other like we haven’t been apart for a single day. As I let my breath out, I begin to sing. “Up in Maine there is a place, down a dirt road with no trace…” Suddenly, I see my friends outside the bus window. They look around, and then I know they have spotted me. As I shuffle through the mass of people trying to get off the bus and to their friends, I notice the old, worn down building known as the Art Barn. The shutters with the paint peeling off give me a sense of security. I know that, finally, I’ve made it to the one place that matters most to me. I eventually get off the bus and run to my friends. As we drown each other in hugs and laughs, I take in the scene. My friends, the picture perfect lake, the picnic benches, the cabins, and the dining hall. It all seems so familiar. I realize that this is my one and only home. It’s the only place where I can totally and completely be myself, without being afraid of being judged or criticized. Camp Tikota, with it’s dilapidated cabins, burning hot brick oven, overly crowded Coliseum and it’s hyper active camper. Camp Tikota, my home.

yesyes i know its a very long paragraph, but can you plz tell me what i should add to make it more descriptive??

I wake up with a jolt, and I know we have hit the bumpy terrain known as Tikota Road. I have been sitting in the same painful, smelly, and uncomfortably warm seat for hours. My back hurts and I’m hungry, but I know that it’s worth it. I had slept through an entire eight-hour bus ride! I can feel the anticipation in the air, for everyone is ready for camp to start. The counselors tell us that we will be pulling into camp in about 5 minutes, so we should get our things ready. I quickly shove my iPod into my bag and try to remember the words to our camp song, the song that I have spent many nights screaming at the top of my lungs, while my friends join in as if we were the only people in the world, and we would be with each other forever. The words come into my head instantly, and the tune soon follows. I start to get that feeling in my stomach, the one you get when you are about to get on a plane that could take you anywhere in the world. The one that makes you feel so nervous but so incredibly excited at the same time. I know that it’s that time. I take a deep breath and turn to Olivia. She smiles and we hug each other like we haven’t been apart for a single day. As I let my breath out, I begin to sing. “Up in Maine there is a place, down a dirt road with no trace…” Suddenly, I see my friends outside the bus window. They look around, and then I know they have spotted me. As I shuffle through the mass of people trying to get off the bus and to their friends, I notice the old, worn down building known as the Art Barn. The shutters with the paint peeling off give me a sense of security. I know that, finally, I’ve made it to the one place that matters most to me. I eventually get off the bus and run to my friends. As we drown each other in hugs and laughs, I take in the scene. My friends, the picture perfect lake, the picnic benches, the cabins, and the dining hall. It all seems so familiar. I realize that this is my one and only home. It’s the only place where I can totally and completely be myself, without being afraid of being judged or criticized. Camp Tikota, with it’s dilapidated cabins, burning hot brick oven, overly crowded Coliseum and it’s hyper active camper. Camp Tikota, my home.

yesyes i know its a very long paragraph, but can you plz tell me what i should add to make it more descriptive??

I wake up with a jolt, and I know we have hit the bumpy terrain known as Tikota Road. I have been sitting in the same painful, smelly, and uncomfortably warm seat for hours. My back hurts and I’m hungry, but I know that it’s worth it. I had slept through an entire eight-hour bus ride! I can feel the anticipation in the air, for everyone is ready for camp to start. The counselors tell us that we will be pulling into camp in about 5 minutes, so we should get our things ready. I quickly shove my iPod into my bag and try to remember the words to our camp song, the song that I have spent many nights screaming at the top of my lungs, while my friends join in as if we were the only people in the world, and we would be with each other forever. The words come into my head instantly, and the tune soon follows. I start to get that feeling in my stomach, the one you get when you are about to get on a plane that could take you anywhere in the world. The one that makes you feel so nervous but so incredibly excited at the same time. I know that it’s that time. I take a deep breath and turn to Olivia. She smiles and we hug each other like we haven’t been apart for a single day. As I let my breath out, I begin to sing. “Up in Maine there is a place, down a dirt road with no trace…” Suddenly, I see my friends outside the bus window. They look around, and then I know they have spotted me. As I shuffle through the mass of people trying to get off the bus and to their friends, I notice the old, worn down building known as the Art Barn. The shutters with the paint peeling off give me a sense of security. I know that, finally, I’ve made it to the one place that matters most to me. I eventually get off the bus and run to my friends. As we drown each other in hugs and laughs, I take in the scene. My friends, the picture perfect lake, the picnic benches, the cabins, and the dining hall. It all seems so familiar. I realize that this is my one and only home. It’s the only place where I can totally and completely be myself, without being afraid of being judged or criticized. Camp Tikota, with it’s dilapidated cabins, burning hot brick oven, overly crowded Coliseum and it’s hyper active camper. Camp Tikota, my home.

Ouch.

Scarlett snapped her finger back from the doorframe, and noticed a small red dot on her finger. Wondering whether it was a bug or not, she reached her fingernail down and cautiouly tapped the top of the enlarging shape. It went to liquid the moment she did: so it was blood. She wrapped the damaged finger in her fist, and used the other to knock twice shaply on the door. About a full minute later, she heard light footsteps on the floor and the handle turned as her latest client, Sabrina O’Karkee, pulled her head around the corner of the doorframe and welcomed Scarlett in.

There was only one word for Sabrina, and that was over. Overdramatic, overdressed, and altogether overdone. She was fifteen, only a year older than Scarlett, yet she was already hiring her. Sabrina was about the same height too, with curly blonde hair to suit her piercing blue eyes and deep dark red lipstick. Scarlett ran a business where she was the one in control of the income: if she hated someone, she could charge them more by making up problems that didn’t exist.

Technically, she babysat: but for the babysitters.

See, some people don’t have the effort in them to look after the kids for much more than ten minutes, so they’d send the parents off to their date night or anniversary dinner, then they’d call Scarlett to do their work for them. About five minutes later, she’d arrive, and her ‘client’ would have the night to themselves. Depending on how much she was paid, of course. The business was foolproop, since if anything happened to the kids-which it wouldn’t-she was totally unresponsible, since she wasn’t there.

Oh, and she could also throw in blackmailing the kids if they threatened to tell the real clients.

Her brother, Adam, was ready to pick her up at the drop of a hat, wherever she may be. Well, he’d never ditched her before, so she want expecting him to now. Definitely not when she was working for his long-lost soulmate, who just-as he preffered to put it-"Hadn’t found the spot in her heart where he could stay for infinite time." Problem was, he just hadn’t realized that she’d had way too many boyfriends in way too little time to be considered a candidate for a long term relationship.

She’d worked for Sabrina before now, but not in this house ,so she had some memorizing to do. The loungeroom was first up, with a large flat-screen TV across from the lounge and a peculiar mix of white, green and purple streaking across its walls. That led into the kitchen and dining rooms, which were joined as one, and as they were painted a simple dark brown, the table, chairs, and benches were nothing compared to the latter. There was also a bathroom somewhere down the hall; this was all she’d seen of the house so far.

"How many kids?" Scarlett asked, in a professional-sounding tone of voice. "Two, twins; boy and girl." said Sabrina absentmindedly, checking the time, and suddenly panicking. "There’s a note on the fridge, ones of thems diabetic or something. Crap, I’m gonna be late!"

"That’s great, Sabrina. Bye." Scarlett smiled to herself, soaking up the satisfaction. "Oh-" Sabrina blushed, her cheeks flushing with crimson, and quickly spat out "Sorry, and thanks; again," and rushed out the door.

Two small figures emerged from the darkened hallway. "Sabrina?" They called out, rubbing their eyes. Scarlett rolled hers, and walked over to them. They were about a third of her height. "My names Scarlett, and I’m looking after you now," she said gently, getting down on one knee. "Now, lets get you guys back to bed." She took one of their hands in her own, and led them slowly back down the hallway. Looking down, she thankfully saw that her finger had stopped bleeding.
There was no way she could have seen what was coming. It was about eleven o’clock, and she was watching reruns of Skippy. Sabrina was due home any minute, and Scarlett was desperately hoping she hadn’t gotten too drunk. There was a knock at the door, and Scarlett crossed the room within seconds, tired and eager to be home. She opened it, and let Sabrina in. She was walking straight, but looked completely terrified. Scarlett knew why within a few seconds.

Several large, black shapes came bounding up over the fence, knocking it over as she went. "Dogs," Sabrina whispered, and shut the door behind her. She was covered in light red marks, and her leg was bleeding. There was a thump at the door, and while looking at the window, Scarlett saw it begin to crack. A dog clenched it’s teeth around the glass and tried to pull it away, like it was making room for the others: but Scarlett wasn’t waiting around for that to happen.
She looked around for Sabrina, and soon realised that she was long gone. She ran down the hallway, searching for the kids and soon realizing Sabrina had taken them into the basement, and under no circumstances was she going to open the goddamn door. Scarlett soon heard the pounding of multiple paws making their way towards her. She saw the bathroom, and desperately hoped the lock would hold, as she ran inside and slammed the door behind her. A loud thump came from behind the door as the dogs began to hurtle against it.

She sighed, and leaned against the door, vainly attempting to calm herself. Her figure slumped against it as she slid down, and curled herself up into a ball. A small sting came from her open palm: somehow she’d cut herself in the chase. She stood and stumbled over to the sink, turned on the tap, and tried to wash away some of the blood. There was no use though, since it just kept flowing out. She sighed again, and looked up into the mirror.
Scarlett had charcoal-style black hair, pretty much dead straight with a few waves in a few places. She had emerald-green eyes that sparkled like crystals when they got watery. There was a certain averageness with her: you could see that she could blend in or stand out as much as she wanted to. Her eyes were getting watery now, in fact.

She looked at her reflection, and it winked at her. Her eyes popped wide open, and she saw a sparkle rush through her own eye. She raised a hand to touch her eye, but instead-ever so slowly-put it on the mirror, and gasped. Scarlett didn’t feel the cold, hard glass of the mirror behind her hand, and life behind that mirror. But most of all, she felt desperation. Her reflection wanted something, and they wanted it now.
Scarlett had charcoal-style black hair, pretty much dead straight with a few waves in a few places. She had emerald-green eyes that sparkled like crystals when they got watery. There was a certain averageness with her: you could see that she could blend in or stand out as much as she wanted to. Her eyes were getting watery now, in fact.

She looked at her reflection, and it winked at her. Her eyes popped wide open, and she saw a sparkle rush through her own eye. She raised a hand to touch her eye, but instead-ever so slowly-put it on the mirror, and gasped. Scarlett didn’t feel the cold, hard glass of the mirror behind her hand, and life behind that mirror. But most of all, she felt desperation. Her reflection wanted something, and they wanted it now.
Scarlett had charcoal-style black hair, pretty much dead straight with a few waves in a few places. She had emerald-green eyes that sparkled like crystals when they got watery. There was a certain averageness with her: you could see that she could blend in or stand out as much as she wanted to. Her eyes were getting watery now, in fact.

She looked at her reflection, and it winked at her. Her eyes popped wide open, and she saw a sparkle rush through her own eye. She raised a hand to touch her eye, but instead-ever so slowly-put it on the mirror, and gasped. Scarlett didn’t feel the cold, hard glass of the mirror behind her hand, and life behind that mirror. But most of all, she felt desperation. Her reflection wanted something, and they wanted it now.
She lifted her hand off the mirror, and was shocked to see that there was no blood on her hand. There wasn’t even a cut, just smooth skin. A small tingly feeling had replaced it, soon making her entire hand limp. It spread up her arm and crossed through her entire body, making her alike to a human ragdoll.

She wondered what Sabrina and the kids were doing to pass the time as she left the land of conciousness.
She lifted her hand off the mirror, and was shocked to see that there was no blood on her hand. There wasn’t even a cut, just smooth skin. A small tingly feeling had replaced it, soon making her entire hand limp. It spread up her arm and crossed through her entire body, making her alike to a human ragdoll.

She wondered what Sabrina and the kids were doing to pass the time as she left the land of conciousness.