You had me at “flock of day-old chicks.”
Consolation, How many chickens do you have? (Are these “urban chickens”?)
How about this one?
http://www.amazon.com/Game-Table-Bumper-Antique-Billiards/dp/B009VL029S/ref=sr_1_19?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1421886602&sr=1-19
@1moremom I have 11. I had 14 chicks, but 3 of them turned out to be roosters, so I rehomed them. No, they aren’t urban. I live in a town of about 7,000. It is sort of semi-rural suburban small town.
Deborah - my ILs have a table just like that. It’s in their family room. I haven’t thought about a table like that in ages.
When we were discussing dishes on the Good Buy of the Day thread I thought about one relative’s buffet and the teacups that were displayed in the window cabinet up top. Then I thought of the credenza from my childhood and even saw a picture online bearing a strong likeness.
Just now I was pondering octagonal tabletops and then how about decagons (10 people and all, lol). Not too many pictures. Besides, somehow it seems like that would feel like a banquet hall. For an even larger group, one can imagine a tabletop like the 2014 tetra uncirculated 50c coin.
https://eshop.ramint.gov.au/2014-50c-Tetra-decagon-Horse-Coin/410077.aspx
Have to be careful not to walk across the dining room table lest the host be forced to put out a fresh tablecloth.
We read Maya Angelou’s Letter to My Daughter a few months ago in the book club to which I belonged. Wish I could still place which story it was.
Regardless of shape, consider a pedestal table. That way, you can add in a few people without anyone having to straddle a table leg.
Actually, I am a huge fan of the Eero Saarinen tulip base table, because it’s clean, smooth, and no one hits a leg. Many pedestal tables feel too clunky and bulky to me. See here:
http://www.knoll.com/product/saarinen-dining-table-42-round
It’s very expensive, but it is an art object. Comes in many sizes and shapes (including oval) as well as tabletops. If I were starting over, I’d go with one of these.
I agree it’s more comfortable not bumping into table legs, but where do “slum legs” with no tabletop overhead to protect them go?
May I please join this thread? I’ve been lurking a bit and like to decorate. A friend has the (round) saarinen table, on which I’ve frequently eaten. I can’t remember ever hitting the base with my knees. It is very comfortable to me. However, he can only seat a maximum of six. He also has matching mid century dining chairs. His place is a treasure box.
Like Consolation, I have persian rugs in all rooms but the dining room, where I recently painted the wood floors. My house, mid 19th c, has original soft wood floors with all the layers of paint that ever existed, worn to varying patinas. Only the borders of the rooms are painted, since there were always rugs used. My antique rugs hit exactly where the original rugs did. It is necessary to lift a corner to see unpainted floor.
The dining room had so much bug damage requiring replacement pieces and bondo that it really needed to be covered up. Like Consolation, I had a “lesser” rug for awhile but when I recovered the chair seats, the colors didn’t work together and I just discarded it and then painted. Clean up seems easier without a rug. We are messy.
I spent a long time coordinating colors in upholstery, antique porcelain in the corner cupboards and the modern china I use on the table with the color we painted the floor. The room feels very bright to me and I like that.
Has anyone ever said no to such a polite request?
thank you. 
Tables and one even round:
I have a bunch of antique tables stored in the barn. These are tables from country auctions where no one else bid. I felt compelled to give them a home. I use them when we have yard parties. One is three part: the two ends are demilune tables, the middle is a rectangular drop leaf table. We have used the demilunes together as a round table and the middle as a separate table. It is very versatile. But wait… big problem. To use it as one long table, the legs create very small spaces and most chairs can’t push underneath. I looked unsuccessfully for about a decade for the right size and style chairs at an affordable price for me. My budget is limited. Champagne on a beer budget, that’s me all right. When we dramatically downsized to the current dream house, I decided it was pretty much now or never to have what I wanted and I’d just have to be realistic about what was possible. My first choice would have been regional antiques, or at least American. I’m using an inherited reproduction table, along with very sturdy and pretty simple18th English chippendale chairs. Those chairs replaced an assembled set of American fancy chairs which kept falling apart under my dinner guests. I am satisfied with how it turned out.
I love the various dining room descriptions on this thread.
^^^Sounds lovely!
Alh, perhaps you could take a picture and post as your avatar?
I can solve your champagne on a beer budget problem. Drink Cava or Prosecco. 
Oh you wanted a table?
Our dining room table is a hideous monstrosity - 54" wide and about a million leaves. Huge Victorian feet on bases that you are bound to bump into - especially at its smallest setting. With more than one leaf you have to use a table cloth because only one leave has drop sides. But the thing belonged to my great-grandmother I grew up hearing stories about my mother being taken to her very proper house and I could never toss it. We have a new kitchen addition which has a round mosaic table we picked up in Jordan. It doesn’t have an ideal base, but I do love the way it looks and it is working out really well in the space.
'Thanks so much! As you can tell, I’m very pleased with the recent dining room decoration, also more than a little house proud : ( The best pictures will be in your mind’s eye. : ) Really, though - having this room done to my taste has made a huge improvement in my quality of life.
I already long ago switched to a “house” prosecco, bought with a case discount from the local wine store that special orders it since they keep little stock that inexpensive on the shelf.
I love those victorian tables, but they do need a big room.
If I win the lottery, I am going to commission some furniture from the creator of that leaf table. I don’t like the chairs in the picture, but he makes other chairs that are beautiful. It would be like dining in Lothlorien. 
http://www.johnmakepeacefurniture.com/john-makepeace-furniture-designer-maker-mulberry-table.html
(Thank you, @parent1337, for the link.)
Yes, the lead table is lovely and unique. It could use more interesting chairs tho–ethereal looking but comfortable, like sitting in a cloud.
Wow. Check out that web site and look at the chairs. They are beyond beautiful. The guy is a real artist.