It’s that time of year once again. Holiday meals are looming, so let’s address a common issue with which so many hostesses struggle. I’m talking about trying to serve a meal for a crowd without enough serving space. If you can relate, read on for a clever and fun way to solve the problem.

Sure, you can just have folks file through the kitchen and dish up their own plates. But where’s the graciousness in that? Instead, consider expanding you serving space by using an ironing board. This idea first came to me when I saw what Carla, the queen of all things upcycled, did with her old ironing board. Talk about a clever sofa table!

After seeing how Carla used her vintage ironing board, I thought, “Hey, why not drape a pretty tablecloth over our ironing board and create a portable buffet table?” What a quick and easy way that was to expand my serving area.

I’ve been doing this ever since. But I was so taken with Carla’s vintage ironing board, that I went hunting for my own. I found this 1930’s board at a local second-hand store. The price was right and I loved the green paint on the metal legs.

I spent a couple hours jazzing up the top by painting strawberries on it and now we use it not only at holiday meals, but we use it to expand our picnic table space when camping in our little travel trailer.

Another clever friend who’s also short on serving space, solved her problem by using an idea she saw on HGTV. The suggestion was to create a multi-layered buffet table. So using what she had, Lori gathered up her large clear glass vases (all the same height), lifted the glass tops out of her living room end tables and stacked them atop large clear glass vases that she had on hand. The result was not only functional, it was gorgeous!

I’ve also seen a narrow sheet of plywood laid between the tops of two ladder-back chairs and covered with a tablecloth, as a way to create extra serving space.

The old saying, “Where’s there’s a will, there’s a way!” couldn’t be truer, when you have a determined hostess with a crowd to feed!

If you’ve had experience feeding a crowd when low on serving space and figured out how to deal with this challenge, please share with us. Research shows there’s more of us living with too little space than there is living with too much. So let’s help each other figure it out, just in time for the holidays!