I would cover the wood with a vinyl table cloth stapled on. Everything slides on those, they are cheap and come in a plethora of colors and sizes.
I sew on a memory craft 4000 which is old but my only complaint about it is the limited throat space. I have a craft room that I share with my husband as an office but I prefer the dining room table. It is lighter in there and we seldom eat on that huge table so I can cut at one end and sew at the other and invite a friend to sew on the other side. :D
This is the space where my machine belongs. Yes the table is plastic but since I keep the machine directly over the legs, it minimizes vibration. Yes, I have two many hobbies.
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The left desk belongs to the computer geek. It is useful to have him nearby since I am challenged in that area. That is why I have my own set up. So I wont ruin his. haha
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The small drawers are fat quarters by color, the large are scraps and current projects. The boxes are flannel, baby, juvenile, themed fabrics etc. Cookbooks I cannot part with even though I usually use the computer for new stuff. Top boxes are larger pieces of yard goods. The blue are 2 three drawer cardboard lingerie chests I picked up at a garage sale for felt, yard, embroidery , ribbon etc. 3 ring binders hold the envelopes of patterns in plastic protectors and the actual pattern pieces are in labeled hanging files in file cabinet in closet.
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This is where I prefer to sew and I moved one of my swivel kitchen chairs in there for easy access to the ironing board. The white table cover is the padded cloth that I keep under the cloth table cloth that is nornally on the table.
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Close up of machine with my extension table and little light which I love (both of them). The clear extention table can be found at
http://sewingmates.com/table_models.htm. I like it because if you have more than one machine or you upgrade it is adjustable.
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