Bright ideas we gathered from your comments.

1. Bringing baby out to eat is easy with the right equipment. Robin got her portable chair “from babycenter.com last year for $40. it’s still available there for $49.95. it folds flat and we leave it in our stroller so we’re always prepared for dining out!” See more about Phil & Ted’s Me Too chair.

2. Looking for an easy, lovely tablecloth. Consider burlap. Mellisa wrote: “It comes in a variety of natural shades (we used a nice ivory color) and is quite reasonably priced. We used the fabric as runners down the center of the tables and our flowers (in dollar store metal buckets – ikea has something similar) sat on top of the runners.” Read more about country casual table linens here.

3. Think twice before you buy a bottle of water. As Leah points out “Bottled water isn’t necessarily any better for you than tap water. In fact, some bottled water is nothing more than tap water. Plus, bottled water is typically not subject to much government oversight — there was even one case where a company was getting their water from a “spring” near a toxic waste site. (See this article I wrote on the subject for Real Simple last year).” Read more about the drinking water debate here.

4. You love the idea of secret bookcase-door. I Love Upstate knows where hers would go: “I have a bedroom in my house that is technically not a room because it empties out into another room and not a hallway…hey, the house was built in 1839 before zoning/construction/paranoi set in. Anyway, the doorway leading to that room (from the other room…) would be a perfect spot for a secret room/bookshelf. My ‘to do’ list is a mile or so long so I think this will (sadly) never happen at my house!” See more about hidden bookcases here.

5. Allison wondered where one would put a NYC subway grab, like the one she saw at the Gift Fair. Barb M has the answer: “Next to the bathtub, possibly?” See it for yourself here at this post.