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Post by Mac78 on Apr 29, 2013 3:17:45 GMT -8
The ole dining room. We sit at the table maybe 3 or 4 times a year. We walk thru the DR to get to the kitchen and family room. It is a very wasted space. What to do.
What I want to do. I want put the dining room table in the front living room. I like to sit at the table and play on the computer, work on my Home Inventory business, and watch tv, and watch the neighborhood out the front window. lol
Is this going to look out of place putting the dining room table in there. It is an oak dropleaf table with 4 chairs, not that I would have to have all 4 chairs around it all the time.
I would then turn the dining room into.....I don't know what. We still would be walking thru it to get to other parts of the house. It is simply a wasted space.
Before we added on the family room. We used the dining room as an extra family space. We had a small sofa, TV, and the dining table was in here too, with the leaves dropped down. Now we have the addition, and the dining room for the past 13 years has been nothing but a pass thru wasted space room that gets used as a dining room very few times per year.
Suggestions please.
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Post by carrie1790 on Apr 29, 2013 3:58:00 GMT -8
Just to have a better picture of the room- Does it have a window? A door to the outside? A full wall in between the dining room and kitchen?
Could this room be opened up to make your kitchen larger?
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Post by shabbychick on Apr 29, 2013 5:21:38 GMT -8
Could you post a few pictures of the living room and the dining room so we can kind of see the layout and the flow of things now?
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Post by Mac78 on Apr 29, 2013 7:30:18 GMT -8
the room size is approx 12 x 17.
There are actually 5 openings in the room.
A door opening from living room to dining room.
A door to a walk in closet.
A door to a small bedroom.
A 6 foot door way (where patio door used to be) to the addition--family room.
A 4 foot door way to the kitchen.
Lots of doorways, but there is wall space along 3 walls.
No windows, but you can see out the front window and out the back windows and patio doors.
I will try to find a picture showing the space later.
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Post by Vintage Girl on Apr 29, 2013 8:48:50 GMT -8
Could this be used as the daycare space and have a craft table and maybe some bookcases for toys/books/craft items. The other suggestion would be to make it into an office/sitting room. Put the dropleaf table up against the wall with the leaf down and turn it into a desk. Than maybe have some furnitue for lounging (I would suggest wicker as it is lightweight and easy to move when you need to set up the dining room table, it also has a nice beachy look to it) and a bookshelf filled with books, maybe a radio or cd player and this could be your sanctuary. Play on computer, read a book, listen to music etc. Since you would keep the dining room table, it would be easy enough to set it up when you do need it.  |
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Post by Mac78 on Apr 29, 2013 10:31:45 GMT -8
I have tried turning it into daycare space. I hated it, as everytime I walked thru that room, morning, noon. nights and weekends, I was reminded of my job, I never got away from it. I currently have the daycare stuff/space in the back 1/3 of the family room.
Will work on a picture tonight.
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Post by rosemary on May 10, 2013 9:34:30 GMT -8
Marie, have you made anymore decisions about your dining room? It is a nice sized room, but I understand about all those openings. I have 4 openings in my dining room with very little wall space. A few years ago my hubby built a pantry on one wall. I have a Hoosier cabinet on the other small wall space and have just ordered a larger pantry cabinet to go next to it. It won't look too good, but I need the storage space.
I can see why you don't want to turn it into daycare space. Let us know what you are going to do!
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Post by Mac78 on May 10, 2013 10:31:45 GMT -8
I have not done anything yet. Between working about 60 hours per week with daycare and our church cleaning job, and dealing with my own kids issues, I have not gotten very far. I am still waiting to hear back for the estimate for countertops and foyer area.
I need to get rid of stuff, plain and simple. My mom and stepdad made so many things that are in our house. I need to get rid of anything they didn't make. Gosh, how can 2 people, well my hubby would blame it all on me, collect so much stuff over 27 years. Lord help me.
And my daughter asked me last week, when are you getting rid of those magazines sitting in the living room.....I am not, they are my collection of Cottage Living magazines......do you see a pattern here?
I just need to get organized.
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Post by rosemary on May 10, 2013 11:57:18 GMT -8
I use the excuse that my house is too small for four adults to live in. (our 2 daughters are in their 20s), but really, it would be so much better if I would get rid of some stuff.
It is just hard to do. I have too many books, too many magazines, lots of fabric and craft supplies, etc. Maybe someday I will get organized.
I'll be looking forward to any pointers from you.
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Post by carrie1790 on May 10, 2013 18:29:11 GMT -8
I'm in overload of "stuff" too Rosemary- so I too look forward to hearing suggestions!
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Post by Vintage Girl on May 14, 2013 15:46:58 GMT -8
I was just watching a design show that had some great ideas for a room with multiple doors. They replaced 2 of the doors with bookcases that were actually on hinges. They looked like bookcases, but opened up like a door. On the other side, it just looked like a door. Very clever and was great for extra storage. Each shelf had a "lip",so the books would not fall off when the door was opened. I could easily see this as a way to display magazines also. You would just need to have 2 pieces of wood or metal rod running in front of each shelf to contain the magazines. Another idea would be to turn the door into a chalkboard on one side. Great for a craft/kids room. Or even a peg board for notes, pinning patterns in a sewing room etc. |
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