Notice that there is a predominant prefix in the above sentences. Yep, the initial decorating, or organizing is not that much fun to me. What I really love to do is tackle problems. Clean out the cupboards and find a better way of storing things.
The same can be said for rooms. I love to rearrange furniture in any room. We have only lived in this house for a bit over a year, and I have already rearranged the family room about four times. The living room three, dining room twice and the bedrooms about half a dozen.
Normally I just use whatever was already in the room (furniture, art, etc) to come up with a new layout.
Not yesterday! I got this crazy idea. Hear me out.
We have a dining room. We also have a nook next to our kitchen that we were using as a breakfast nook. I had some big shelves in their for storage, but they always got cluttered and messy looking. Here is what it looked like:
We also have a dining room, it looked like this:
So I got to thinking... do we really need two eating areas? It seemed kind of wasteful. So I did the ultimate rearrange. I moved the dining room table into the eating nook and then moved the breakfast table (now more of a desk) and shelves into the dining room.
I thought it looked great! I was totally excited to show Hurricane when he got home! But, I had to take Slim to taekwondo and Hurricane got home when we were gone. I got the following text from him last night:
"Why did you do this to the house. Does NOT work. Needs to go back to how it was."
The next text said: "I need salsa."
Ok. So the hubs doesn't approve. We debated a bit and ended with him saying "nobody in their right mind will think it is okay to turn the dining room into a catch-all junk area."
So that is where you come in my dear friends.
I have included a few pictures to show how the two rooms look now. I do know that a couple adjustments need to me made to the former dining room. For one, the light fixture needs to be moved to the new dining room. Also, I think a rug (circular?) needs to be on the floor. Those two things will really improve the room, and make it not look like a dining room.
Also, give me your honest opinions! I can handle being told that it looks terrible, that I should put it back, or that (gasp!) the husband is correct. It will not hurt my feelings, promise.
So, first the new dining room:
And the new office/junk/catch all area:
One thing I already know that I love is this:
It is a fabric art wall hanging that I made this afternoon. Ikea fabric baby!
9 comments:
It looks good, but I would leave the dinning room the way it originally was. Where it is now looks a little cramped and out of site.
Okay - I am no chicken. How is the new area working practical wise? I know we tend to dump items in the kitchen. It is the first main area we hit once we come upstairs. Then it eventually gets pushed out to the makeshift office area (a.k.a. dump).. We used to have the desk in the kitchen and found we didn't like it there because practically speaking it separated us all. The desk was always messy and the computer was very loud in the kitchen. We would all be in different rooms and we felt disconnected. Now that the TV, computer, office area are right next to each other we are all seeing each other far more often. I like both spaces but I am a practical person. Also, I love to try different organizing systems but I find it best for me when things are put away and out of site. I like to have doors, curtains, whatever there is to hide "cluttery" items. Both rooms look very nice to me. It's all in how it is "working"...
From the pictures, I like your new arrangement. But if Josh hates it that much, change it back.
I think the best thing to do is what Josh wants. Josh is a genius who never goes wrong. If Josh wants something, I would certainly do what he wants. Do what Josh wants and tell him you're sorry for causing problems and then go make him dinner. Really sorry Josh, seems like you need to have Naomi sit in time out until she understands you are the boss of everything.
Hey, we have the same kitchen table and chairs! We have the same problem here. Our kitchen has that kitchen table in it and our dining room is pretty much bare with our old college table, which is being used as a desk. Ben has a dining room table he plans to build. So I guess we're impractical in that we'll have two tables in the house.
I wouldn't worry too much about the room, because you'll be changing it before long. Just tell Josh that.
I can't tell by just pictures, but gut feeling would be to use your dining room as a dining room. Since we are being so honest and you are open to constructive criticism can I add that I'm not fond of the new blog background? I have to highlight the text in order to read it. Good luck on the dining room debate.
I like the new arrangement. I think for practical matters, who needs a formal dining room these days? I like how you made it an office.
I think either way is fine, but the new office area is more open and visible, if the clutter drove you crazy before it will really drive you crazy now. It looks empty now, everything is up against the wall. It needs something, an area rug would help. The 'before' dining room needed something on the walls, some color, some oomph, maybe that's why you didn't like it.
Well all I have to say is I wish I had that problem!!!!!
Post a Comment