Reclaiming the Dining Room (or "How I regained my sanity during a kitchen reno")

When the guys took down all the upper cabinets (see post about that here), they left the contents of what was left in those cabinets (I had emptied most of them) on the dining room table.  As you may remember (if not, here’s the post about the dining room move here), I had put the dining room into our living room, to make the dining room into a playroom for our kids.  With all that stuff in the dining room/living room, it was getting crowded.  Stuff was everywhere.

In short, it was overwhelming me.

The side of the living room that I had made into the dining room was just not big enough to be a dining area AND a kitchen.  It was too much.  I was losing my mind.  I was out of room to put stuff.  Something had to give.

My kids have loved, loved, loved having the playroom in what used to be the dining room.  They played much more in that room than they ever did in the basement without a parent with them.  They liked being nearby while I was making dinner, working, etc.  And I totally get that.

And while I originally made the dining room a playroom because I thought, “We aren’t formal dining room people.  We don’t *need* a dining room,” now, we actually do *need* the dining room.  By reclaiming the dining room, I thought (correctly) that it could be our eating area AND our mini-kitchen, and it would be contained in one room, rather than all over the place.

So, off I went.  Yesterday, with two hours before I had to go get the kids, I started putting it all back to the way it was.  I moved all the kids’ toys back into the basement play area – and, I have to admit, better organized and arranged them than I had the first time I set up their play area down there.  Once the playroom dining room was cleared out, I put the dining room back together.  It took longer than the two hours allotted, but not much more.  I’m so happy with the results:

This (above) is where the dining room table was in the living room.  Now, the chairs are back there, and we can see the beautiful fireplace and have much more space to relax.

This is the view from the front door, as you enter the living room.  Look at all that space!  It’s so much more open and inviting.  As a bonus, the dogs love rolling around on that empty space in front of the coffee table.

The dining room, put back together, for the most part.  The stuff all over is the kitchen stuff packed up. As you can see, Hank the Dog is diggin the change.  He loves sitting on the rug and gazing out the window at all the squirrels in the front yard.

The mini-kitchen.  Toaster oven, microwave, and the coffee maker will join them once they take out the countertops.  This set-up is so helpful to have.

Ah, morning coffee at a clean and cleared-off dining room table, staring out into our weedy but beautiful yard.  I always feel so much better when things are clean and organized.

Today’s project is clearing out the guest room because my mom is coming into town tomorrow.  I have stowed the little-used kitchen stuff in there for now, but now that I’ve got the dining room, I can put it in there.

It’s amazing how the house being disorganized and a mess makes me crazy.  I honestly could breathe more easily when I had re-set up the dining room and all that stuff had a place, out of the main living area.  Even Dear Husband applauded the change (honestly, he didn’t like the dining room in the living room area anyway, so he was happy about it all around).

Time to take some advil, have some more coffee, and get ready to tackle the guest room.

Have you ever done a project, or rearranged rooms/furniture, only to put it back the way you had it originally after a short time?

Thanks for stopping by.