Well it’s backwards Works For Me Wednesday which means it’s my turn to ask you a question! Since we are discussing dining rooms this month, and by dining room I mean wherever you eat (or are suppose to eat) whether it be a formal dining room, casual dining room, eat in kitchen, bar stools ponied up to the kitchen counter or the floor, I want to know all about yours.
Tell me your dining room dilemmas, what type of dining room do you have, what works for you, what doesn’t work for you, what causes you the most stress? Don’t hold back now, whatever you want to tell me works for me.
Consider this part of my research for what I’m going to post about over the next month. Isn’t that great how we can just go round and round like this helping each other out, you fueling my fire and me giving you the opportunity to tell others that you really know someone who is a genuine freak and you’ve even commented on her blog! (Hint, hint….you want to be able to say that don’t you? LOL)
So let’s hear it girls, the floor is yours…..
Suzy says
The bottoms of my dining chairs squeak and scratch the wood floor, and I have glued, nailed, velcroed, and stuck on those little circles at the bottom of the chairs and nothing works! They might work for a day or two, but eventually, they wear out, slide off, etc. HELP PLEASE!
Debi says
We have a huge dining table (which I love) in a very small kitchen. Seriously, there’s really just a path around it (well, three sides of it, as one end sits against the wall). On top of that, we use it for everything…eating, craft projects, and worst of all, school. It’s always a disaster, but we really don’t have anywhere else to “do school”. Every time I walk into our kitchen, I cringe! I’m just so sick of the table being piled high with stuff.
Avlor says
Our dilemmas:
Our dining chairs – how do I recover them? With small kids in my house the chairs need to be recovered badly! I’m not sure why I didn’t pick out only wooden chairs with no upholstery before I had kids. Ah. Such is life.
Also what can be done to keep newly upholstered chairs cleaner? (My two year old is an eating disaster. We’ve tried taping plastic tarp under her booster seat – but it rips quickly.)
Reorganizing our info centers. (But you had a post on this already and I will put it into action.)
Brenda says
My dining room table constatnly gets piled with stuff. I have to shove things over to make room at meal time. I don’t even know what all gets piled there. It’s not like it’s the mail or paperwork. It’s just a bunch of junk, I guess.
There’s one other thing that bugs the living daylights out of me. The dining room used to be a garage in it’s later life. So right in the middle of the back dining room wall is the electrical breaker box. I have a china cabinet as well, and this has to be stuffed the the side because we don’t want to put the cabinet over the top of the box. We do NOT want to unload the china cabinet and move it everytime we need to get to the box. What can I do to beautify that darn box??!!
Sibyl says
This is for Avlor.
If you have dining room chairs where the seats will come off with screws from underneath. You can usualy reupoholster them fairly easily with fabric and a staple gun. Start on one side then go to the other side. putting a couple staples in to hold it, then go to the other 2 sides keeping it even and taught. Then trim corners. Keep doing this til it is secure on all sides.
AS far as the little one that makes a me ss. After you put the fabric on, then come back with some thick clear vinyl and cover it. you can get this at Wal-mart in different thicknesses I would get the thickest available. And then attach it the same way as you do the fabric on the seats. Then you will keep the same design of the other chairs, but be able to wipe it clean.
Hope this helps.
Sibyl
Kim says
My dining room dilemma is that I don’t have one 😉 The big issue seems to be keeping the table clean though, since it’s in the middle of the apartment, it is a dumping ground for everything!
Sibyl says
This one id for Brenda
I have had similar problems with my dining room table. What I have started doing is dressing my table. What that means is I put on my best tablecloth (which is a nice crocheted one), along with a nice floral arrangement and candle sticks. Yes I do have to take it off each time we eat which is 2-3 times a day, but it has kept it from getting cluttered and even if the house isn’t all picked up it kind of smooths over the rough edges so to speak, I think my house looks quite a bit more complete with it done.
For your breaker box delima. Why not put up a wall haning over it. I use wallhanings to hide a multitiue of sins around my home of things that need to be hidden.
Just a few ideas.
Sibyl
Susan says
My dining room dilemma is that my dining room is also my sewing room and home office! I have trouble keeping my desk and sewing table cleared off, and I desperately need ideas for storing stuff, especially my sewing supplies. I don’t mind having the desk and sewing table in there, but I would like for it all to look neat.
Erin K says
The main issue with my dining room is that it not only holds my table, it also holds a bookshelf, my microwave cart, and a desk. It’s pretty roomy so these things fit ok, but they tend to get over-run with the overflow of stuff from the rest of the house. And when the table gets cluttered with stuff, guess where we put the stuff when we eat? Onto the desk, or the bookshelf, or shoved into the microwave cart cupboards.
Two specific dilemmas that I have are: 1. What to do with gift wrapping stuff. I have things scattered around the house, and one of the places they scatter to is the cupboards/drawer of my microwave cart. We have a huge (unfinished) basement and lots of closet space upstairs, but when I want to wrap something I am downstairs. So I’ve tried keeping some of this downstairs but I just haven’t found a good solution for how to store it all.
2. Our desk doesn’t have any drawers or cupboards, so anything that we put on it is out in the open. Plus it’s a corner desk, so that makes things a little interesting. I need some solutions for keeping desk supplies organized and a solution for all of my hubby’s work stuff. He works from home a lot and is not very organized, so his stuff ends up in these huge piles on the desk. I would love to help him stay organized, so any suggestions would be appreciated!
I can’t wait for this challenge! I didn’t participate in the kitchen challenge because I just came across your blog a couple of weeks ago, but I’m looking forward to taking some before and after pics of my dining room. 😀
Elizabeth Martin says
Our dining room is part of our living space. We live in a small one bedroom apartment and the table ends up collecting all of our odds and ends. We don’t have an office, so once our desks fill up, the table takes over.
Beside the table is also our “music area” with my fiancé’s instruments and amps and other miscellaneous music stuff. It’s constantly cluttered and I’ve run out of ideas.
In response to the woman who can’t keep the buttons on the bottom of her chairs? If you knit, you can make covers for them.
link: http://msnanknits.blogspot.com/2007/06/new-socks-for-my-chairs.html
or sew one:
http://www.fiber-images.com/Free_Things/Projects_Patterns/free_patterns_sewing.html#ChairLegBooties
excerpt: Cut a piece of upholstery fabric, or any tightly woven heavyweight fabric, into a circle the size of the chair foot plus 3-4 inches. Cover the edge of the circle with quilt binding or folded wide bias tape, forming a casing. Insert thin elastic or ribbon through the casing. Place the chair foot in the center of the fabric circle and draw up the elastic or ribbon. Secure the elastic or ribbon. Optional: a small scrap of carpeting or quilt padding may be placed under the chair leg before the chair leg bootie is attached.
lucinda says
No big dilemmas in the Dinning room I wish it was a little bigger so when entertained it wasn’t quite such a tight squeeze when I have to put the leaf in it. Most of the time it’s fine if we don’t have more than 6 people. We use it about 2-3 times a month.
My kitchen table is where we eat most family meals. It’s been a work horse of a table for 23 years. My husband striped and painted it black and then distressed it for me last year. It was a real work of love.
Gretchen says
We have a formal dining room and an everyday eating area in our kitchen. We are fortunate to have so much space, but we so rarely use the formal dining room. It ends up being our “project” room. Whatever project I’m working on (sewing, scrapbooking, other crafts) end up spread out all over. I’d like a way to contain those projects in a way that doesn’t look goofy.
Laura says
We have a dining room but we never use it. We have inherited a table and chairs from our in-laws and a piano as well. The room is only walked through never used. So mainly it just needs vacuuming and dusting. It is clutter free! It’s one of those rooms which the kids are not allowed in so it stays neat and tidy.
Where we eat dinner is in the kitchen. My chairs are starting to rip. My mother covered 2 of them but now the other 2 are starting to rip. I don’t know how to cover them as my mother did the other 2. Also the bottoms of the chairs are scratching my floor. It actually made a hole in the floor from all the scratching. I did find some smooth sticky things to put under the chairs from home depot so now it isn’t scratching any more.
My major problem at dinner time is the get up and serve situation. Like I will serve all the kids food and then sit down to eat and then they want more meat or more drink or more this or more that. I never can just sit down and relax to eat. I feel like a waitress. I have tried also to put the stuff on the table in the center but now I am making more dishes to wash. How do you all sit down as a family to eat a normal meal? Do you get the kids to help set the table? Clean the table?
kris says
My dining room dilemma is that it’s right outside the kids bedroom, and they use it for a playroom/craftroom (their choice, not mine)! So in order to actually EAT in there, we have to clean it out first. I do have shelves in there they can stack their toys and stuff on, but it just accumulates and accumulates.
Laura says
Thanks Sibyl and Elizabeth for helping out with the questions. I appreciate it!
Jennifer B says
Oo The floor! My husband (God love him) has his laptop on the floor and he eats in front of it. He, also, spends a lot of time on the computer doing business things. His chosen spot is in front of the TV next to the couch. Unfortunately, it’s supposed to be a walkway (about 3 ft wide). He can be very hard to get around as he likes to sprawl out after eating. In the six months we’ve been married it has become a bill and paper catch all not to mention a couple of near misses with a tipped glass. He has an office, but hardly uses it. Orgjunkie what can I do to make a mini floor office and eatery, that won’t result in me tripping over my husband every time I pass by? Not to mention it must save the computer from the occasional tipped glass.
🙂
Seriously, I should send you pictures. He is terrible with the “everything has a home” concept and has created a “everything has a vacation home, too” response to mine comments. The top vacationers in the office spot are 2 totes of daily vitamins… yes 2 totes… that’s another topic. With a small apartment, things can only afford one home!
Any ideas?
Mary says
My dining room dilemma normally is that it is a catchall for clutter. Currently my dining room dilemma is that I’ve lost it because we’re doing a flooring project so everything is piled in the dining room until we get to finish the last room of flooring (which will be a few months). My eating area (kitchen) dilemma is that the kitchen table is where everyone throws everything so it’s a challenge to clean it a number of times a day (dinner, breakfast, lunch).
But I have a solution for Laura. The rule at my house is once mom sits at the kitchen table, she stays seated. The important thing, though, is that dad needed to buy into this also. So if the kids (or dad) needs something after mom sits down they either need to (a) get it themselves or (b) wait for dad to get it. I figure once the first serving in on the plate they’re not going to starve to death waiting for dad to get them a second serving of whatever. Sometimes I do use serving plates to get everything on the table — it makes more dishes – but less getting up.
Melissa says
I’m proud to say, NO dining room worries right now! I recently purged my china cabinet, so things are easy to get to, use & enjoy.
We have a semi-formal dining room (think Crate & Barrel) and eat dinner there every night. We started doing that a few months ago. Now, the table isn’t a “catch-all” because I KNOW we’re going to eat there, and I don’t want to have to clean it off all the time! That was just the motivation I needed.
Laura says
Mary we do that as well. Once I’ve served up dinner and sit down, the kids have to either get whatever they need themselves or wait until I’m done. It’s just the way it is, they get use to it eventually. And I’m a fast eater so it’s never usually a long wait 🙂
Michele says
My dining room is also my office (computer/printer/scanner)and my daughter loves to draw and make books. She always has paper on the table. ALWAYS. She will clean it up when asked, but otherwise it is on the table. ACK.
Also, I like having a tablecloth, due to the drawing etc. Put I hate the “plastic tablecloth” look. I finally got the room painted and I love it. I got a new used table and chair set off craigslist, so I am working on it. I am just at a loss. Oh and I currently have NO window treatements in my dining room. None.
Mrs. Mordecai says
My biggest problem is that my son can climb on the dining room table and reach the lights that hang down above it!
Jeni says
My biggest dining room problem is that the table is a clutter catcher! And then, when we have to clear the table off to eat, that clutter migrates to the china cabinet or the top of the piano! Ack!
Becky@BoysRuleMyLife says
Our formal dining room is now a bedroom as we had an unexpected addition to the family about 9 months after moving in. 🙂 Our large dining room table is in the breakfast nook area and is a catch-all. I don’t want to have to empty the table before every meal, so I’m working on a new system to stop the junk on the table madness!
Meshellyn says
We have two dining rooms, or at least two eating areas. We have a room that would be considered our “formal” dining room and also an informal area just past our kitchen that overlooks our family room. We have a tendency to use the informal more often as it’s in the center of all the action. Unfortunately both tables have a tendency to be the catch all for stuff. Papers, projects, dirty dishes that haven’t made it to the dishwasher yet…
I have decided to transform our “formal” dining area into a playroom, which I just blogged about this week. I’m super excited for the transformation and I’ve incorporated storage and organization to the room to make it work for me. Here is the link to the post:
http://theattitudeofmyheart.blogspot.com/2008/02/our-newest-addition.html
Ashley BB says
My biggest dilemma is the clutter- I guess that goes for the whole house too! We have just moved into a new house and we are still trying to figure out the arrangement of furniture. Our main eating area is beside the kitchen. It is a small area; therefore, we put one of the drop sides down to the table so we can push it up against the wall- the walkway is much better now! We are a 4 person family and the baby is still in a high chair so we are okay (not perfect) on space. The boys love to eat lunch at the bar counter too! I have put out place mats for them there to help my husband and I not to put anything on top of them- trying to help with the clutter.
Our formal dining room is still in disarray! When we went to put the table in the room with the china cabinet, it didn’t fit. I have a narrow room with a window on the end wall. I need the storage for china- how do you purge things that you never use, but you received for your wedding and you would like to keep it?- so I am looking at corner china cabinets. Now we ran into the problem of one wall being longer than the other! Right now I am so frustrated I have just stopped with it all. And the boxes of all that wonderful china are everywhere! Usually under “normal” circumstances, we also have a problem of the dining room table collecting paperwork and things. I usually try to store kids artwork in the china cabinet also- it has a really nice long drawer that is perfect!
Looking forward to your suggestions!
Lisa says
Dual dilemmas: We’ve lived in the house almost 4 years and the dining room is still painted icky light sage green and has no window treatments. We DO eat in there very often [no eat-in kitchen] but the color just depresses me. I ordered wallpaper but when I got it I really thought it was too dated and sent it back. So decoration is one dilemma [and VERY limited budget!!!]Other is CLUTTER. We still have a bookcase in there from homeschool [2nd YEAR back in public school!] and the dog crate. I’m stuck with crate since there is no other place it’ll fit. Problem is TOP of crate is a clutter magnet as is the “other” end of the table. With the 3 of us we only use the one end of the table!
Marjo says
I have a very small dining room that is part of the living room. One wall it taken up by the back sliding door. The other wall has my very small china cabinet that was my mom’s. The table is round and there are three of us. My son is a big teenager, his dad is big as well. To have enough room for them the table sits very close to the china cabinet. It is a total nightmare when we have company and have to find space for more to eat. Plus this area is carpeted and since it is the way to the outside for us and the dog the carpet is always a mess no matter how much I clean it. First problem.
Second problem is keeping up with the clutter. I need a creative way to take care of the piles to get them off the table. I have basket for bills, a shredder for the non bills and trash can for the rest. The piles of catalogs quickly overwhelm the magazine racks (my husband is on every mailing list known to man and he enjoys looking at the catalogs) and the other papers are piled high. I make a final pass through before bed tiding but it is still a mess everyday. Small space, lots of paper with no where to go…..
Ivy Six-Pack says
We have one eating space, the dining room, but our table is just big enough for our family. We entertain often, and I usually end up with kids around the coffee table in the living room. How can I make more room around the table? (Right now it seats eight) Also, with little kids, any suggestions to not have to sandblast the table when everyone is done eating?
Amber says
My biggest dining room dilemma is…that I have none. Apparently the people who built our house did not eat. I do not have a dining room, nor is my kitchen large enough to be an eat-in. As it is, my refrigerator sticks out in the middle of the floor. We eat in the living room, the children have a table in there, but hubby and I usually eat on the couch or in the recliner. We’re planning to buy a larger house sometime next year, but in the meantime I’d love to figure out how to make dinner feel more like a family affair. We did pick up a card table for when company comes over, but there’s no room to leave it up all the time.
CC says
We just have a squished “nook” for our dining area. So our dilemma is “squished” (table + 4 chairs and that’s it). And ANTS (kids just drop too many crumbs!!)
Lori says
Dining Room Dilemma – we don’t have one. :0
Reese says
My dining room dilemma? Well, we just moved from a huge house to a much smaller one, and the large dining room table that comfortably seats our family of six is squeezed into the smallish kitchen. A smaller table really isn’t an option, but as things are now, I have to shove the table against the wall (with 2 chairs trapped behind) during the day, and pull it out and reposition all the chairs when we eat dinner as a family. To top it off, the garbage and recycling bins are practically touching the table on one side, because there isn’t any other place in the kitchen for them. Also, the mop and broom are leaning against the wall next to the table- no place for them either. The landlord offered to put in a small cabinet for the mop and broom, but with the table, there just isn’t room. My washing machine is also in my kitchen (hidden in a cupboard) and I had the laundry hamper by the garbage/recycling bins until a couple of days ago. Imagine that! LOL!
🙂 Reese
ErinM says
My problem is that we are in a very small space, so our dining room is actually in a corner of our living room. I’ve been working hard to keep it from becoming the catch-all, but it still does. I need to also figure out what to do about the carpet there– I have a 2 year old and an 8 month old, so the amount of food going on the carpet is ridiculous– we had a “splat mat” for awhile, but it seems like the food goes everywhere but on the mat!
BrownEyedGirl says
Well, my problem isn’t so much the dining room, per say. We do have a table but we eat almost all food on the couch **sigh** in front of the tv. What I have a hard time with is the organization of my placemats and table runners.
For Christmas I received a ton of them (handmade, mind you!) from my sister but I have to store some of them in between my “switch-out” times. I tried folding them and placing them in a plastic shoebox tub but it was too small and it creates wrinkles; I tried to roll (or fold) and stack them on our shelves but would rather have them tucked away where moth and rust cannot destroy; and my current location is in a box where they’re rolled up and sticking out the top but the problem with that is I have no shelf large enough for them to stand upright so they’re just falling out.
Any ideas for my linens n things???
Mama Lily says
I am very blessed to have a large dining room. I has our table with 8 chairs around it, the buffet, and hutch and an extra table leaf cabinet. I have worked very hard to keep it clutter free. I moved the buffet and hutch so people wouldn’t be so tempted to lay things down on it!
My dilema is that it has UGLY green wallpaper. I’m sure if I strip it, the walls will crumble as it is a century home with crumbly plaster all over. I wouldn’t mind painting over the paper–I’ve done it before, but the paper was NOT a good job and has wrinkles etc. at the corners.
Probably not much help you can offer me, but since you asked, I thought I’d share. 🙂
Sibyl says
This is for Amber
You stated you don’t have a place to eat, yet you stated you have a card table. I know you said you can’t leave it out all the time. Why not put it out for your meals, it would not take that long to do it, and at least you would be able to sit as a family for dinner. You can make it quite quaint. Put a table cloth on it, put your food on a bar or on the kitchen cabinet and serve buffet style and then sit down at the table. It could be quite nice. then clean the table off, and put the table up til the next meal.
Sibyl
Annette says
My dining room dilemma is that my DR is also my homeschool room and my playroom. Also, my chairs keep breaking (possibly due to overuse, LOL!)
Laura says
Hey, to the person that asking about recovering the chairs. It is sooooo easy. Just unscrew the bottoms of the chair, cut fabric a few inches larger than needed, pull really really tight and then staple with a staple gun. Then screw the seats back on. If you have young kids, I would recommend covering them in a faux leather/vinyl that can easily be wiped clean.
Angela says
My dilemma, well for one I do not have a formal dinning room. If I did I would convert it into a school room. Our kitchen is an eat in kitchen and is quite large but by the time you put all the homeschool items there, it is packed. Also, I am sick of looking at the dry erase board. I would love some old shutters to make a “door” to cover them….
*CC – if you can find where the ants are coming in from and put down some cornmeal it will take care of the ants. The ants take it back to the ‘nest’ and the queen tries to eat it and they starve. It takes a few days but it truly works. That and I bought a dust buster so the kids now fight over who is going to dust bust the floor around the table…
BrendaS says
Our dining room dilemma would also involve ‘clutter’ which I see as a trend in a lot of the posts!
We have a kitchen eating area, and a dining room which L-shapes to the living room. I was wanting to get rid of the dining room table because it seemed all we did was walk around it and collect homeschool books on it, but rarely used it for what it was intended. So…we switched areas and began to eat our meals at the dining room table and use the kitchen table to school. The kitchen table isn’t seen as readily from the living room, so it looks neater if we have someone drop by.
However, the dining room table still seems to get dumped on with all sorts of odds and ends of ‘stuff’ the kids put there, and it all needs to be ‘swept aside’ before we eat! I can’t seem to train them to keep it clean!
Also the kitchen/homeschool table is my sewing area, cookbook/book cabinet area, and seems to get cluttered around the edges of the room where I PILE stuff, which slowly works it’s way into the centre and takes over the space. I need a good way of storing sewing supplies so they don’t take over the area…and homeschool books. Can ANYONE find a way to control those, and yet find them when you need them…and remember you even HAVE them, besides lining the house walls with bookshelves?
Nicol says
My biggest problem with my dining room is that is has to serve as a mutli-function room. It happens to be right as you walk in the front door and I mean right as you walk in. So mail gets piled on it, my husbands work bag etc. This drives me crazy. The dining area is conected to our formal living room. It is pretty much just one giant room. We also have an armoir on the dining room side with our computer in it. So the problem is that I want to be able to sit down for a meal and not have to move the laptop, mail, dh bag, etc. I need ways to make this room function as more then a hot spot….I want to eat here!
Angie @ Many Little says
My biggest dining room issue is that we have carpeting in there, and so we have to vacuum often. Augh!
Q&Q says
Wow what great dilemmas! Laura you will be very busy and happy.
Since I’m also having the dining table clutter catch all problem with the home office right there (small apartment)too I would like to see how others resolve their issues and glean from there. I’ve done some organizing in this area in the past but it’s not perfect and this is just great!
Lily says
My biggest dilemna is that the dining table is that I have to vacuum it to clean it! It’s a super-lovely table of joined planks of timber, but there is just this little tiny space between the planks where crumbs love to gather, and the only way to get them is to vacuum. It works though, so I shouldn’t complain. I’d die, though, if someone came in the door while I was vacuuming it.
The favourite thing with my dining room is that it’s part of our open living plan, and next to the kitchen. Where people normally have a breakfast bar and stools between the kitchen and dining, we had cupboards built instead. They hold everything I ever need to set the table, and they’re right there next to it, and also when they’ve come out of the dishwasher, they can be put away so easily from the kitchen bench into the cupboards underneath. I love that part.
Amanda Regan says
I don’t have a dining room and my kitchen is smaller than a ships galley in fact it resembles a tiny stubby corridor or aisle. My house has 2 bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen & living room which is also small. We eat off trays on our laps as we have no other option available. It’s hell.
Joy says
We have a dining room that is open to the living room. This is where we eat every night. I am able to keep the table clear most of the time by keeping a table runner and placemats on the table all the time. I change them out with the seasons/holidays. My problem in the dining room is my china cabinet. It is so full that I can’t access things easily. It is full of candles, napkin rings placemats and other linens just thrown in there. I can’t open the door without something falling out. I need some storage solutions and/or ideas for new places to store these things.
nadine says
We eat in our dining room most nights…
The table I have is my great grand mothers…it squeaks horribly…we have oiled and glued but still a very noisy table..it is also not very practical…my boys always get there legs hurt on some bottom edging…not sure how great granny fed 11 kids at this table..or did she?..sure looks to good for that to have happened..My two boys are beating it with their forks!
Avlor says
Thanks Sibyl! 😉 I’m tempted to try plastic on ALL my chairs…
Alicia says
My dining room dilemmas are really side effects of other areas of my house that are not organized. My garage is disorganized, so I haven’t taken my daughter’s unused high chair out there. And since I bought the KABOOST, I know I won’t be using it anymore. My husband has decided the high chair is the best place to store newspapers and bottles that he wants to recycle. I’ll be showing a humilitating picture of this for the round-up. Since it’s a mess anyway, I’ve placed a tray of art supplies for the kids on the high chair tray, so I can get them whenever we need them (and keep the actual table fairly clear). I think I’ve been living in denial thinking a free buffet and free recycle containers are going to fall from the sky. I’m so glad we’re doing the dining room this month because it will make me stop using my lack of funds as an excuse. I’ve found a $7.00 recycle box at Walmart for the cans-I can afford that at least!
katie says
Fortunately (or not) I have both a kitchen dining area and a formal dining room. Problem is, until yesterday BOTH of them were covered with my newest passion beading. I did get the kitchen table mostly uncovered, but I cant even walk in my dining room and the surface of the table has been MIA for quite some time!
Lisa says
I firmly believe there is a Rubbermaid (or other such container) for EVERY need. I keep wrapping paper in short wide containers under the bed. I have designated bins for scrapbooking, sewing, school work, etc. I can bring these to the table, work on my project, and then pile it all back in the container and store the container easily. They can go in a garage, in a basement, in a closet. I buy them in bunches so I can stack them easily. I am a public school teacher and I have them all over my classroom, and I store school stuff at home over the summer or when it is out of season. If I were homeschooling, I would have one for each kid. At home it is just my husband and me and he is working on a Master’s degree. I bought him one and pile all his stuff into it. He can then drag it around the house and work where he is comfortable. It keeps his stuff all together too.
Pennie says
Hi! I’m new on this site, never posted… but I’m very unorganized, and LOVE this site! Anyway, my dining room dilemma is that it’s part of my living room as well (one giant room). We have a huge table, but that’s piled with stuff. Our desk is in the dining room as well, facing the living room. How can I make it *two* rooms, rather than one? What to do with the junk? How to make the desk clutter free? How to make it all flow together, so it doesn’t look like a big junkpile?! Thank you!
Proverbs31 says
To:
All of the people who end up with *STUFF* on their dining table.
From:
Someone in the same boat. 😉
Our dining table has always been a hotspot for me. It’s such a convenient stacking surface. First of all, I’ve been trying to avoid things getting stacked there in the first place – by noticing when someone starts to set something on it and making them put it where it goes.
But mainly, the biggest thing I have done to help with this is to make the kids clean off the table while I am cooking dinner. And recently, I added the responsibility to clean it off, completely after we’re done eating. (That way nothing gets left and held over til the next meal.) They each have to clear their own dishes, and then my oldest has to clear the table and my younger daughter has to wipe it down. It’s been working quite well.
Also, for those who do school at the table..
Even though we have a small school space, we often prefer to do school at the table. It helps to have a designated school shelf elsewhere, and to have school supplies contained in storage containers with lids that can be brought to the table, packed away and returned to the shelf. Each of my daughters has a container with their own scissors, crayons, rulers, writing paper, etc – everything that will fit inside except for textbooks.
Lily says
For the lady who asked how to store place mats and linen. I hang mine from skirt hangers.. the ones with grip clips. Then I hang the hanger on a hook on the inside door of the cupboard in the dining room. Takes up no space and keeps them wrinkle free all the time.
Laura says
Lily, that is a really clever idea!
Marilyn says
I too have the problem of the little pads under the chair legs coming off even though I have used goop which I used to glue rock on my fireplace in the backyard. Have you used the kind that you nail in and if so, how effective have they been?
Bethany says
I have two toddlers who make a mess at mealtimes, and a very old antique table that I wanted to protect. I am not big on vinyl talbecloths, but it was unavoidable. I get a solid color that I can attach elastic to so that it fits like a showercap over the top of the table. Then I just replace the vinyl cloth every 6 months or so. I found that using flat-top tacks to secure the cloth under the table in several spots helps it stay tight and look nice. Now water glass rings are no worries, and it is so easy to wipe off. Best of all, my toddlers don’t try to lift or pull the tablecloth off mid-meal! Now if I could just find a way to keep the floor clean without having to mop nightly.
wesleyjeanne says
We don’t really have a dining room per se because we just have one big kitchen-dining-living area. Our dining room table is in a space that logically makes up a dining area, next to the kitchen island.
My issues are:
1) I hate my chairs, bought as unfinished furniture and painted ourselves when we were first married
2) I hate the way the chairs scratch the hardwood floors (I do use the felt tips but they don’t stay and they collect dust bunnies
3) My dining room table, bought as our first married-couple furniture purchase is a beautiful cherry table that is MUCH too nice for the use it gets now being the center, pretty much, of your room. I have to keep it covered all of the time with a pad and vinyl tablecloth so the kids don’t destroy it.
4) our dining room table has to serve so many purposes–office, art center for the kids, eating area, play space, study space, bill-paying, conference area, staging srea, etc. I wish I had a good way to organize the stuff we use at that table (office stuff and art supplies, as well as china) and have the dining area look nice (non-officy and noncluttered). We do have a buffet but that has to hold the table linens and overflow from my kitchen cabinets (which are few and poorly arranged).
MY dream: to make a family room downstairs and turn my current living room space into dining room and expand the kitchen into the current dining space with a wall of storage and desk space that comes out of the wall so that my husband can sit facing each other and work at the same time. Sigh. I can picture it so perfectly in my head. Someday.
Jennifer B says
I just got my April issue of Martha Stewart Living and it has 4 different hidden office ideas in it. The article starts on page 153 and includes a dining room/office space. One of their ideas includes using window seats as filing cabinets.
My personal fav is the craft cabinet. They took two bookcases and joined them on one side with a piano hinge. Then they set one on casters, making it a door of sorts. Plexiglas is used to keep things on the shelf(door) as it opens and closes. They will have a how-to for it on http://www.marthastewart.com/bookcase-office (according to the mag) but it doesn’t seem to be up yet.
christina says
my dining room is very small, i have a table and 4 chairs, a wooden hutch with my husbands collection of cologne bottle cars on it and shoved beside it are a lot of plastic bins on wheels and smaller bins plum full of craft items. i want my dining room back! I want it to look clean and organized and more adult looking. help me please!!