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…..
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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.
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!
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.
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.
Lily, that is a really clever idea!
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?
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.
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.
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.
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