Once upon a time I wanted a formal living room that would stay clean all the time and was off limits to my three kids. With three small children I dreamed of having just one clean room that people could see when they walked through the front door. A room I didn’t have to rush around straightening up – and would just look nice all the time. Unfortunately, when I got that much prized room not only did the kids not play in there……no one did. Adults and kids alike. Yes, it was decorated, yes it was always clean, yes it ALWAYS looked nice….but NO ONE ever spent any time in there. AT ALL! I think I could count on one hand the number of times in a dozen years or so that friends and family actually sat in the space. Aside from the couple of years we did our Christmas gifts in there it was hardly touched, the furniture hardly sat on. So when my family began to grow I decided to flip the living room to the dining room, creating more space and elbow room for everyone, and turn the dining room into a smaller, cozier sitting room. On a previous post I showed the transformation from the original dining room to my cozy “girlie” sitting room. Today I’m going to show you the transformation of my original living room to my more spacious, functional dining room.
BEFORE: This Was My Clean, Decorated Living Room That No One Ever Set Foot In
BEFORE: Another View Of My Formal Living Room – Clean And Perfect And Untouched
AFTER: After Realizing How Unnecessary And Unimportant Such A Room Was Anymore I Decided To Utilize The Space And Turn It Into The More Functional Dining Room Below.
What was once a completely dysfunctional, unused room in my house is now a spacious new dining room that accommodates my growing family nicely. I combined a rather contemporary marble table and chairs with traditional fabrics and accessories to create an eclectic, transitional space. Now my new dining room gets used regularly, my old dining room (which is now my “girlie” room) gets used regularly and I don’t have a wasted square foot in this entire house. Makes much more sense. Wouldn’t you say?