Thinking Outside The Box

Good morning!! We are heading into one of the coldest days of the year so far, with predicted wind chills of 20° to 25° below zero!! That's mighty cold, so what better time to spend on rearranging the house a bit!

I am still on my neverending journey to the decluttered life. Sometimes I get a little distracted along the way. That's not always a bad thing. Sometimes great ideas come out of those distractions!

I have a smallish house. The kitchen is only 9x10 and when you add cabinets and appliances, that only leaves about 5x5 of actual floor space. But that's ok since we are only three and I'm the one who does 99% of the cooking. A one woman kitchen it is. The dining room is also only 9x10. When you put a dining table in that room it's downright cramped. But it is a dining room. You have to have the dining table in there, right? Right. Well I've believed that for as long as I have lived in this house, about 34 years.

The table I've had in there recently is slightly wobbly and it's been driving us all a little nuts. I have another table in the family room for my 'crafts'. That table is very solid and has no wobble. I have my sewing machine on it, which I use about twice a year, and many other things, mostly clutter. So ding ding ding the bells went off and I decided to take the solid table for the dining table. So we removed the wobbly table to the garage and left the dining room empty until we have a chance to move the other table. I have to clear it off and clean the room first, so the dining has been empty for two days.

The funny thing is, we have never liked eating in the dining room. It's just an uncomfortable place to be. I don't know if it's because it's cramped, or because the layout is all wrong, or both. Three sides are open to other rooms, and the fourth is large windows with a window seat. The seat is too high to use as seating for dining, and the room is too small anyway.

We all liked being able to walk straight through the room so much that I started to toy with the idea of not putting the table in the dining room at all! I mean, I can break a rule can't I? I've always loved having a table in the family room. It's all windows in the back, overlooking the big wild yard. So at last I am going to do what I want instead of following the 'rules'!!!

Here's our cozy new dining spot. Wolfie likes it!!

I plan to make use of the dining room by putting a couple of free-standing cabinets in there to hold extra dishes and equipment that I have no room for in the kitchen.

So look for ways to think outside the box and break some rules this week. You never know what you'll come up with!