From Dining To Desk

As part of my Organized Chaos series, I am attempting to create a functional family home. Recently, I went on an organizing spree and moved some rooms around. I attempted  to make the rooms in our home make sense. One of the most under-used rooms in our home was the dining room. Literally, our dining room was a holding place for clean clothes that were folded but not to put away, bulk items I purchased but didn’t have storage for, empty boxes from my Amazon purchases, etc.—overall just a complete use of space since we NEVER ate a formal dinner in there.

I browsed my beloved Pinterest for some ideas and came across the idea of turning the dining room into a home office. I felt like this would be PERFECT for our home. I scoured the internet for desks, chairs, and home-y office furniture so I could convert my room…however everything I found was flat out expensive and was kind of a “no turning back” commitment. For whatever reason, I didn’t want to spend money (seriously, no clue why not…I love shopping) and I just couldn’t give up the thought that MAYBE we would host a formal dinner or two. Still the idea of using the room as an office just really kept creeping back into my mind.

I decided to go 50/50 with myself. I would convert the dining room into an office but I wouldn’t spend a ton of money just yet and I would try to keep it where I could easily turn back into a dining room if needed. I am happy to report after a solid day’s work and $16, I now have a functional home office!

The Deets:

• Desk –My dining room table with the leaf removed pushed a little off center from the room so it looks less dining room like
• Settee –This was being stored in my before dining room because I had no use for it….now its office seating
• Small Cabinet –This was being used as my entry way table and stored my crock-pot, table linens and serving utensils. I found new homes for all of that stuff and now it holds office supplies, family papers, printer paper, etc.
• Bench –This came with my dining room set I push it under the desk/table when not in use but it has come in handy for Q to sit at for homework time
• Garbage can– Was using this in Q’s room, decided it looked better in my office and moved it downstairs
• Cabinet décor — misc. items I had around my home that I moved around
• Chair — From previous décor that was being stored in my garage, brought it back upstairs and turned it into an office chair!

The desk pad is the only thing I had to buy! It was $16 bucks on Amazon! (Shout out to my mom for this idea to make my table look more “desk” like!)

Like I said, one of my biggest fears was wanting to host a dinner party and not having a dining room to do so in. By using my current dining room table as my desk, I was able to calm that fear.  My dining room chairs are neatly stored in the garage, the settee & desk chair can easily be moved (by JHub) to the garage for the party, and the office décor can be shoved in the cabinet until the party is over! Win Win! Another win that came with the change is the fact that I am actually folding and putting the clean clothes away rather than letting them pile up on the table…I think this is because my office is actually clean and organized so I don’t want to mess it up with piling  clothes up again. I am hoping my new Sunday routine of folding and putting away the laundry will stick!

So, I am happy to report my dining room is no longer a storage unit of clothes and “stuff” and now an actual room! While browsing Pinterest, I found several really good ideas for using a wasted space dining room such as a playroom, guest bedroom, and formal living room. Is anyone using their dining room for something other than its intended purpose?