Fireplace in the Dining Room | Breaking Room Rules
I mentioned last week that we had switched around the rooms in our house last week. We brought home some furniture after our house in Pawleys closed and just felt like we needed to make things work better for our life. There are no rules that say you have to use a room the way the builder or the family before you did. The biggest change was moving our dining room into the living room.
Matthew has always wanted a cozy little den, which our new house lacked. And our living room was just a giant waste of space considering it's located right in between the family room and the sunroom/playroom. We just really never used it. What a shame to let all the square footage go to waste just because it's supposed to be that way. So we moved our dining room furniture into the large living room and have been loving the change.
We scored the most gorgeous Ethan Allen table and Cain chairs last summer on craigslist for $250 and inherited a beautiful buffet from my in-laws. All that furniture just felt cramped in the other space. It was the walk-through from the front door to the kitchen so it became a landing place for mail and crap. Not exactly the pretty dining room I had envisioned. It felt too cold to be considered cozy and inviting yet too cramped to be formal and elegant. Giving the furniture room to breath has actually upped the style ante while also making it more accessible and usable. There is plenty of room to linger for when we host parties and it's right off the playroom which makes it more practical for family dinner time.
I envision two upholstered chairs on either end of the table and the styling needs to be tweaked about 100 times. But that's the fun part right! What you can't see in these shots is that we still have room at the far end of the space for some occasional chairs and a table. Wouldn't that be the most inviting little spot when we entertain? I didn't realize I hadn't shot any pictures of that space until I went to write this post. I'll have to update that soon.
I would love to know if this is something you've done in your home as well? There really are no rules about how a room is used. The only thing that matters is that it works for your family! I'm surprised at how much more we've used this room already.