I grew up in one of those households where our furniture was covered in sheets or plastic when the room wasn’t in use. When my dad would throw his dinner parties, those rooms would come to life with the aroma of his best dishes and the formal dining room was arrayed with his beautiful silver and china. My mom’s formal living room was pristine with her Italian figurines & ornate chairs. I eye those chairs now as furniture pieces for my photo studio but our own home is a far cry from what I grew up with. 🙂
Our family home has a formal living and dining room. Since I’m not one for formal dinner parties or having any of our rooms go unused, I decided to use the formal dining area as our family craft room where the kids can color and I can brainstorm my next great idea. I love opening up the backdoor blinds (which I would love to replace one day with curtains) to let in all the wonderful natural light. This particular room in the house has some of the best lighting and I try to get the kids in here as much as possible — if they’re not outdoors at least.
The craft table is probably fancier than most craft tables, but I love the entire set. I pulled it together from a couple purchases on craigslist — real wood, natural materials, my kind of stuff.
I found this vintage gardening tool carrier at a garage sale that now holds all the crayons collected over time from gifts or restaurant visits. I hate tossing the crayon sets that we get at restaurants so I typically gather it all together at the end of our meal and toss it into the crayon holder when we get home.
Our wine buffet once held the occasional wine bottle and stored our “fancy” dinner plates and wine glasses. Since we rarely drink wine and have perfectly functional dinner plates in the kitchen, I cleared that stuff out and replaced it with the kids crafts, flash cards and play dough sets. They like having easy access to what they need and I love having a place for it when they’re done.
I’m glad we made the decision to use this room as our Color and Craft room for the family. Now when the kids want a space for coloring and other activities, they have this room dedicated for that. I love that everything is contained in one area. Goodness knows there are enough toys and clutter in the other parts of the house. Know what I mean?
Because we watch a lot of HGTV, I have been thinking about what I would like in a house. Not that I’m ever going to buy one any time soon. But of the more common things that buyers today are looking for is an open concept kitchen/living space. I just want to be able to see the kids in the living room while I make dinner. I could care less about a formal dining room or the amount of living spaces there are. I’m not one to throw parties or things. If we had the “formal dining room” in our current house, it would be similar to what you have done. Here kids! Have a place to color and create! (That and I’d use it to “homeschool” my daughter. She’s in preschool, but loves learning and directed tasks.)
While I’m coloring with them, I typically have HGTV on in the living room right next to this room. It’s perfect for helping me get inspired. 🙂