This is week 11 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on the dining room/kitchen eating area.
One of the things that annoy me about our house that I didn't even realize until after we moved in was our eat in kitchen/lack of a formal dining room. {you can see that fugly garbage can I told you about here in the right of this photo. i am ashamed.}
With the space all open, it is hard to have defined areas. It helps that the dining room and kitchen are titled, but the door to the garage is right in the middle of everything and there is no real place to get ready to walk out the door. Couple that with the fact that stuff gets piled on the buffet and the table and it can create a sense of clutter quickly.
One of the ways I try and combat the sense of living with a hoarder, is to keep the surfaces as clear as possible. The photos and nic-nacs on the buffet will hopefully be one day moved to some floating shelves that we will put on the wall above the buffet or out of the room completely. For now they just add some color to the bland space.
The buffet is a hand me down that isn't really our style but for now provides a ton of storage for such a little space. Our entertaining plates and linens live in the buffet, awaiting the one time of year they will be used. I also have party supplies in there for the yearly birthday party for The Good Daughter.
Having storage in the dining room is important for the space. Either you are eating in the room everyday like we do, or you use it a few times a year at Christmas and Thanksgiving. By having a place to store the things you only use occasionally, you allow the space to become clutter free. If you use the space daily, you also have the opportunity to keep the space clear by having a place to put the things that can pile up on the regular.
{I cannot tell you how much it annoys me that with the buffet centered in the middle of the wall, it is off center from the table, which is also off center from the light fixture. Good design tells you to have the middle of your table under the center of your light fixture but moving the table over that far feels like we are eating in the damn living room. So I try not to think about how everything is off in the dining room.}
One of the biggest challenges for us in this room is keeping all the shit we bring in from the garage from taking over the space. To keep the clutter at bay, I use one of the most helpful organization tips there is: work with your natural habits. I would love it if every time The Good Husband left or came home, he would go into the bedroom and put his stuff away in a valet on the dresser. But there is no way in hell that is ever happening b/c it is out of his nature to walk across the house the second he gets home.
However, he can keep his shit organized if given the tools he needs.
Right now his keys and wallet and work badge and whatever the hell else he brings home, goes into a container at the end of the buffet. This keeps all his shit wrangled and off the dining room table. I do need to get a better container but for now, I have got him in the habit of putting his shit there when he gets home.
It is second nature to him now and it makes for a neat and organized space. I also have chair next to the garage door so anything that needs to go out to the cars can sit there until it is put away. It also provides a place for TGD to sit in the morning to put on her shoes and extra seating for when we have company at the dinner table.
One of the things that annoy me about our house that I didn't even realize until after we moved in was our eat in kitchen/lack of a formal dining room. {you can see that fugly garbage can I told you about here in the right of this photo. i am ashamed.}
With the space all open, it is hard to have defined areas. It helps that the dining room and kitchen are titled, but the door to the garage is right in the middle of everything and there is no real place to get ready to walk out the door. Couple that with the fact that stuff gets piled on the buffet and the table and it can create a sense of clutter quickly.
One of the ways I try and combat the sense of living with a hoarder, is to keep the surfaces as clear as possible. The photos and nic-nacs on the buffet will hopefully be one day moved to some floating shelves that we will put on the wall above the buffet or out of the room completely. For now they just add some color to the bland space.
The buffet is a hand me down that isn't really our style but for now provides a ton of storage for such a little space. Our entertaining plates and linens live in the buffet, awaiting the one time of year they will be used. I also have party supplies in there for the yearly birthday party for The Good Daughter.
Having storage in the dining room is important for the space. Either you are eating in the room everyday like we do, or you use it a few times a year at Christmas and Thanksgiving. By having a place to store the things you only use occasionally, you allow the space to become clutter free. If you use the space daily, you also have the opportunity to keep the space clear by having a place to put the things that can pile up on the regular.
{I cannot tell you how much it annoys me that with the buffet centered in the middle of the wall, it is off center from the table, which is also off center from the light fixture. Good design tells you to have the middle of your table under the center of your light fixture but moving the table over that far feels like we are eating in the damn living room. So I try not to think about how everything is off in the dining room.}
One of the biggest challenges for us in this room is keeping all the shit we bring in from the garage from taking over the space. To keep the clutter at bay, I use one of the most helpful organization tips there is: work with your natural habits. I would love it if every time The Good Husband left or came home, he would go into the bedroom and put his stuff away in a valet on the dresser. But there is no way in hell that is ever happening b/c it is out of his nature to walk across the house the second he gets home.
However, he can keep his shit organized if given the tools he needs.
Right now his keys and wallet and work badge and whatever the hell else he brings home, goes into a container at the end of the buffet. This keeps all his shit wrangled and off the dining room table. I do need to get a better container but for now, I have got him in the habit of putting his shit there when he gets home.
It is second nature to him now and it makes for a neat and organized space. I also have chair next to the garage door so anything that needs to go out to the cars can sit there until it is put away. It also provides a place for TGD to sit in the morning to put on her shoes and extra seating for when we have company at the dinner table.
Organize along with me in The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenges
1 comment:
Our dining table is exactly the same- not centred with the lights. Drives me crazy but the space just doesn't work as well if I do align them.... Sure i am the only one who notices. Like your tip on a container for TGH stuff. My husband is a nightmare for this! Might follow suit!
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