Disclosure: Any post may contain links to my shop or affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission from any purchase you make. All opinions about products I use are my own. Read the full disclosure and Privacy Policy HERE.

This is my first formal dining room in any of the houses we’ve lived in. In our last house, we chose to make the dining room into an office and we were happy with that choice. You can see from the placement of this dining room that it offers no privacy. I’ve worked hard creating a space that flowed from the other rooms. I may be biased, but it is beautiful to me. It is also VERY functional!

The choir from church uses it and flows into the airy walkways. We eat here when too many guests come to eat at one table (I send the kids to the table in the kitchen). We play family games here. My kids do homework, drawing, art, Lego League, have piano lessons, and do lot of kid stuff here. They can sit and do things without blocking the table from meals, and still feel a part of the group gathered somewhere in the open area. Someone is always somewhere in the Living, Dining, or Kitchen that all flow into each other. I sit here instead of my studio desk to work sometimes when I need to change out laundry or be close to my kids.

To the right you can see the large walkways that lead to the front door, office, guest bathroom, a bedroom, and the stairs up to my studio.

The room has a table, large cabinet, piano, and a tiered basket.

This super large cabinet has all of our games in it! We are really big game people. You can see the inside of the cabinet in this post or read about all our favorite games in this post.

This is the bowl I got from Magnolia Market in Waco. I sewed a two-sided mini-table runner to go underneath it.

This little alcove was the perfect spot for our piano. The walls are Sherwin Williams Repose Gray and the accent color is Sherwin Williams Naval. The gold frames are from Target.

The room is really convenient to the kitchen. That small basket in the corner has art supplies, pencils for homework, and piano books.

At first glance, the kid stuff all over my house isn’t obvious, but if you look closer, I’ve designed most spaces to be functional for them … but I believe it can still look good (for me). It’s sort of a compromise. Of course, my three girls are getting older and starting to appreciate beauty for what it is. They help keep this room tidied up in between uses.

Do you have any rooms in your house that seem to take on a million roles? How do you keep it the order under control in there?

From my home to yours,
Mary

PLEASE POST THIS