Taking Back the Dining Room

Back just a little over three years ago, we turned our dining room into a playroom.  It was a big decision for us, but we needed someplace downstairs where we could all hang out and the kids could be safe and contained.  The playroom served us very well.  But now we’ve reached the point where the kids roam free, and the playroom became a bit of a junk room for their toys. 

Gary and I have been working on cleaning out the entire house and rearranging rooms.  We aren’t going to what I would call true minimalist, but we are getting close to it.  We are making remarkable progress, and thankfully don’t have that much left (after this past weekend).  Piper and Rosemary now have their own room, and Henry has his own room.   Penelope has always had her own room.  Now that everyone has their own room and a bit more space, they have some room to keep their toys in their room as well.

Gary and I had assumed that turning the playroom back into a dining room would take several weekends.  I worked a bit on it during naptime on Saturday.  The kids slept incredibly late on Sunday, and didn’t wake up in time for us to make it to church like we had planned.  So, Sunday morning Gary and I decided to do a little work in the playroom.  I don’t know exactly what happened, but the stars must have aligned because Gary and I were both very much in the mood to get everything cleaned out.  A couple of hours into the project, we decided that we were going to push through and try to get done by the end of the day.

We did it.

We are still proud of ourselves!

We did leave the play kitchen in the dining room, as well as the kids’ anywhere chairs and one bin for downstairs toys.  The kids were thrilled.  They hung out in the dining room for quite a while as we were getting ready to return the dining room table to its rightful place and played and played.  Then they were so excited to have a table in there, and they’ve insisted on eating in the dining room a few times.

Perhaps my favorite thing about having the dining room back is that now the kids have access to the piano.  They have played it so much since then.  Which reminds me that we have got to get it tuned – and soon.  

I grabbed the camera to take a few photos while Penelope was playing the piano on Sunday before we moved the table into the dining room. . . .