Define and Design

The day that we moved into this house our couch wouldn't fit down the basement stairs. 

We told the movers, "Just put it in there", motioning towards the empty room that should be a dining room but wouldn't really be a dining room because we didn't have dining room furniture.

So the couch went in.

As we began the process of unpacking and getting settled, we quickly discovered how dangerous it was to have a newly-walking 1 year old exploring a house that we weren't even familiar enough with to have thoroughly baby-proofed.

So we moved the couch in front of the large doorway opening to the hallway and put a gate at the opening to the kitchen.

Add in a few toys and ... voila!  A giant playpen!

Jack was contained and entertained at the same time, giving us priceless time to unpack and get settled.

That's how the room developed it's purpose.  Toys lived there, it was another room to send the kids off to play, and a room to say, "put it in there" whenever we had something that didn't quite fit or work out in another room in the house.

It became the room that we would set up our Christmas tree in each year, the room where we gathered to open gifts Christmas morning.

Finally, I could take no more.

The couch went to our niece who just recently moved into her first apartment, and our room was empty. 

Blissfully empty.

I decided that I had to act fast, to reclaim the room before it turned into something else, or an even bigger dumping ground for stuff.

We painted the walls ...

Added some artwork and chairs ...

found a perfect dining room set on Craigslist ....

 

And a china cabinet that I've always wanted!

 

Introducing our new, improved, couch-free dining room:

I wonder where we're going to put the Christmas tree this year?