Creating Functional Purpose In Our Home

This isn’t the first time we have tried creating more functional use in our home. And it certainly won’t be the last.  I really doubt that we are the only ones who would think nothing of changing a rooms purpose, if it makes more sense for the household and the people who live there…… Are we?

This weekend we had a bit of fun creating more functional use in our home. While sipping hot tea on our most comfy leather club chairs, we conjured up a plan to make some swaps and move some furniture. The deal we made before the good ole room swap took place was that the rooms had to 1) make sense for our family 2) there wouldn’t be a lot of work involved and 3) that we didn’t have to spend a lot of money with the new design. Check, check and almost a check.

As you know, everything goes full circle and a few of the rooms at Duke Manor Farm are no exception.

Creating More Functional Use In Our Home

The Dining Room

Let me start with the easiest swap first. My Living Room is now the Dining Room. We moved the table from the breakfast room here and moved it into my living room which has sat empty since I sold my furniture to a pal a while ago. The length of the table is perfect for the space since there is plenty of room. The fact that I don’t even use a Living Room, didn’t make this a tough decision. And with the wall of windows and all that light pouring in , this is a perfect spot to enjoy any meal with our friends and family.

Patterned Chairs on the end/Curtains/Tufted Chairs/Table we have had for about 20 years

During the last year, the Dining Room makeover was coming together slowly. You can catch up here . I had been looking for a dining room table since selling it to another pal.  Since we already had a nice sized table, I was not sure what I wanted, so this change solves that. I moved the chairs in from the breakfast room and put two new chairs from here at the ends.  I love the mix of traditional, rustic and glam all in one space. As soon as I put the rest of the curtains up and have my husband move this hanging light ( that were in the original Dining Room) I will share the entire space with you.

The Breakfast Area

When we first designed this house, this was where our breakfast table ( which is my Dining Table) was suppose to go, but it was too big for the space. You can catch up on that story here. So I bought another table that fit which was great, except it was just me and my husband back then and we didn’t eat at this table. So we moved that table to my craft room and created a sitting area or Keeping Room (depending on what part of the country you are from). We loved this area and it got a lot of use. Lately it was getting a bit crowded since the kids always want to hang out with us in there in the mornings and on the weekends.  I will swap a room in a heart beat for more space with the family. You can see more of the Fall Keeping Room and before the kitchen table moved back in here.

So, we are changing it back to it’s original roots and it will now be the breakfast area. I picked up the table a while ago  and brought it back to life ( you can read about that here ). Over the weekend, I sanded down the top and will keep it natural, and the pedestal is painted the same color in Nimbus Gray by Sherwin Williams, as the Kitchen Island.

Similar Dining Chair

The Sitting Room

Which brings me to the final space of our room swap. The space that I am most excited about as well as the space that unfortunately broke the ‘no money spent’ check. The new sitting room. This room was designed and used as our family room for many years. When we put heat and air in our enclosed sun porch we turned that into our current family room. That was about 4 years ago. We LOVE our Family room. And I can say with some certainty, it won’t be changing anytime soon.

Back to the new sitting room and how this whole switcheroo got started. Over the summer we got our fireplace repaired from a fire that occurred a few years ago. My family just loves to sit by the fire. So it was just a matter of time once the chilly weather set in, that my husband would want a fire.  That was this weekend, and how the conversation to make some changes got going.

See what I mean about the full circle thing?   We have some temporary seating in here till next week when I fill it with something new. Cant wait to show you the space.

Please don’t think of this post as a way to share how cra cra we may be at times (although that could be true). It is about inspiring you, to look beyond certain rooms that you are not happy with. Rooms that don’t have a purpose. Rooms that just sit there and do nothing.  It’s about creating purpose and function in every room of your home.

grateful

for patience