Do you have a dining room in your home? How often do you use it?
Many homeowners are opting to ditch their unused dining rooms in favor for something more practical. By all means, if you have a family dinner in the dining room every night, then you’re definitely getting enough use out of it! But if the only time you use your dining room is once or twice a year when hosting family during the holidays, then you may find it beneficial to convert the rarely used room into something more useful. Here are a few ways you can get more use out of your unused dining room.
Home Office
Do you find your dining room gathering dust? Do you do work at home at a cramped desk stuffed into a corner of the bedroom or basement? Trying to devote one room to two purposes divides the space, while each activity infringes on the other. For example, if you have a desk in your bedroom, then you may feel like you want to relax when you need to work and feel like you need to work when you actually need to sleep! Having a designated area to do work ensures that you won’t be distracted. Converting your dining room into an office space allows you to spread out and have enough space for a desk, file cabinets, books, and any other resources you need. You’ll be amazed at how efficient your work becomes when you have your own home office!
Children’s Craft Room
Giving kids their own space to play is a great way to encourage creativity (and keep the rest of the house clean!) A children’s craft room is a place for kids to be messy, be curious, and be innovative. You can equip the craft room with drawing tables, drawers and shelves of art supplies, and bright lighting to encourage more precise movements. And don’t forget to make sure that the floor is made of something easy to clean! Carpet is not such a great idea, but hardwood, vinyl, or laminate make for easy cleaning. You can even paint one of the walls with chalkboard paint to give kids a giant canvas for doodling! The best part of converting the dining room into a kid’s craft room is that you can keep an eye on them while you’re in the kitchen preparing dinner. As kids get older, the craft room converts to a homework room, where kids can sit at the tables to write and use the chalkboard wall to work out math problems!
Butler’s Pantry
If you’re thinking about installing a butler’s pantry, an unused dining room makes a great space for it. Because of its proximity to the kitchen, a converting a dining room is one of the easiest ways to provide your kitchen with a full-scale butler’s pantry. You won’t have to build an addition and you’ll still have ample space for everything you may need, from a wine refrigerator to extra storage for fine china and silver.