Today the Room by Room girls and I are talking about the Dining Room.
For me, it’s the VERY first thing you see when you walk through my front door. Which is great when it’s clean.
And not-so-great when it’s not.
And without being EXTREMELY intentional . . . it doesn’t stay clean. I mean, it’s a room that basically just contains one big flat surface.
Right where we enter the house or bring in the mail or absent-mindedly cross through to the kitchen.
When that big, wonderful, flat surface isn’t clean/clear, it doesn’t matter how hard I’ve worked on the rest of the house.
A clutter-filled first impression equals a bad first impression of my house as a whole.
I don’t have this mastered yet by any means, but I have figured out the best way to keep this room looking nice.
Use it.
Yes. It’s that simple.
My house isn’t like the ones in Victorian novels where the parlor was off-limits to the kids so it always stayed nice for guests. My kids have this strange notion that my house is also their house and (other than knowing they are to never EVER allow anyone into the master bedroom) . . . they play everywhere in it. And someone else who lives here tends to shuck her HOT-AND-STIFLING-AND-UNBEARABLE jeans the minute she gets in from church. And sometimes she leaves them right there in the middle of the DINING ROOM FLOOR.
OK fine. It’s actually me that does that.
Anyway, the best way to keep the dining room from getting to a three-hours-of-decluttering-required state is to use it. Regularly. Play a board game as a family. Invite a friend or two over for dinner so we need more room than we have in our breakfast room. Or just eat a regular old weekday meal in there.
Basically, live in it.
Here’s the thing. One of my favorite Pre-Blog Delusions was that clutter gave my home a “lived-in” look.
But there’s a fine line between “lived-in” and “can’t-be-lived-in-because-there’s-nowhere-to-sit-down” clutter.
And the best way to keep it “lived-in” instead of “un-livable-innable” is to live in it.
Of all the rooms in my home, the one that looks the best the most often is . . . the living room. Because we live in there. As a family. It’s where we sit. Where we hang out. Where we have conversations.
It’s not safe from my slob tendencies. (Nothing is.) But because we live in there the most, we pick-up in there the most, and since we pick-up in there the most, it’s always easiest and quickest to pick up.
A tame cycle. (As opposed to a vicious one.)
Make sense?
When we purposefully take advantage of the dining room as a space that’s perfect for games and gatherings, we also purposefully clear the small amounts of mail and unfinished projects off regularly. And clearing small amounts regularly prevents the need to get out the shovel and spend three hours doing disaster control every few months.
What spaces do you need to live in more?
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Check out other posts about the dining room from these blogging buds:
Christine from I Dream of Clean is writing about clearing off the dining room table.
Taylor from Stain-Removal 101 is writing about polishing silver.
Jami from An Oregon Cottage is showing before and afters of her dining room. (And her stuff is always SOOOO gorgeous!)
Lauren from Mama’s Laundry Talk is sharing instructions on washing table linens.
I have to say, the dining room table is not an issue for me, we do eat at ours for every meal and it is where homework and projects are usually done. My spots are: the top of my piano and curio cabinet, a wonky side counter in my tiny kitchen, and any room with a door to close! The room we need to live in more is out office. It is a catch-all room that I HATE!
Our dining table is good, but not so much for the peninsula countertop that is just beyond the table! My other bad spot in the kitchen is when I have the stainless steel table set up for canning and I’m not canning, so everything else finds it’s way to that table, which really makes it a trick for when I actually want to can. ugh.
I almost snort laughed my coffee onto my new laptop. That is so my table! It is a 4′ by 8′ flat surface!!! It totally gets buried by everything. I have nee trying to clear it off every night. So far that task has made it to my daily list but my daily list never gets finished so……….baby steps.
My room I need to live in more is our “tv room”. We don’t really watch tv, but the kids use it to watch movies or Sesame Street. Because I don’t use it…really ever…it is out of sight out of mind and is usually a disaster. I don’t even keep it on my cleaning radar so it collects spilled popcorn, dirty socks, missing shoes, and dust. (how’s that for honesty?). I really should use it for my quiet time or something so I’m aware of its status and keep it clean.
Mine is a Lego land fill. I have threaten to toss them all at least 5 times in the past week.
Johnny is going to be quite surprised when he comes home from camp today. I will not throw the kit away, but I am going to find some kind of box and put it in the closet.
Perhaps he will be motivated to finish once it gets packed up.
Pam
you speak truth! rooms are to be lived in, not to be museums to our decorating abilities. 🙂 my dining room is about to start doubling as a home office. won’t that be fun.
We used to eat just about every meal at the kitchen table, unless we were having company, so our dining table really does attract clutter, too. Ours is visible from the front door like yours, but we always come in through the garage. Still, that dining table used to collect all sorts of things… and, honestly, we have enough other rooms to play in that I really want ONE nice, constantly company-ready room.
So I set the dining table as if we’re about to sit down to a nice meal, and now no one puts clutter on it. Now we have Sunday dinner in there, but mostly just to give me an incentive to dust the table and change out the decor depending on the next upcoming holiday.
Thank you SO much for posting this.I just discovered your site last night.This morning,I did the dishes,garbage AND 3 loads of laundry,all because I didn’t feel like I was the only one living like this. I homeschool and have a 3 and 6 year old,and the whole apartment has become such a MESS! Reading your posts inspire me,and help me,and now I don’t feel there is something wrong with me!
Nony, I just wanted to let you know your link to An Oregon Cottage didn’t work for me because it’s missing the www at the beginning of the URL. And, to answer your question, my spare bedroom needs to be lived in more! There’s an always-growing stack of papers waiting to be filed, a layer of dust on everything, and a closet stuffed with stuff, and with the door closed it’s all out of sight and out of mind.