Studies have shown that the most used room in a home is the kitchen and least used room is the formal dining room. We are fortunate enough to have a beautiful formal dining room designed in the 80’s and not updated since, painted in a beautiful yellow-y yellow, with a chandelier that only partially works, dark brown trim, and literally no reason for formal dining ever. So what do you do with a formal dining room and no use for it?
Many interior design trends have been in favor of removing formal dining rooms and using the square footage for bigger kitchens, offices, or home gyms. We are not doing a kitchen renovation anytime soon; even though I would LOVE to get rid of the pear wallpaper lining our walls. For a long time our dining room was one giant storage room but it drove me crazy to see boxes, unused toys, and all that space going to waste. Buying a formal dining room set wasn’t in our budget and frankly it would have been a waste of money. One day last summer as I was cleaning up our craft supplies (that had been so graciously keeping my kids entertained while I cooked) spread out all over our kitchen table I had a brilliant beyond brilliant idea. We needed a place for our kids to leave art supplies out, be able to make a mess, and not be in the kitchen where we would have to clean up before each meal. Instead of a dining room we needed a kid’s art room. Yes, a kid’s art room!
I hopped on Facebook and found a very well loved table and chairs set for $100. I pulled an old dresser out of storage to keep overflow art supplies and I picked up a used Lakeshore learning art caddy for on top of the table. We had a rug that needed a new spot so under the table it went and as the kids have finished projects they love they have hung them all over the walls. BOOM- dining room converted into the ideal kids art room.
We have four kids ages 6 and under so arts and crafts are a big part of our daily life; especially for our two older kids. Having space for our kids to create freely has been drastic in their ability to entertain themselves, in my ability to let go of arts and crafts messes, and giving new life to a rarely used space. The table has marks, glue, paint, and who knows what else on it and I don’t care! Our kids are able to run in whenever they want to color for a few minutes or hours. I love the reactions of friends who walk in and see a room filled with our kid’s art and plenty of room for extra kids to join in. Our dining room went from hardly used to being the most popular place in our house and the best part is that I didn’t have to do any of the decorating.
