We’ve been in our current home for two years now and our needs have definitely changed as the kids get older. There’s a living space directly at the front of the house, the kitchen in the middle and then a bit of living/dining space towards the back of the house just off of the kitchen.

We used the space in the kitchen for lounging, tv viewing and dining. It was a lot to pack into a space, but it worked for our family. The front room was a play area with a couch (no television). As our family gets older and our love for our community grows, we realized our eating area just wasn’t big enough. If we had company over, we would do buffet style, but that meant squeezing between the table and the kitchen counter to get your food. Having a couch so close to the eating area was like a magnet to sticky, icky hands!

So for lack of a better term, we decided to do a little switch-a-roo! We made the front room our main living area with toys and a small sectional. The television went downstairs in our rec/play room area and we’ve loved just having one television downstairs.

We decided to get a larger secondhand wooden table that came with three cane back chairs. We got a fair price because we didn’t mind the incomplete set as we were planning on pairing it with simple wood benches on either side.

We finally took advantage of the big kitchen counter and added stools for casual dining.

Our little play kids table is still tucked in the opposite side of the dining room, at least for now.

The third chair sits off to the corner as a little occasional chair or extra seating when needed.

We kept our wall art, but centred it on the main wall.

I’m really loving the transformation! It’s amazing how everything just fell into place so smoothly and without breaking the bank. Sometimes, all you need is a little refresh to make your space work for you again!