apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I have a one bedroom apartment with a dining room...I rarely cook / host dinner parties, so it was really being underused. I just recently lined the walls with bookshelves and created a dining room / library / office. Two of the bookshelves flank a window, with a bench underneath, which creates a cute window-seat. I love this room now and use it all the time!

We've frequently used our dinning room to dine. Especially when we have friends over. However on a daily bases, no.

I *wish* I had a dining room. Where I currently live, I only have an eat-in kitchen and I just hate eating in the kitchen with the sink and appliances around - I find it depressing to eat in the kitchen. In former rentals, I have had dining rooms and when I had them, I used them for everyday meals (and I would also do work at them as well). I actually prefer a dedicated dining room or even a dining area in a main room to an eat-in kitchen.

On a daily basis, my dining room is more of a place for storage / library. I have 2 bookcases similar to the "cutout" from West Elm, which allows on to be laid horizontally but still usable as shelving; the other stands up vertically. The provide a ton of storage, plus the long horizontal surface on the one laid on its side can double as a buffet / serving area on the rare occasion I actually "dine."

As for the table, it's mostly used for game nights with friends or simply as a large surface to do things like sort paperwork, wrap gifts, etc.

We have a washer and dryer that hide behind bifold doors in our dining room when we have guests, but on a daily basis they're open and our table serves as a laundry folding station.

I've never understood why it's called a "formal dining room" if you do not have a formal decor. Of course we use our dining room for dining. Where else would we eat? We don't have the luxury of unused space. And it is not a "formal" space, even with a crystal chandelier and a very traditional china cabinet.
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u195/cdvax11/DiningRoom003b.jpg

we breakfast, lunch, snack, and dine in our dining room. it is not particularly "formal" but it is a dedicated room for dining. we also have a breakfast nook where we sometimes breakfast and snack.

Our current rental has a huge bright beautiful kitchen that I use as an eat-in. Somehow I love entertaining in the kitchen. Our dining room is an office and where our reptiles live

we use the dining room for dining, as a sewing and craft room, and as a two person office.

I live in a railroad flat, so there are three parlors. The one closest to the kitchen and designated "dining room" by the realtor is my painting studio. It's close proximity to the bathroom sink/tub, it's distance from the living room, where I don't want fumes, and the fact that it has the most windows decided it. We have a small dining table in the second parlor opposite the front door, and only eat there when there are guests in the house. Unfortunately, it also serves as a landing strip, which i am trying to change!

The house I grew up in had a separate dining room as well as an eat-in kitchen. One wall of the dining room was lined with built-in bookshelves and, at right-angles to that, under the window, was an old-fashioned (and, in retrospect, pretty ratty-looking) daybed, which was a great place to curl up and read. We did eat most evening meals in the dining room. Then, after supper, my siblings and I did our homework at that table. All in all, I think we got a lot of use out of the dining room.

We live in a one-bedroomed flat with a dining room leading into the (minute) kitchen)... So our dining room contains a dining table, overspill from the kitchen (fridge-freezer, storage), our computer desk (it's where we do all my college work-me at the dining table and he at the computer) AND our largest bookshelf! Sounds insane (and no doubt not the ideal permanent situation but we are students) but it actually makes it pretty cosy-it's where all the work goes on (college work, job applications, cooking) and leaves our living room as the relaxing place it should be.

Ours has become, as my husband so sarcastically put it this morning, Laundryland.

We have a HUGE formal dining room with beautiful French doors to the patio, and two more French doors opening onto the living room. It is full of the requisite furniture (not our style; the house came with it) -- a smaller drinks cabinet and a huge hutch, with a glass cabinet on top; it seats 12 and is still spacious. It's actually great for entertaining, especially in the summer, when people hang out on the terrace too.

Our kitchen though, is down the hall, and after the first year, I got damn tired of traipsing up and down with trays over and over each time we had a meal, and the kids spilling things on the annoying fake sisal wall-to-wall. We started eating in our tiny ugly kitchen instead.

So, we iron and fold laundry in the dining room. It has lovely afternoon light, perfect when the baby is down for his nap. The evil ironing board is (gasp!) always on display, as are lost socks and my husband's damn shirts. grr.

quiltmaster -- are those chairs -- gasp-- Liagre??? they look suspiciously like the chairs of my dreams...

quiltmaster - I love your dining area.
Please show us more!

We just moved, and are still unpacking boxes and assembling our Ikea shelving. We mainly eat in front of the tv on lap trays (when we eat at home at all), but now we also have a small breakfast table in line of sight...

The dining room will be my studio, but it will also be a formal dining space. My supplies will be hidden as much as possible, and my art jewely assembled on the table, but I am trying to control the clutter art creates, and the goal is to keep the room "dining ready" since it's the first one you see off the foyer. (On the other hand, I can close the french doors and hide the mess if necessary!)

Thanks. No, unfortunately the chairs are knock-offs from (gasp) Pier One. I'm a poor boy and nearly everything we have is a knock-off ~:o)

Pay no attention to that disheveled china cabinet. It's become our eBay storage as I try and sell of some of my Fiesta and McCoy pottery. It looks even junkier now.

If I can find the camera, I'll drop a few more angles, but that's pretty much it. Like, I said, we don't have a lot of space.

We were using ours as an office. We decided we didn't need it at all and are in the process of combining it with the living room (removing an archway). The few times we entertain people will be fine at the kitchen table :)

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Mark
a Painter in Plymouth, MN

I'm a writer. I have an office and a dining area. I love it as a dining area, and I love officing around in the office, but when I have to do the serious writing, I find myself taking the laptop to the dining table. I think I know why. It's a plain empty flat clean surface unattached to all my other busy-ness, a magic dimension apart... I get to start fresh everytime... and when I have to eat I have to Put It Away and take a break. Good for the work and good for the body.

so it's a both

I have a 500 sq foot space. I use my living room to dine unless it is warm enough to eat on the patio.

Our dining room is a combination dining room and library. We have large bookshelves that share the space. We either eat in our dining room or al fresco on our deck.

I love having an eating area outside of the kitchen. Scent is such an important part of enjoying food, and the smells of the kitchen very well might overwhelm the smells of your meal.

we don't even have a dining room. it sucks. we just have a long wall and that's pretty much it.

i rarely eat at my dining room table (although, in this apartment, it's more like a dining corner). it's usual active purpose is for crafting, package wrapping, goodwill/garbage staging. sometimes my guests will sit there, but unless i'm using the large, flat space make something, i'm not.

on holidays the dining room is used as a dining room but the rest of the time it takes on a variety of uses. Right now half of the dining table is holding some dry foods will doubling as a desk.

I use one of my dining room chairs as my desk chair when I'm at my computer, which is in a corner computer armoire, which is situated in such a way as to appear as if it might have dishes in it, but doesn't. So... it makes a practical kind of sense, which is a tad different from the visual sense it makes.

We eat at the table and play Scrabble at it, as well. Sometimes I draw things on it, and my other half sometimes organizes papers when he works at home.

I bought a place and need roommates to help with the monthly payment, so the lovely formal dining room has become my bedroom. We either eat at the round table in the front room's bay window, or in the eat-in kitchen. I can't wait for the time when I can use my dining room for its intended purpose, but I sure do like the extra help with my mortgage, for now!

In my one-bedroom apartment, my dining area is my painting studio. Art supplies and books are in waist-high Billy bookshelves with doors along the one full wall. I'm debating on whether I want to put a table and chairs in or an easel, but I can't fit both! Suggestions?

Whatever you're going to use more... I'm thinking easel. But if you do any sort of sculpting where you want a work surface, a small table and a tabletop easel would work.

ChloeSF - points for creativity!

Right now the dining table is occupied by stacks of my husband's books. I'm sure he would study at it, if he could find room. Post-Ike, we had to have some walls redone and moved a lot of junk out of his den, and he hasn't moved it all back. *sigh* Guess he's waiting for me to do it... again.

I use my dinning area as a sitting area since it's the only room in my place that gets decent sunlight. I also use it to store and air out my hockey equipment, since there really isn't a better area to do it.