Repurpose Your Unused Dining Room
Have you ever thought about how to repurpose your unused dining room? There was a time in the not-so-distant past when most new homes came stocked with extra rooms near the front of the house. These rooms are the formal living room and dining room. Upon moving in, the homeowner would have immediately added a formal dining room set. People decorated the formal living room with stuffy furniture, imploring you not to sit there. Then, families left these fancy rooms alone and preferred a comfy, well-lived-in family room.
Sound familiar?
These Old Rooms
As a kid, I remember wondering why these unused rooms existed. Why would someone possibly want to have parts of their house unused? Why not just buy a smaller house or live like you had a bigger house? These rooms must’ve been the pride of a long-lost generation. Perhaps the next generation just assumed the rooms, and later generations questioned them and eventually forgot about them almost altogether.
Things have changed though! No longer do you have to use a space for the builder’s intended purpose. Even builders have caught on to the trend, offering a home office as an option to replace a formal living room. But what about that formal dining room? Repurpose your unused dining room from the past and make it work for your current needs. Here are a few ideas.
Give It to The Kids
Though it may sound like a concession to give away precious real estate to your rugrats, you’ll reclaim the rest of your home from being overrun with toys. If you have small kids, stock the room with toy storage and a Lego table or whatever would make your kids enjoy being in there.
If there’s no chance they’ll stay in there to play, at least teach them that their toys belong there and not all over the house. Your toy issues won’t be solved forever, but at least your real living room won’t look like a daycare.
If you have older kids, repurpose your unused dining room for them. The space could have an indestructible table for art projects or homework. It could have lockers with their backpacks and cubbies for their shoes if you don’t have a mudroom, or it could be a getaway for them after school with comfy chairs and a big tv for video gaming. This would be a great place for a giant chalkboard and storage for books, games and electronics.
Photo by Shannon Fontaine; design by Holly Thompson.
Make it for You
If you don’t have kids or don’t want to give it away to your resident freeloaders, repurpose your unused dining room for yourself. There are exciting opportunities depending on what you like to do. It could be your home office, helping you reclaim your kitchen if you move all the mail and papers in there. If you work at home, it could be your own personal workspace and you could decorate it to make it fun for you.
If you like the idea of having a dining room for its intended purpose but don’t use it that much, leave it set up for dining and experiment with decorating for different seasons. You know how people on Instagram always have their dining rooms perfectly styled with beautiful centerpieces?
There is really no way to have a perfectly styled home if you have family members using it, so enjoy having a space that’s perfectly styled. Decorate to your heart’s content and enjoy looking at it. Take pictures to post on Instagram. Invite friends over every now and then to use it as a pretty gathering spot. More about how to have a magazine-worthy home here.
Make it for Everyone
Think about what you need your home to “do” for you in your current stage of life. Do you need more space for storage? Do you need more living spaces? What would you add to your house if you could make it work perfectly for you? This is the key to figuring out the best idea for repurposing your unused dining room. It’ll change over time if you stay in your house, and can be the key to making your home work for you, as an alternative to moving to a bigger house.
If you need another living space, try putting comfy furniture in there and make it another living room (with TV if you want). Or maybe you want a table in there for workspace but not for dining. Maybe you need to deck it out with built-in storage. Maybe it’s right next to your kitchen and can be an extension of your kitchen by adding cabinetry or a butler’s pantry. Make it into a little coffee shop where you enjoy your morning coffee and meet with friends. It could even be the mudroom you never had.
Get Creative
There are so many ways to repurpose an unused formal dining room. Brainstorm what your needs are and get creative with how to use your space to meet those needs. Repurposing this room can make your home much more functional and enjoyable, so give it a try!
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Holly Thompson is the owner of Holly Thompson Design in Franklin, TN. She loves making houses the best version of themselves. She is married to Dave, who is a contractor, realtor, and often works as her project manager. They own a fixer upper in the country, plus three kids and three cats. Holly has a master’s degree in Interior Design and writes articles for American Farmhouse Style. In her free time, you’ll find her antiquing at estate sales, flea markets, and shops. All of this involves lots of coffee, to which Holly attributes her success in staying awake.
I would turn it into a library/reading room, and place your heirloom round table somewhere in there for board games and puzzles. If it is in the budget, I’d do shelves all across the long wall, and include a library ladder.