Dining Room

The Dining Room.  Otherwise known in this house as The Place For Everything Without a Home.  I guess since it is the most-used room in the house at this point, it just becomes a dumping ground.  I knew the dining room would take me awhile - I figured on the better part of a day to get it all done.  HA!  I was wrong.  It actually took 2 days!  But I am soooooo glad it is finished.  Let's have a look, shall we?

I completely forgot to take "before" pictures until halfway into the first day.  By this time, I had cleared everything from one side of the room and part of the other side and piled everything onto the dining room table unless it was trash or laundry, which went in their respective bags.  Here are the pictures from halfway through the first day:

Right side of the room- BEFORE

Left side of the room - BEFORE

When cleaning/organizing/decluttering a room that is a total disaster, I always start at a doorway and work my way clockwise around the room.  The first thing I came to on the left side of the dining room was toy boxes and our hutch.  We had already decided to move the hutch to the opposite side of the room, and also get rid of the computer armoire and door-less shelf unit completely.  So I methodically worked my way through emptying out the hutch, clearing things out of the shelves, and picking things up off the floor.  There were probably about 10 cardboard boxes piled up in the corners full of stuff that had gotten picked up in the past but didn't have a home.  I completely went through each and every box, bag and bin that came across my path.  I sorted pens, pencils, crayons, markers, books, school stuff, stray silverware and cups, and tons of junk.  All toys went into bags to be dealt with at a later date.  The next day, I had to go grocery shopping, but when I got home, I got right back to it and worked well past bedtime.  There were some spots on the floor under the old computer armoire where something had spilled onto junk mail and it was now glued to the floor.  My 2-year-old and I spent some time on our hands and knees scrubbing with scrub brushed.  I should have gotten a picture of that!  By the end of the second day, here is some of my progress: 

 You can see the left side is pretty clear.  Lots of stuff still on the table but much less than when I started.  We had gotten the armoire and shelf unit out onto the front porch and the hutch moved to it's new position.  At this point I only had maybe 2 hours worth of organizing and picking up to do.  I was too tired to take a bunch of pictures.  So this morning I put the finishing touches on it.

Right side - AFTER

The hutch in place and organized.  ALL of the board games that had been shoved wherever they fit before are now stacked up waiting for the new shelves which will be built to hold them.  The pile on the right is school stuff that needs to be moved back down to the schoolroom.

Left side - AFTER

And my beautiful dining table!  Beyond the table, where the hutch used to be, there is now a bench (piled with empty baskets at the moment) which will be replaced by a storage/deacon's bench as soon as we find one.  The shelves will be built above it.  There are also 2 bins of toys there in the corner which will be moved to another location.  This room literally ECHOES now when you talk!  It is so big and empty-feeling.  What a feeling to be able to move around the table and to seat the whole family again.  And yes, the floor needs some attention, but that doesn't fall under decluttering, right?  =)

And here are the pictures side by side so you get the full effect.

Left side - Before and After

Right side - Before and After