WFMW: Putting the kitchen table WHERE?

We moved into our house just over two years ago before Sophie was born.  We left behind a wonderful neighborhood with close friends and a house that we loved dearly.  With two teenage daughters and a baby on the way, we needed more room.

So we found our current home, closed up the arch in the formal dining room, put up french doors and added a door to the entrance leading into the kitchen to make a nursery for Sophie.  We put our kitchen table in the small breakfast nook.  With brick floors, a heavy, wrought iron, round table did not work out well.  So we got rid of that table and got a bar height rectangle kitchen table.  It went here:

That’s my uncle putting the table together for me in January of 2007.   Not a clear pic, but you can see that it was still a tight fit.  We put up with this squeeze as well as trying to drag heavy chairs across the brick.  Until….

I had a brilliant idea to move my kitchen table here:

It is now in the living room.  You can see that it is just to the right of the breakfast nook.  It does block the left french door.  But we rarely open that one.  It was blocked before by our chair anyway.  We have plenty of room to add the leaf to the table for guests.  We also have a bench that can be used if we pulled the table away from the wall.  For now, the bench is in the foyer.  The chair that was there is now here:

…in the breakfoost nook.  Now I have a seating area.  Here are a couple more pics that are a bit more clear.

The ottoman works better with the chair here.  Before, when it was in the living room, we didn’t have a clear walking path so we would have to move it.  The trunk houses Sophie’s toys.  The high chair will likely be moved to the attic when Sophie turns two in September.  Perhaps I will put a plant here.

Now we can see this better while we’re eating:

We NEVER used to watch T.V. while eating.  At our old house, it was a well known rule even with my kids’ friends.  No T.V.  No answering the phone.  Things have changed so much over the last few years.  Work schedules, new child in the home, teen activities.   When we all sit down for a meal together, it’s rare.  We then try to stick to our old rule.  But when we have more of a casual, eating in shifts kind of dinner, we often leave the T.V. on.  Funny…Sophie lays on the floor sometimes when she’s coloring just like that little girl.  Look…here she is:

See?  Had to move the ottoman over in front of the T.V. because the layout did not provide much room for traffic.  Or for coloring on the floor.

Here are a couple more shots of the living room area:

The french doors you see in the foyer lead to Sophie’s room (A.K.A. the former dining room).  So does the door leading into the kitchen.  Here’s a pic of the rest of the kitchen:

More eating room.  I think the new arrangement will work out well since our living room and kitchen are all open- like a Great Room.  Even looks “great”.  Works for me!

For more exciting Works for Me Wednesday ideas, visit Shannon here at rocks in my dryer or click the link at the top of this post.