Since breakfast rooms are most often used for everyday meals, formal dining rooms are used only once or twice a year in many homes.
Some people insist that they need a formal dining room, but that doesn't mean it has to be used as a formal dining room all of the time.
Instead of having an unused wasted room in your house, consider making your formal dining room into a multipurpose room by using it for dining occasionally and using it for an additional use the other 364 days of the year.
Here are a few ideas for other uses for your multipurpose dining room.
photo courtesy of Chalon Handmade flickr.com/photos/chalonuk/6206815617/
Library
You can keep books in your dining room and use it as a library when it is not being used for dinner parties.
You will need to add a bookcase or two in your dining room and make sure that all of the books and other library items have a place to go when you want to eat in that room.
Your bookcase will need to look artfully arranged, not crammed with tattered paperback books.
Make sure your dining chairs are comfortable enough to sit in for long periods of time and read, else you may want to add a comfy chair in the corner just for reading.
Ensure that there is proper lighting.
photo courtesy of Design Folly flickr.com/photos/kerryanndame/6907278903/Home Office
Your dining room can also be used as a home office.
Make sure your technology is easily portable so you can remove it when the room needs to be used for dining.
Consider using a closed storage cabinet (that can be in the room or somewhere else in your home) or storage closet to keep your computer, files, bills, and other office necessities.
You may feel the need to lock the cabinet if young children might get into important or breakable items.
If your desk is always messy, this might not be the best solution for you.
Craft Room
If you or your kids enjoy doing crafts, your formal dining room can also be a craft room.
You will need a table and chairs that can withstand crafting activities, or a durable table cover and chair covers that will stay in place to keep your dining furniture looking its best.
The craft supplies will need a concealed place to be stored when not in use.
Homework Area
You can turn your multipurpose dining room into a homework area for the kids.
If mom or dad is making dinner, she/he will be close enough to the kids to answer homework questions since dining rooms are often adjacent to kitchens.
You can have a designated place for homework supplies in your china hutch, sideboard, or kitchen drawers or cabinets.
Use as Everyday Dining Room
Instead of only using the dining room on occasion, consider using it everyday and turning your breakfast room into a small living room or keeping room.
Having a living room right next to the kitchen will allow the cook or dish washer to not feel so closed off from family and friends.
