The Nester recently did a 4 week series called "10 Minutes to a Room You'll Love." She gave simple and practical advice for making a room prettier and more functional. Now that the series is over, she is having a linking party so that we can all share the 10 minute makeovers we did in our homes. Below are the changes I made in our house this week.
This is our dining area before. We live in a small apartment, and have virtually no office space. My husband is a seminary student, and living in a small apartment makes studying difficult and messy! Will doesn't have an office or spare corner of the apartment for studying and doing homework, so our kitchen table doubles as his study space. We are only a family of three, and we really don't need all of the table space for meals. We did want the dining area to look nice, but we didn't have a good place to keep books, notebooks, pens, Bibles, Hebrew cards, etc. They always stayed piled up on the table. And what is that in the corner???
Yep, it's a box of food. We ran out of food storage room in our kitchen. This box stayed in the corner. It was practical for us, but unsightly! The solution: I removed the box of food, and replaced it with a small bookshelf.
This bookshelf now holds all of Will's notebooks, pens, current textbooks, Bibles, and Hebrew cards. I even had room on the top for some of our favorite pictures and a fake candle (real candles are banned in our apartment complex).
That cleared off the table very nicely. But what did I do with the box of food? Look closely!
There it is! I just pushed it under the table. We don't use that side of the table, so it won't be in anyone's way, and it won't be in plain sight.
This is the after shot. It's not a perfect dining area, but it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful, right?
Do you want to see what others have done? Go check out the Nester's linking party!
Isn't it amazing what a difference small changes can make? Good job.
Awesome job. Don't you just love Nester's inspiration!
Great job...what a difference that makes!!
HIding the box of food!!! We are birds of a feather! I believe that's what my friend Melissa calls "creative concealment" Can I just come there and kiss you for showing us that!
You've done a wonderful job of making that space work for your family and look great too!
What is perfect anyway?! I think it looks welcoming and that's what matters. My take on this whole project is to simply pay a bit more attention, something we can quickly do, to make ourselves, our families and our home more welcoming for us. Great job!
You did a great job! Love the fake candle!
Much better! Don't you just love bookshelves? Storage and display. Great job. I can't believe candles are banned!
Fabulous redo! We're about to move to a smaller space (after being in seminary!) Thanks for sharing.
Wow, that was a big difference in 10 minutes! I say we all need a link party about the things we hide or just plain shouldn't do. I have a million of them! Great job!
What a difference for small changes!
Small changes really can make a difference. Great job.
oh i love small changes that make such a big difference! looks great! bet it feels great to see the area "fixed"!
Oh, girl, this looks great!
Isn't it wonderful that in just minutes time, we can have our spots look so much better...and wonderful that we have NESTER to pinch our butts and make us move faster!
What a fantastic job in just 10 minutes! :o) I really like your bookshelf.
I really love the idea of the bookshelf! That is smart thinking and utilizes the small space you have, adding extra 'room' for your hubby's stuff. Great work!
Goodness you are popular! Holy cow! I don't think I've ever had 22 comments on a blog post! LOL. So, this post just makes me smile so much. I LOVE it. My problem would be that I would never put the books back on the shelf after I took them off to use them to study. I'm so bad at picking up!!! I'm just good a MAKING messes!
I love what you did. It makes a big difference. Very clever!
What a great result for 10 minutes of time! I bet you feel so much better about the space now!
The table looks great and it was like a game looking for the box of food. That seems like something I would do for sure.
Oh, I read your profile and keep my toes polished all the time for the same reason.
Awesome, it looks great! Funny what a few simple changes will do.
It's such a small change but makes a huge difference!Nice!
Yeah for the little things!
Thanks for stopping by-I remember Bible college days in a tiny apartment-awesome job, I love how you worked with what you had!
Great job! That shelf unit was a good idea - and will be handy to keep things on!
I love the difference the little table makes, you are very organized!
Yipeee! Hide the Uglies!!! Way to go, shoving that box under the table.
The bookshelf makes a huge difference!
Great job! I'm glad I'm not the only one with piles to tame!
It's definitely the little things that make the biggest difference!
I, too, love that you showed that the box was still there-just out of sight. It is so great when little changes make such a big impact!
I've been enjoying visiting the participants' projects. Perhaps next party I'll participate too.
This party has also given me the opportunity to visit new blogs, like yours.