The dining room is supposed to be the room your family gathers together in for a comfortable evening of dinner and conversation. In some homes, this only happens after all of the clutter on top of the dining table has been swept off and relocated onto some other piece of dining room furniture. Avoid the dinner-time cleaning by organizing your dining room to create an inviting space for meals that remains clean and attractive, not cluttered and messy.
Organizing a Dining Room:

1. Remove the clutter. Dining tables, with their wide, flat surfaces, are magnets for clutter. Sort the items into piles. Once sorted, organize the items in designated bins. For example, you might want to place some baskets along the wall for craft supplies if you frequently use the dining room table for crafts.

2. Take inventory of your items. Give away any old dishes, tablecloths, placemats or other items in the dining room you do not frequently use. Organize the items you keep by color or style and store them neatly in the drawers of a buffet or china cabinet.

3. Choose the right furnishings. A dining table is a must but 12 chairs are not. Move some of the dining chairs out of the room when you don't need them, and the room will feel a lot less cluttered and much more organized. Add a china cabinet or buffet for style and for storing table linens, china and flatware.

4. Create rules for the use of the dining room. If you allow your children to use the table for homework, for example, designate a storage space for backpacks and school supplies dropped on dining chairs that can be whisked away or hidden. This could be a hollow bench along the wall or a basket that you can move from the room once homework is finished.

By. April Sanders