...and so it begins...Holidays

Can you believe it the first big Holiday of the season is right around the corner, Thanksgiving?

I love this holiday, to have the chance to fill the house with the wonderful turkey and pumpkin smells and the thoughts of all the people around the table!!!  “Oh no!” you say.   "Where am I am going to put everyone?"

When I was growing up there was always the extra card table or two in the living room and the ‘kids’ table’ (I think I was still there at age 13), usually set up in the kitchen.  Thanksgiving is all about getting 'together' over a meal and giving thanks.

Let’s take a look at some ideas for getting more people in the same room.  Some tricks I have tried in the past include turning the dining room table at an angle.  You will discover that it offers the ability to seat more people and the result is less damage to the china cabinet or buffet by chairs too close.   Photo below is a client’s home and you can see the redesigned space gives plenty of room for additional chairs.  This also allows plenty of room to add the table extensions.

Below is a home of my client that I redesigned just for the holidays and her large family. My team moved the table and china hutch to the living room.  The hutch was to be accessorized with all sizes of old family photos just to extend the theme of ‘thankfulness for family’.  There is also room to set up small separate tables, perhaps one, ‘for the kids’ in the same room.

We used the original dining room as a small sitting area for the grandmas to talk and spend time with the little ones in a room separate from the ‘football’ family room.

Original Dining Room

As it turns out, these rooms were left this way after the holidays and the sitting room became the quiet homework center.  The dining room was used more often because it felt more open and worked great for school projects.

Hope these ideas will help you get the whole family together in the same room.

Have a very happy Thanksgiving

Enjoy!

GraceAnn