Dining Room Storage

Our dining room's at the center of our main floor, so it's a handy place to store things. When I downsized our dishes, I started moving items into our buffet (the only closed storage in the room) that don't usually get stored in a dining room. Let me show you. 

This used to be our "junk drawer." It's actually a really wide drawer (this is two thirds of it) which I open and close about five times a day. That's because it has all the things in it. Every kind of tape, exacto-knife set, tape measure, cat harness and leash (yes, Mr. Leopold is so chill we don't need a carrier), batteries, cat clippers, tweezers, kid scissors, pocket knife, sharpies, wrench for dining chairs (labeled with masking tape), a Dixie cup full of mini clothespins and upright Super Glue. (My mother-in-law shared that little secret for storing Super Glue and now I can use it multiple times because the top doesn't get glued shut.) The back row you can barely see holds attachers like adhesive Velcro, scraps of rug-gripper and 3m picture hangers. Below is the other third of the drawer. 

This side is missing my small hammer, a set of screw drivers and an Altoid box with nails and hooks. I hung pictures in the guest room, but they aren't in there...so weird. So those go in the empty spaces. From the right, we have Rook cards, a small pad of paper, my picture hanging tool, level, matches, giant Sharpies, twist-ties, cough drops, soft things you put on the bottom of a vase so it doesn't scratch a table and mini flashlights. If you're wondering at the number of twist ties I keep, I don't use them when I buy produce. It feels like a waste so I tie a knot in the bag. The ones I keep are heavier duty and come from toy packaging, etc. 

The third buffet drawer holds our silverware and serving utensils. Under my silverware holder is a manila folder with Pampered Chef receipts, in case I need to cash in on a warranty. This is the type of thing that'll be digitized when I really begin going paperless. The lower part of the buffet is one big cabinet with three doors on it. I'll show you what's inside each starting on the left. 



Scrapbooks. I'm not sure what the creators imagined you'd do with the things once you finished creating them, but they're giant. They don't fit on any bookcase and can't stand up or their pages pull on their binding. So this is what I've done with mine. (I've also abandoned making them for the slim photo yearbook idea. It's cheaper and makes something that's easy to sit and hold and look at.) Still, these oldies are loved by my kiddos and won't be going anywhere soon. The ArtBin's from college art classes and I'll re-evaluate its contents when I finish the last scrapbook that's half done. 

Here's where I put serving dishes that don't fit on the open shelving. A huge pasta bowl, a pink glass salad bowl, and two vegetable/side dish size bowls are stacked with my one vase that I should get rid of. The candles in front are for the table on Friday night. We're Christian but we celebrate Sabbath on the same day as Jews, starting at sundown Friday evening and lasting until sundown Saturday evening. Candles and a dinner of comfort food (waffles) make it extra special. Our two trivets are on top of the dessert plates. Next to them, you can see our salt shaker, plastic tumblers we use outside, place card holders that need to go (they're from before the turkey feet days) and an apple-corer-slicer-peeler. 

This is where we keep our printer, ink, and paper. Brian drilled a hole in the back of the buffet (so we can plug the printer in) and wah-lah! I don't have to look at my printer! I love, love my wireless, hidden printer. And lastly , at the foot of the stairs (just off the dining room) is this built-in cabinet (below). 

Here's what's inside. The top shelf is too high for me so I don't store anything up there, but apparently Brian does. :) We keep food here that won't fit in the kitchen after our monthly grocery shop. The bottom shelf holds (from left to right) a cleaning caddie that has washrags and light bulbs, craft paper (for cleaning windows), a small water pouring container for watering our cacti, cleaning supplies, facial tissue and bleach. I think we have two containers because we couldn't find it once, but we aren't big bleach users. I'd like to see all these replaced with my Norwex/Melaleuca fantasy of natural cleaning, but for now, we're using things up. I think we've had that Windex since we got married, so it could be a while yet. And with that - congrats for making it through hump day! I'll start snapping pictures of the kitchen! Also, if there's something you're wondering, "Then where does she put ___?!" feel free to comment. I'd love to help!