After posting our “dining room to home office makeover”, Christine emailed me for the name of our carpenter. She also had a mostly unused dining space that she wanted to convert:
And, her new home office:
Since she needed more hidden storage, she had him build doors on the sides and bottom:
Do you think formal dining rooms will eventually be phased out of new homes, much like formal living rooms?
It’s true, we never really use(d) our dining rooms in our previous homes, but I still like having one for the holidays or parties. It is kind of a waste of a space though.
that looks awesome- love the color in the backing of her shelves!
that looks awesome- love the color in the backing of her shelves!
that looks awesome- love the color in the backing of her shelves!
that looks awesome- love the color in the backing of her shelves!
eeek! i LOVE the blue in the walls behind the shelves! i helped my friends do that (in red) and it looks wonderful!
What a nice job! I have to say that the combo office/ library / dining room should be the new way! Especially with so many working from home. It’s just brilliant.
I hope the formal dining room doesn’t go away. Even though I only use mine a half a dozen times a year, when we do use it feels really special. I do love the idea of having a double use – office and dining room.
We use our dining room every night even though we have an eat-in kitchen. There is something about eating at a proper dining table, sharing our day with the whole family.
I agree with Angie! I love having a study AND a formal Dining room. Have grown up eating in the Dining Room with my family… and would love to continue it when I have my own family! Im actually looking for a new house at the moment.. and its getting harder and harder to find a house that gives me a formal dining room attached to the kitchen.
I love it! It’s beautiful. I like the large light fixture over the desk, and I like the combo of the open shelves with the hidden storage.
http://www.inside-outdesign.blogspot.com
This looks fabulous — I do love navy and orange. :) Formal dining rooms aren’t right for MY family, but I think they’re more useful than formal living rooms… ’cause really, in my last house I had a formal living room, a great room and a downstairs family room — how many couches does one family need? ;)
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your blog Emily! I adore the dining room to an office makeovers. I am feeling ‘almost’ brave enough to pull my desk away from the wall and ‘float’ it in the middle of the room. This post may have just made me brave enough to try:) Stop by http://www.home-with-heather.blogspot.com to see ‘before’ photos of office:)
Looks great! I love having a formal dining room. We use it often, esp for parties and the holidays. If we didn’t have a separate study, I would then want a combo dining/library. I would do something similar as in the picture because it can easily be transformed back to a dining space for those special occasions.
I love the transformation. It looks great!
We have a new home that does not have a formal dining room in it and I have to say that I do not miss it one little bit! I can “fancy” up my breakfast nook when needed and it fits our family perfectly!
Looks great! I don’t think they will be phased out because too many still have dinner parties in some form, even if just for a holiday. So, we always need extra table space.
I hope dining rooms are phased out – they are such a waste of space. I still have mine because I paid a fortune for my furniture in there – but I am very close to biting the bullet and at least putting it in storage.
What a great office … I am so inspired!
On the twin note …I am so happy to hear you are still up and about. I was long on bed rest by now – but remember I had those HUGE twins! I begged my Dr. to take them at 5 lbs. No can do!
Great transformation and use of space! If builders make the breakfast room/nook a large size, then a formal dining room isn’t necessary.
Looks great! I honestly think it depends on where you live. I don’t think that formal dining rooms (and most formal living rooms) will be phased out in the South. Most “cookie cutter” houses don’t have them any more though! I still love them!
Looks great, love the blue backsplash for the shelving.
Not sure they will be phased out but if they are breakfast room swill have to be much bigger to accomodate for the need for a bigger table for some occasions. I go back and forth about wanting and not wanting a dining room. I love having a specified place to serve from in my dining room and I just think breakfast rooms or eat in kitchens will have to change a lot to suit most people.
Love the redo and I am inspired by the black light fixture! I have it in a lovely shade of brass (ugh!) and am motivated to get the black paint out!
It seems like we’re seeing less room definition in homes, and more great room concepts. An office and bedrooms are almost the only defined rooms in my in-laws home where I live. I think it makes decorating a challenge because you really have to look at how everything flows together, instead of looking at each space individually. I have mixed feelings on it. I think the formal living room can really have its place, but then it can also be a big waste of space.
Not for us! Even though there are just two of us, we eat in our dining room all the time. We like to cook and there’s just something about preparing a really nice dinner and then sitting down in a really nice space to enjoy it. The kitchen table is for breakfast and lunch.
What I’d like to chuck is my over-sized foyer. Ugh. It’s about 8 x 8 and that’s waaaaaay too much wasted space!
That room is gorgeous! I like my Dining Room. Our new house doesn’t have a living room. It has really nice built ins in the Great Room. I don’t need a big office, but would like to have a matching built in desk for a back corner.
The space is lovely. I really like the navy inside the built-ins. We use our dining room all the time – for eating and for big art projects (thanks to a metal top table).
I love my huge long (10′) table in the area directly off my kitchen. No formal dining room for us. I have a tall counter in front of the kitchen sink so that the prep dishes don’t show during a formal meal. I just love that people can sit and enjoy this room attached to the most warm and used place in the house.
Beautiful!!
We have a formal living room and dining room. We’re trying to figure out what to do with the formal living room. Do you still do online consultations?
The office is such a nice alternative to a formal dining room.
I hope not. I love our dining room and we use it every time we have more than two people over for dinner. It’s a great, wide open space and I don’t feel it’s wasted space at all.
Ours is an office/play room (not much work gets done!) and it works great… I can’t imagine using it as a formal space just because we’re not really that type of family. I definitely can see them being phased out!
Trend setter you are!! This is one I could get on board! The cabinets and color look amazing!
my dream house (the hidden in the back of my mind) doesn’t have a formal dining room……just a huge eat in kitchen withh a long farm house table. Love this look!
Yes. I do think dining rooms will be a thing of the past. I have one, and we never ever use it. Everyone loves to be in the kitchen. dining rooms are wasted space!!!
I love this idea and the dining room to office makeover turns out great! Adore the curtain fabric!
Jessie
http://www.mixandchic.com
What a pretty transformation! :-)
I don’t know if they will be phased out completely. I just bought a house with a formal dining room, and although I haven’t used it yet, I’m excited to be able to host Thanksgiving now!
I am planning on using my dining room as an office when it’s not being used as dining room. I have nothing in there so far, so we’ll see how it goes. :)
Lord…I have not used mine in a hundred years…why am I not doing this? Lazy. What to do with the table and chair? Sell….store for resale…..it is just too much to think about!
Its gorgeous…love the transformation and wonderful storage solutions!
Wow love this transformation! I have a formal dining room in my townhouse but I see myself wanting one for holidays/big events one day but at the same time whats the point of a room you only utilize a few times year.
We use our formal dining room, but that’s mostly since it has access to the deck and we don’t have a breakfast table (we have a play area instead!). I think most people use it so infrequently that it doesn’t make sense in most cases.
I love her office, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery:)
Jessica
stayathomeista.com
I love having a formal dining room. As someone else said, if builders do away with a formal dining room, they need to make the kitchen eating area bigger to accommodate guests. As it is, we use our dining room frequently, although not daily. Random family dinners, anytime we have guests over, opening presents for birthdays – I look for opportunities to use it to make the event feel a little more special. I also really like having a room near the front door that always looks put together; sometimes one or two rooms are all that I have clean and picked up at any given time, but this is always one of them!
Taking advantage of useless space in the house is very rational. The floor-to-ceiling shelf covered the mural; nonetheless, it helped established the work atmosphere in your previous dining room. It just takes a matter of three major pieces for your transformation – the shelf, the table, and the pendant lighting, but I wouldn’t deny the great conversion. Good job!
Clinton Harvin