Welcome to week three of our 14 week home organizing challenge. Hopefully you are progressing and seeing a positive change. With the whole kitchen now complete, it’s time to move on to the dining room. If you don’t have a dining room, concentrate on the area around your kitchen table.
If you’re just joining us, print out the schedule and checklists below and begin on the current week. For encouragement, join our Home Organization 101 Facebook communityfollow to share your progress, or struggles, or questions. Or simply look through the photos and read how others are doing.
For the perfect companion guide to our challenge, purchase The Complete Book to Home Organization. It includes all 14 weekly challenges as well as a ton of inspiration and tips about the spaces we will be organizing. No need to log onto the computer for ideas, this manual has it all!
If you need more guidance on cleaning your house, be sure to pre-order my brand new book The Complete Book of Clean. It has tons of tips and checklists that will teach you how to get your homes sparkling clean.
WEEK 3: THE DINING ROOM
Organizing the dining room is a pretty simple process. If you have a hutch or buffet table, you can easily create a functional space. If you don’t have one, you can use a dresser. The most important thing is to designate a piece of furniture to store everything and completely empty the space.
PREPARE
- Gather 4 bins, one for each of the following (Keep, Donate, Trash/Recycle, Other Room).
- Go through everything on the table, buffet, drawers & shelves, dividing into 4 categories. Purge as much clutter as you can. Place the bins in another room until you are ready to re-organize.
- Once you have gone through everything, the room should be empty (besides the furniture). Give it a good cleaning! Scrub the floors, table, chairs, baseboards, buffet, mirrors, windows, etc. Clean it all!
It’s time to go through everything in the “keep” category. Put the other boxes where they belong. When organizing, go through one item at a time – placing into categories (in drawers, baskets, shelves, etc). Below are some examples of categories you can use to store things in a buffet or hutch.
- Disposable dishes (plates, cups, napkins, cutlery)
- Napkin related items (cloth napkins & napkin rings)
- Place mats
- Table Cloths
- Beverage drawer
- Seasonal linens & placemats
It has taken several years for me to fall in love with my dining room. After changing decor, furniture, and organizational aspects, I finally feel good about it. Recently, I put the finishing touches in there with a new rug. I love everything about it now. You too can create a space that’s visually appealing and organization that works for your family. Here is what I did…
THE CHINA CABINET. A hutch or china cabinet is an essential part of dining room organization. It houses all of the entertaining pieces we use, extra candles, batteries, and so much more.
I collect white dishes, Rae Dunn pieces, and vintage hobnail and display them with joy inside of this china cabinet.
BUFFET TABLE. The buffet table is another wise decision when it comes to dining room organization. I store our table linens, placemats, napkin rings, and more in these drawers. Not only is this piece great for organizing, but you can use it to house your food platters during meals.
Here are a few blog posts that will inspire you to get started in your dining room.
2. Organizing Heirlooms & Collectibles
3. Decorating the dining room with silhouettes
Create an organized dining room this week. Purge all of the things that don’t belong. Follow the step by step process I’ve laid out for you. Make sure to set up organized zones for better functionality. (You can find the zones I use in my book). Try not to get side-tracked and don’t move ahead until you are completely finished with the space. Share your progress on Instagram using the hash tag #abfolchallenge, blog about the weekly challenges, and share your before and after pictures over at my Home Organization group here. Hold yourself accountable and finish all 14 challenges! I can’t wait to see what you accomplish. Good luck. I’ll see you back next week for the week 4 challenge. Happy Organizing!
~Toni
Disclaimer: You may find Amazon affiliate links within this post. Thank you for your support to A Bowl Full of Lemons.
Tags: 2017 home organization challenge, dining room, organize, organized
2017 Home Organization Challenge, Blog, decluttering, Dining Room, January 2017, Organize Posted in
13 comments
13 comments on “2017 Home Organization Challenge: Week 3 Dining Room”
This is one of the best post I have ever read. So much really great info. I just lost my precious 15 yr old yorkie and am so heartbroken. I’m going to use all this info to organize my home and keep busy will my heart heals. Thank you so much?
I love your buffet! I thought we wouldn’t have place in our new house, but maybe I can squeeze it under the window, the buffet gives a lot of organizing space!
Your dining room looks amazing! Can you share the details about your rug (pretty please)? I’ve been on the hunt for a rug to go under our dining table for a very long time and can’t find the right one:( Thank you!
I wrote a blog post all about the rug. If you search “rug” on my blog, it will pop up. 🙂
This is my second year doing the challenge and I can’t believe how much I needed to declutter in just one year! Thank you for doing this!!
I love your silhouettes, would you mind sharing where you had them done? Thank you!!
Vonjet silhouettes. 🙂
Ha! I’m blind and just saw your post!
Your buffet is looking really good. I need one for my new house, but I wonder where to put it. The buffet provides organized area. Your dining room looks amazing. Thanks!
Can you post a link to the box you have batteries in?
Its from TJ Maxx.
Where did you get the battery organizer?
TJ Maxx 🙂
Where you given any wedding China when you got married after college? I was thinking of hanging a few silver platters & my good china plates too on the wall should I do that?