We’re doing it again.
In preparation for having a small home dojo in conjunction with our new rented room at a local church, we’ll be moving our rooms around.
Have you ever done this?
It’s something I indulge in every now and then; it helps cure that stagnant feeling I get when I’ve been living in one place for too long.
Lots of people do things like turn a spare bedroom or guest room into an office, right? I just like to take it a step further. Our living room, for example, could probably lay claim to an identity crisis. When we first bought the house it was the living room. Somewhere along the way, it became “the train room” (we had a large table with Dylan’s model train layout on it, and we needed somewhere to put it).
Then it became the dining room. And I actually got the idea to turn it into the dining room one day about an hour before my friend and her family were coming over for dinner. So Ward and I moved the dining room into the train room (which had been the living room) and the train room into the dining room.
Eventually, the train layout got dismantled, we moved the living room back into the living room (only we decided to call it the sitting room, as by then we already had a living room in the addition we built at the back of the house) and the dining room was transformed back into a dining room.
(And the dining room was actually our old kitchen, but then we (and IKEA) turned our old den into the kitchen, which is why the old kitchen became the dining room.)
Are you confused yet?
Everyone’s so used to it, no one even blinks an eye when I get one of my room-flipping ideas. Although my husband always grins and points at me whenever we watch Sleepless in Seattle, at the part where Tom Hanks and Rob Reiner are talking about one of their clients wanting to pick up the house and spin it around.
This time around, though, I’ve actually got a legitimate reason for all this room flipping; it’s rather nice to have a reason. I don’t think I’ve ever had a reason before.
In order to have a home dojo, we do, you see, have to actually vacate a room in which to put the dojo. So we decided to use the living room; it’s in the addition, is beautifully bright and sunny, and has French doors opening up to the back deck.
So here’s what we’ve decided to do (it gets slightly crazy, I must admit): we’re moving our living room furniture into the sitting room, because it’s much nicer than the ratty old leather sofa that’s in the sitting room right now. So the sitting room will be our living room again.
We’re moving the old ratty leather sofa to the dining room (which used to be the kitchen and which, in fact, still has all the kitchen cabinets still up, plus a freezer and our old fridge). So now the dining room will be our sitting room.
Meanwhile, we’re going to do some desk and table swapping between the dining room and the office, because, as it turns out, we just might be using as a desk a table which would be perfect for the new dining room.
And where would that be, you might ask (if you’ve followed along this far and aren’t dizzy from all of this)? At the bottom of the stairs, right outside the kitchen and beside the living room (the old sitting room) we have a lot of wasted space – 8 ft X 9 ft, to be exact. Perfect size for a nice, cozy dining room, right?
So we’re going to switch desks and tables around, and create a new dining room where there was nothing before.
I’m really liking this. And as I pointed out to Ward, whenever we have people over, no-one ever goes into the living room anyway except the kids; everyone likes to hang out in the sitting room which is divided from the kitchen by a half wall of cabinets. Yes, the same sitting room with the ratty old leather sofa.
Only now, it will have our nice new living room furniture in it. Because, you see, it won’t be our sitting room anymore. It will be our living room. Which was what it was when we first moved in. See how nicely it all works out?
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{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
Yes, I got totally confused as I read this post! We have neighbors who switch rooms around like that all the time, too. We never know what to expect when we go there.
.-= Kathy´s last blog ..Our Life in France – banking, money and numbers =-.
I’ve never known anyone else who changed rooms the way we do, so it’s good to know that other people get that same kind of – I want to say wanderlust but it’s a wanderlust that’s associated with home!
I’ve been in zillion square foot homes in which everybody STILL congregates only in the kitchen and, if connected, sitting room, so I think that your ideas are perfect!
.-= rhapsodyinbooks´s last blog ..Review of “A Dog At Sea” by J. F. Englert =-.
Isn’t it so funny how this happens? We had a drop-by Christmas open house in December and a lot of people showed up – and EVERYONE stayed in the sitting room and the space at the bottom of the stairs. I don’t think they realized we even had large roomy living room a little further into the house.
They could talk to Ward easily from the sitting room, which was good, because he wouldn’t have been able to cook with people in the kitchen!
One of the things we do for Sunday entertainment is go around to open houses (only those for $1 million or more, of course!) :–) Anyway, one we saw once would be perfect for Ward. It was almost all JUST the kitchen and sitting room. The kitchen was a huge open space bordered by a semicircular granite counter that seated maybe 12, and behind that was this huge sitting room. Then off to the side like with spokes on a hub were paths to some bedrooms. Clearly the house was meant for culinary entertainment!!!
.-= rhapsodyinbooks´s last blog ..Review of “A Dog At Sea” by J. F. Englert =-.
Not sure if it’s a caffeine overload or your post that made me dizzy :) I would love to do this, but we have a standard three bedroom ranch. The only rooms I can even begin to imagine swapping is the kids’ bedrooms. There’s no way I’m giving up the double closets in my bedroom and our dining room is a corner of the kitchen. Maybe we need to plan an addition . . .
.-= Janel´s last blog ..Book Review: World of Pies =-.
Having been through an addition, I’d say, no, no addition! Don’t do it! :)
Seriously, though, I’m not sure what we’re going to do when we move into a condo, which we’re planning to do once my older two kids are in university. I might insist on renting so we can move every few years!
I think your room flipping idea is brilliant! I have actually thought of this myself on a few occasions but have never carried through on my idea.
.-= Kathleen´s last blog ..Look What I got for $2.25 – Part II =-.
You should try it out, maybe on a small, two-room-flip scale. I really enjoy it – I always get such a creative rush from it.
Ok, I’ve spent enough time as a recipient of your gracious hospitality (and Sensei’s fine cooking!) that I actually know all of these areas…and I am still confused! Will a map be needed? :)
Oh, I know, see if you can talk the chef into a skylight in the living room/dojo? Now THAT would be cool.
Runnin’ and duckin’
.-= Steve´s last blog ..The Saints Go Marching In… =-.
Maps are being prepared as I type this. :)
We don’t need a skylight in the dojo! It is SO bright. It’s going to be really beautiful. I’m looking forward to it, because it’s going to double as our meditation room.
Om …. ;)
I like your plan. It just so happens that we are at our son’s in Northern California for the express purpose of helping him do very much the same thing. My husband has all sorts of handyman skills so we’re here to help build a new kitchen in the family room (including a dining area), then gut the old kitchen, knock down an office wall and build a new living room. Just as a warm-up they are gutting and redoing one of the bathrooms and building a small outbuilding for our son’s office. They all think of it as great fun. But I know we’ll be here for most of the year.
.-= Margot´s last blog ..Short Story: The Rancher’s Lady =-.
I felt very comfortable reading your comment, Margot. It sounds like great fun to me! Except that I like it even better once all the construction-type stuff is done, and it’s just a matter of moving furniture around.
And I really like the idea of doing a warm-up!
You’re going to be there for a while, though, with all that work …
I smiled all the way through this… at least when I wasn’t scratching my head in confusion!
My mom used to move furniture around all the time. Drove my dad absolutely nuts. Can’t imagine what he would have said if she’d changed the rooms and not just the furniture :)
.-= Jemi Fraser´s last blog ..I Think I Can! =-.
I move furniture around all the time, too, but that’s more a matter of course. I also find deep joy in repurposing furniture :) But there’s nothing more exciting then turning a room into another, totally different room altogether!
We haven’t done much room flipping. We used to move a lot with the Navy, though, so I know how it’s kind of fun to mix things up! Another advantage to moving: it encourages you to go through your stuff and get rid of things you no longer want/need.
Enjoy your room flipping! :)
.-= Dawn Simon´s last blog ..The "My-Followers-Rock-so-Someone’s-Winning-an-Autographed-Copy-of-a-Book-that-Won-the-Printz" Contest =-.
We’ve been decluttering like crazy, Dawn. Although one problem we’ve discovered is that what’s junk to me is treasure to my husband and vice versa!
Okay — I’m officially dizzy! The most we’ve done is turn bedrooms into offices.
.-= Beth F´s last blog ..Readalong 1: The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien =-.
What a great idea, and it certainly beats moving to get the desired effect! I’ve never done this, but have a friend who did flip her living room and dining room because she entertained a lot and wanted the larger room for dining. All worked out nicely!
My parents moved every year or two their entire married life and I got so sick of moving that I just wanted routine. I’ve lived in this house for 15 years now and all I do is move furniture around in the living and dining rooms. The dining room isn’t really a dining room but that’s another story. Moving must be in my blood though – I’ve been ready to move into a smaller, one-story house for several years now, but can’t do it until we sell Dave’s business. I absolutely refuse to move that machine shop again!
.-= Barbara´s last blog ..This and That =-.
We’re hoping to eventually move to a smaller place, too, Barbara. A condo in the city would be very nice, because both the older kids are planning to go to university there. I can see why you wouldn’t want to move a machine shop!
Does turning your garage into a man cave to watch sports count as room flipping?? We have to sacrifice parking outside but we have pretty good weather most of the year.
.-= Blue Willow China´s last undefined ..If you register your site for free at =-.
That definitely counts as room flipping in my book!