A TALE OF TWO ROOMS

Hi friends. Sorry I've been absent for a week or so, I've been working like crazy on our new closet office in our bedroom.  It's almost finished, but still needs a little more work.  I can't wait to show it off to you once it's done!

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On another note, my kitchen and dining room is seriously baffling me... Sure, I consider myself design savvy, but I hope I'm not the only one that can say that sometimes I design by error.... (meaning, I just keep making mistakes and changing it till it is right.) I'm sure it happens to a lot of people, but for me, sometimes I need to be cautious of what I buy and how it will look because were not the kind of people that can afford to fix every mistake.

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Anywho, you need a little history before I tell you my real dilemma.

This is my kitchen...... Which I hate.

From the cheep cupboards that should only belong in a garage, to the exorcist pea soup vinyl counter tops and floor!!  I HATE IT!!  It's probably the narrowest nonfunctional kitchen I've ever seen in my life. No romantic cooking with your husband in this kitchen!!! Unless you consider being wedged like a sandwich in between two nasty appliances from the 70's romantic.   I've done my best to make it look a little better.... Changed out the stupid plastic drawer pulls for nicer ones.... I even took the doors off the cupboards a while back to try an insinuate open shelving..... But lets be honest no one is fooling anyone hear.... This kitchen sucks!

This is my dining room........ Which I don't hate quite as much.

The table is wonky and takes up too much space... but I LOVE the chairs!  We recently ripped out a section of carpet because it was damaged.... But were planning to put wood looking laminate throughout the house hopefully within the next year.   I built my wall of shelves not to long ago.... and I LOVE them too!

The two rooms stand side by side and smack dab in the middle of our little condo by the sea.  You have to walk right in between the kitchen and the dining room to get to the other side of the house.

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Here is my little dream.....

 Rip out the horrible kitchen and extend it trough the dining room. It would wrap around the dining room and then pop out into the open area with a small island and a few stools.  We rarely ever eat at the dinner table unless we have company over.  It's mostly just a catch all for our filing papers and mail.  With a wrap around kitchen there will be more room for cooking and entertaining as well.  Maybe not for any fancy sit down dinners, but were potluck kind of people anyway.

Here is an idea of what I'm thinking.  The current kitchen is on the left.  Id leave the stove, sink and dishwasher over there, since the hookups are there.  On the right side, the fridge, a ton more counter space, my wall of shelves, and a little island with 2 or 3 bar stools.

The Grand Vision!

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The Dilemma......

The dining room is hardly functional at this point.  A design error on my part. For one, everything is so stark!  Prior to installing the shelving, the huge dandelion chandelier was a treat.  Now its just enormous and in the way. This really makes me so sad, because I really love it, but to get to my spices these days means I'm getting poked in the eye by an enormous paper flower!  Also after installing the wall of shelves, it made the room very vertical, and strait lined, so my round table is like a force against nature.  There isn't enough space to comfortably sit around it and its sticking out like a soar thumb.  *Sigh*

I love the wall shelving... so functional for us and lovely, it is for sure the keeper in this anomaly.

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What to do?....

Do I buy a new table that is rectangular to compliment the shelving on the wall?  It doesn't have to be a huge financial ordeal... Maybe even a picnic table that is old and rustic... or painted dark gray?

Or do I anticipate the dream and simply buy a small kitchen island and a few stools?

Thus leaving lots of space for the inevitable (or should I say hopeful) dream of wraping kitchen around the dining room.

What would you do?

I need some advice!!

"Beep Beep" from The Little Road!