Frugal Friday: A Dining Room Story
Have you ever felt like you had to TRADE one good thing for another?
You had to decide because life just wouldn’t afford you both?
I imagine – and I SEE – that even Clients who can buy and sell islands STILL make decisions based on cost
Able to afford your own island? Even so, we still need to make choices based on who we were really made to be – for what we are supposed to do while we are here…what a privilige. This? Richard Branson’s land…he makes choices each & every day in conjunction with WHO he is. Richard is true to who he was made to be…I want the same for YOU.
It rather warms my heart
In that vein, today I want to share a story from my own life
One where I had to trade option A for option B because I KNEW who I was and WHO I wanted to be
It’s one of those processes we WORK THROUGH at the beginning of every Client we work with, even if they buy and sell islands
Why?
The process is critical
We are always making choices whether we believe it or not
TV on? TV off? Radio on? Book? Sit? Stand?
And so this process of choosing intentionally vets us, helps us see who we really are – even if we get both in the end…
My Story
I love the Dining Room
This is so like my grandmother’s dining room, I just had to share it. Her table & buffet – along with two “window chairs” live with us now. It is the visual that helped shape who I am and who I wanted to be.
Always have
When we bought our little house years ago on a big lot it had no Dining Room
It had a view
It had potential
It had cracks & lots of things to fix
But it had no Dining Room
I love Dining Rooms
I don’t like to eat in the kitchen
All I could “see” was the future Dining Room
It mattered to me – it was one of those life things that was born & bred in my soul
I wanted my children to know how to dine – to tell stories at the table, to laugh at the table, to make decisions at the table, to learn at the table, to be accountable at the table, to cry if they needed at the table, to be SAFE at the table…
A Wine Cellar Dining Room from Arch Digest. Image Linked.
I DID NOT want them to swivel their way through a bar stool life….
So I put the Dining Room Table in the “Family Room” and made it a Dining Room…and set about planning a change, much to my dear husband’s chagrin
(he loves to swivel:)
The planning – the budgets – the eye rolls – contractors who told me I was foolish – framers who wondered what the “%$$” this room was….experts who told me I needed a Master Suite not a Dining Room for re-sale
It wasn’t easy
I don’t have a Master Suite – Option A
Bunny Williams has a Master Suite…so maybe someday I will too…for now that is ok! This image from Town And Country.
I traded it for a Dining Room – Option B
For who I am as a Wife & Mother, I’d rather have a Dining Room first…Image from Town And Country, Bunny Williams Dining Room
We could not afford both
At least not the WAY I wanted my Dining Room
And I love it
And we LIVE in it. It EVEN hosted our Clearance Sale last year…
And one son – home from college – looks to see if I’ve placed his Name Card…
of COURSE I had….it’s the Dining Room after all
Which napkins? Are the Holiday Dishes out? What will we talk about today?
What will we talk about today – away from the kitchen, away from the clatter & clutter, away from the couch…
The point is, a Dining Room isn’t for everyone
It was for me – and my family
What is it that is just for you? That will help you build your custom life?
Guy Fieri LOVES his open concept kitchen
Guy Fieri lives in Sonoma County. His kitchen is open concept. Of course it is…it is WHO he is!
He is BLESSED because of it
Will you take the risk and really think about it?
Will you ignore the “What if ewwes, icks & gag comments”?
Try this sometime, have breakfast in the Dining Room on a weekday before school with the kids or before work with your spouse. Get up a little earlier, prepare a little more…drink orange juice from a pretty glass…use linen napkins. Open a book and read a devotion or kind word for the day over breakfast with them….
Special. You and they are special. Worth it. Custom.
And I want so much for you to “Live a custom life”™
Because there is “Only one you.”™
What is your room? What have you traded for it? Is it really you?
“Live a custom life. There is only one you.”™
xo Ann
I love my own dining room and I also had to justify the added expense however we spend more time talking over meals there and it is a beautiful space where memories are made Sent from my iPhone
Love it! It builds a family….xo
Count me in!!! I’m a Dining Room person, too!! My 2 five year olds and 2 seven year old grandkiddos love placing the name cards, etc. We’re going full oval (table 🙂 franki
Yeah!
Love this Ann. I want to believe I am a dining room person but in all honesty I am not. Case in point..my dining room table is piled high with paint samples, half finished art projects, a glue gun and a bunch of books. I guess what I really am is a project room.
Love it Linda – self honesty is the best part :). You should see my studio office. It’s a project office – I want to be a tidy worker but am not! xo
Aww, loved that. Good for you for not listening to all the naysayers…I’m sure they were all men…lol. I totally understand what that meant for you. We sit at a kitchen table daily and have family dinners every night together with hubby and 3 kids. And anytime there are more than 8 of us we use the dining room. My kids have used it a lot both for bigger family meals and for major school projects. I’m hoping it will be part of their memories of growing up….:)