Nesting Up: The Multi-Purpose Room

This is a guest post by Emily Power.

This is our dining room/library/study/china cabinet/gallery. This is it before we moved all of our stuff in.

We knew right away that this room was to be the dining room. What we found out soon after was that it would have to also operate as part library and part mud room and part kitchen cabinet and part china hutch. Of all the rooms in the house, this room most embodies the spirit of backgarage: It is able to be so much in such a small space because of all our wonderful secondhand finds. We especially like this room as the pieces in it have great stories behind them.

The two bookshelves are from Jonathan’s father, who built them twenty years ago for Jonathan and his three siblings so that they would have a place to put all their stuffed animals, games and books. We use them for our myriad of books, organized alphabetically by author, arranged by genre. Yes, we are nerds. We sanded and stained the bookshelves this summer and have not yet chosen a color to paint the back, primed walls. (remember the bathroom wall? yeah, i tend to not finish things quite all the way).

The dining room table is from Jonathan’s great grandmother. His grandparents had used it as extra counter space in Granddad’s workshop space in West Virginia. When we helped them move out Mimi was more than happy to see that thing go. We couldn’t have been happier. That thing is OLD and STURDY (despite the spindly-looking legs). The four folding chairs were also from Mimi and Granddad. Mimi kept cringing when we would show interest in these items that she had viewed as junk. We love them and have plans to recover the seats.

The credenza is a STEAL we got on Craigslist in Denver. It was $75 for both pieces. The pieces are from different furniture companies and the display case doesn’t have glass but it holds all of our everyday dish ware, serving platters, tablecloths, napkins, trays, flatware and pitchers. Just wait until you see my post on our kitchen: you will soon understand why everything is kept in the library! Underneath we [try to] hide our helmets, silverware, change jar and breakfast-in-bed tray.

It worked out well as I’m definitely a fan of displaying kitchen ware but, yes, it is a dusting nightmare.

And finally, we love this room because it’s where we’ve been able to display many of our photos, prints, paintings and other artifacts, in addition to Jonathan’s record collection. It is our little museum and conservatory!

Emily is an urban homesteader who recently arrived in Denver via Minneapolis by way of Chicago. In an attempt to not become a pack rat she has opened two shops on etsy: ollie’s vintage and cookshop denver.