Frugal Tips - Dining Room

[peanut]

This will be a shorter list...I promise! Our dining room doubles as a computer room and a homeschool room. So lots of things happen there.

- homeschool counter made from recycled materials by dh.
- science center in an old printer's desk from a friend's move.
- china cabinet from a friend who was moving. Her ds kicked a hole in the side. Dh fixed it up real nice...for $50.
- computer desk made with recycled fence boards by dh.
- table solid pine from IKEA 25 years ago...for all of $100cdn.
- chairs on sale at Zeller's for $30cdn. (normally $50).
- table linens are all handmade or given to us.
- candles are handmade, bulk purchased, or sale items. The materials for making them were given to me.
- curtains and sheers are homemade. Curtain rod was in the house when we moved in.
- artwork on the wall given to me.
- stitchwork on the wall done by me.
- china given to me.
- recycling computer paper.
- paper shredder makes free packing material for us. Was on sale.
- frames for artwork was discount, bought at garage sales, or paid for by someone else.
- stitchwork was expensive to frame and as a result, I won't do much more that requires framing. It's just too costly. Will put my efforts into some other aspect of stitchery.
- dd#2 writes at the computer and then transfers it to the upstairs computer, which is the one connected to the internet and the printer. Saves time.
- no printing on the downstairs computer. Ink cartridges were getting too expensive.
- candlelight dinners.
- I use cloth napkins.
- we heat the dining room with candles sometimes. Especially when it's really cold.
- close the drapes when it's cold. Open when it's hot.
- keep the sheers closed all winter to act as an extra barrier between the outside and inside.
- hardwood floor easier to clean...lifted the carpet.
- dh refinished the trim and working on the heat registers.
- my art supplies free from the school board are kept here.
- glass pint canning jars to hold pens, etc.
- recycled film canisters for various uses. Right now I use them for medicine when I travel. Each one has a day on it's lid, so I know what to take when.

That's about it. I can't think of anything else. What frugal things do you do/have in your dining room?

[YankeeMom]

My dining room is pretty bare bones because we are 'remodeling'.
I guess that in itself is pretty frugal. We have stripped 3 layers of wallpaper off and are in the process of repairing the plaster walls before we repaint.

-the woodstove is in the dining room, keeping us warm. Plus the wood we use in it was free

-the dining table is at least 50 yrs old. Solid maple. It's what we are using until we save up for a new set. Four of the chairs are borrowed, the other two were stolen from the girls' desks in their bedrooms

That is literally all that is in my dining room!

[hollyhill]

Hmmmmm, well our dining room is a nook off the kitchen and it has an old hand me down table, with hand me down chairs and a few stackable Ikea stools for extra seating. A vinyl table cloth (to hide the marred table surface). A pair of binoculars on the windowsill with a bird book and the children's life lists.
And thats it.

Except the children have covered the table with craft supplies because they are making ornaments for our Christmas tree, hint, hint.....mommmmm....it is time for a tree......
The "real" dining room is a nook off the livingroom and it is our music room. It has a grand piano (from Dh bachelor days) a violin, a cello, a double bass, a guitar, a small table to hold music books and two music stands. All the instruments were purchased used or given to us. Art work- are framed prints of Dd's artwork or photos of the children.

[marym]

I have a formal dining room that we never use! We eat in the kitchen and if we have guest they end up in there. I have my grandmothers dining set, Table, china closet, serving table and buffet. DH and I hope to build a house someday and we will not have a dining room. I would like to have a big comfy room with the dining set on one side of the room and sofas, chairs bookshelves, tv and fireplace on the other. A family/dining room in one. That would be much more practicle for us.

[alabamagirl]

I'm with you Mary - our dining room is a wasted area. What we would like to do is tear down the half wall seperating our kitchen/dining area and just keep one table for dining.

[Michelle]

We don't have a dining room. My kitchen is very large, and we eat in there.

[peanut]

I've actually lived in a smaller house with an eating area built in to the kitchen. I prefer that to the dining room myself. If it weren't for the homeschooling and computer, our dining room wouldn't see near the use it does. However, we don't have an eat in kitchen, so it does see daily use.

I forgot to mention we also have an overhead lamp that I wired and made the shade for...using a stencil pattern found in a library book.

Also I have plant pots that I painted, using ideas from magazines. I've been an amateur artist for a few years, so had all the supplies. In fact, my mother gave me all hers when she quit painting.

And we have a woven runner on the china cabinet that dd#2 made. She was interested in weaving, so we approached the local weaving guild and they loaned her a 4 harness loom for free! She got it up and running and wove several pieces of linens and a scarf.

This was well worth the money. Not only did dd#2 learn a new useful skill, but all the supplies came as gifts for her birthdays and Christmases, and from her aunt who is also a weaver!

I agree, the best thing to do is let people know you're interested in something. It's amazing what falls out of the woodwork!

[homesteadmamma]

We don't have a dining room either. We eat in our kitchen even though it's fairly small.

[Early Bird]

Peanut, as a homeschooler whose dining room is the warmest and sunniest in the house, I am spellbound by your dining room story!

[peanut]

LOL Earlybird! My dining room is east facing with 3 double hung many paned windows facing the backyard bird feeder. It was a great distraction.LOL The girls actually moved to doing their work on their beds when they got older. Oftentimes the backyard was just too inviting from the dining room view...they moved out onto the back patio to homeschool then!

Other dining room frugal things I found today?

A trivet made from a bathroom tile leftover from when my parent's renovated their bathroom. Dh found some scrap wood to make a frame around it, then glued it in place.

Also the plants are from a garage sale. A neighbor was retiring and moving to BC. We bought all her plants for $6!!! Some of them are 30 years old!

Oh yeah, and those candles I mentioned that I made? I used the dipping method and milk cartons for molds. And the beeswax was given to me by another friend who was moving.