Where Do You Keep All That Stuff? Metamorphosis Monday

When Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch posted her friend's "dish room" several months ago, my wheels started spinning. I tried to find the link and I couldn't. Susan, if you read this help me out!

Anyway, I thought to myself, "I have a room I'm not using"! Of course I don't have all those fabulous things and I didn't want to spend any money installing shelves...but, I do have some stuff...and several pieces of furniture stashed in the basement that I will never use. So, I decided to see if I could do a dish room on a budget. 

We have a 5 bedroom house and only 2 of us live here now. Our home is a ranch style, with our bedroom, a guestroom and my daughter's room/my office on the main floor. The basement (I've been told that "lower level" sounds better, but we call it a basement) has 2 more bedrooms. One is my son's room/grandkid's play room and the other was the overflow from the storage room.

This is a work in progress. I did buy paint (medium taupe) and we haven't gotten around to painting yet. I hope to hang something on the walls, eventually. I am still in the process of moving things down. My good china and crystal are staying upstairs. The spring, summer and everyday dishes are in the kitchen cabinets and I will switch back and forth based on season.

I started with an empty room and brought an armoire we recently took out of our bedroom, a cedar wardrobe that I hate...but it has always been great for out of season clothing, a cedar chest my parents gave me when I got engaged, the first dresser we bought before we got married, an old bookcase from my son's room and one from my daughter's college days and a vintage wicker table that I love too much to part with.

The rocking horse is from when I was a child and my dad made the dollhouse for my daughter for her 9th birthday. He made one for all of his granddaughters when they turned 9 (4 of them ). The old radio was my grandfather's.

The armoire is perfect for glassware, holiday dishes and platters.

A drawer for flatware and one for trays and holiday bowls.

The wardrobe has folded quilts in the bottom

as well as my "winter" pillows for the living room sofas.

 I've just started hanging the tablecloths in it, I wanted

to show you how that will work.  

Larger vases and accessories sit on top.

The bookcase is great for ribbon. I have more ribbon to move

here, so those added dishes will be moving somewhere else.

Items that I store in boxes are tucked to the left of the wardrobe.

The old dresser has a few of my teapots on top, candles and

crafty things in the drawers. Eventually I will move napkins

and table runners to the other drawers.

The cedar chest is perfect for the heavier dish sets. See all those

Asian dishes? I did put them on Craigslist but I didn't get any calls.

A large antique crock holds a few of my floral supplies.

The view from the doorway. I put a quilt over an old rocker that has been in our family for decades. It is waiting to be recovered and I couldn't look at the green/brown fabric anymore! What I really wanted to show you is that it doesn't have to be perfect, if you have the space-it just has to be functional and organized. Other than the paint, there is no expense involved. There are several "perks" that are going along with this project. I am going through things and finding items I'd forgotten about as well as throwing away many things. I also am making my kitchen cabinets much more functional as I get some of these items out of them. The cabinets in the wet bar in the basement are empty now...I never have empty cabinets! Plus, all those trips up and down the basement stairs can't hurt!

I am linking this to Met Monday. Please join our hostess Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch to see all the wonderful projects.