Re-purposing Your Space

04 Sep 2013

• Just because it used to be a formal dining room or a coat closet doesn’t mean it has to stay that way if that’s not what your household needs. I’m pretty sure several people thought I was crazy when I said we were transforming the formal dining room of our 1950’s house into a home office/command center/entryway. But I’m also pretty sure more people thought we were pretty darn brave and downright cool for doing so! That was back in March and I sit here now in our re-purposed dining room turned office/command center with bright asparagus-colored walls, typing away with a great view out of the front window of our house. If it was still a dining room, nobody would be in it – ever – and I would be struggling to “share” an office with my husband or more likely sitting at my kitchen table working.
• Life changes and so do your space needs, so don’t let yourself be constrained by how a space was intended to be used or even by how you used it in the past. Evaluate what your current needs are and be bold enough to re-purpose your space if you need it to function differently. I was reminded of my own room re-purposing today, not only by sitting here enjoying it, but also by reading this great post on Young House Love about re-purposing a “coat closet” into a toy library – why not!? In most cases, you can always change a space back to its former self, but chances are, you won’t want or need to do so.