Organize Your Dining Room.

Whether it is used once a year or every day, learn how to organize your dining room so you can actually use it for dining.

A common issue in many households is that the dining room becomes an all-purpose room...kids use it for doing homework, parents use it for reading the newspaper, and because the table is such a large, flat surface it is a definite clutter magnet.

It is time to take back your dining room! Let me show you how to declutter, clean and organize your dining room so your family can use it for its intended purpose...to enjoy family meals together.

Organize Your Dining Room
Declutter

As with organizing any room, the first step will be to declutter your dining room. Start by removing everything from the room that is not used for dining. If these items belong in another room in the house, bring them to the room where they belong. If they are unwanted items, bring them to clutter central

Keep decorative items to a minimum. Decorative items get dusty. The last thing you want in a room where you will be serving food is a bunch of dusty decorations. Remember that the goal is to make your life easier. It is a lot easier to keep your dining room clean when you minimize the decor.

Organize Your Dining Room
The Clean Sweep

Now that you have all of the clutter out of the way, give your dining room a thorough cleaning:

• Vacuum thoroughly or wash the floors.

• Empty the china cabinet and wipe down all the shelves, drawers and cabinets.

Helpful Tip: When you have found the perfect arrangement for your china cabinet, take a picture of it. When you empty it to clean it, you can refer to the picture to put things back exactly the way you had them.

• Wash the windows.

• Put window curtains in the dryer to remove dust.

• Wash the light fixture.

• Wipe down the table and chairs.

• Clean all decorative items you have decided to keep in the room.

Now that you have decluttered, cleaned and organized your dining room, it's time for some simple maintenance to help you keep it that way. How you maintain your dining room really depends on how you use it. Following are tips for both a formal dining room and a casual dining room.