rethinking our space

When we moved into our home 7 years ago, we had two cute little boys ages 3 and 1, and little Morgan was just a bun in the oven!  Our new home was ginormous compared to the apartments we'd lived in before.  This is the first home we've owned and it was so fun to pick out everything that went into it. 

Money was a major factor in the size/layout of the home, we needed to get the most bang for our buck!  Our awesome builder worked with us and got our plan just the way we wanted it.  But what we didn't know, was that in just a few short years, our kid count would multiply!  We have 4 bedrooms, and it works perfectly.  Little Miss Queen Gabi is the only one without a roomie - so spoiled!  (wink)

So we've been thinking about how we could better use the space we've been given, without taking out a loan to expand our dining area. 

Right now, as you see above, we have our table which expands to a bigger size - but we don't have room to place the chairs as they were meant.  So we really can't fit anymore people around it, it just makes the table top bigger and doesn't really do anything but make it more cramped.  Usually at dinnertime, one or two of the kids sits at the barstools at the kitchen island.  Or one or two kiddos sit in the windowsill at the table, which has a shelf that acts as a bench for little buns. 

The kids love sitting in the window. 

But we think we've come up with a winner of a plan to make better use of our dining space.  This will hopefully allow for all of us to sit at the table together, and will be able to fit friends and family as well! 

I've always loved booths at restaurants, I love a bunch of people all squished in a row with no need to mess with awkward chairs.  So we're going to attempt to build our own banquette.  I had not idea that those cool wooden bench/table combos were called that!  Sounds so posh.  (Thanks, Fancy Nancy.)

So here are a few pictures that are inspiring us.  Of course, ours will be much longer than most of these, and the table will be long and narrow.  Just enough to fit dishes on the table, and we'll be serving the food from the island we imagine.  We also will not have a padded booth like some of these.  We need wipeability! Unless we get crafty and use a vinyl coated fabric.  But I'm not really feeling up to that.   So we'll build from wood and either stain or paint it the benches and table. 

I have yet to find a picture of exactly what I'm wanting, but these give you a good idea of what we're envisioning.  We probably won't have any chairs, as are pictured above, we'll build a long 1 or 2 benches for the side without the built-in bench/booth. 

We also need room for Gabi's highchair, and I think I found a more narrow option for her at the store.  Where's IKEA when you need it? 

Anyways, if you have any brilliant additions to our idea - drop us a line!  I'm so excited to get going on this...  so thankful that Jeremy is a super handy guy and likes building - and goes along with all of my grand ideas.