Well floodthelast, Where's your imagination at? You can make a childfriendly sand box & add a bench & a couple of larger rocks to sit on while the babies are playing with their sand buckets & shovels. A few potted flowers for color around the bench or rocks for the kids to help water, touch & smell won't hurt a thing if you are with them there making sure they don't eat them. They'll get a kick out of listening to the roar of the ocean in one of the larger sea shells. That is how kids learn by touching & smelling & playing. I all ready have mine set in my head how it will be, of coarse the wadding pool will be at the edge of it & on a hot summer day we'll add some water to parts of the sand for making sand castles & memories at Grandmas house. I am so excited to start my kidfriendly sandbox/flower bed for me & the grandbabies to play in. I have a kiddy table & chairs to set in there so we can have refreshments when we go to the beach, of coarse I'll have to drag up my Granny chair or set on the adult bench. LOL When my 6 yr old grandaugther comes over on cold days she always asks "Grandma, it's cold outside can we plant seeds in the kitchen? " so we usually do a couple of ws jugs if at all possible, & she is just in heaven.(memories already taking place.)

Seems that it's quite the thing to have chairs that do not match the table. Having few, or none, that match is,I think, called "harlequin" look. If you are near a Borders or other book stores that encourage browsing, do some research there; it's a wonderful resource. Scour the decor books in the style you love. Without the matching chairs you now have the opportunity to have wing chairs or somesuch at either end...love that look. They are easy to find at thrift stores. You then fabric them as you like, having the seat cushion made higher than norm for better dining height. For the remainder ( 4?), either go unfinished, or, again,look for used and match up the bisque color and spray it on. Can add an antique glaze if you like. Some other color entirely might also look great. All will surely take some time and effort, but you will have a lovely and unique look.

I think some of your instincts are good. Here's what I got: two different-size three-drawer units. The drawers are SHALLOW--that's crucial. And the markers go SIDEWAYS in the smallest drawers--they JUST fit, which means the top ones can't slide off the end of the bottom ones and get tilted up, thereby jamming the drawers, and taking up more room. That's the key to MARKERS--a space that's exactly as wide as they are all. I have been known to tape a strip of cardboard to the inside of the drawer (tape it to the sides of the drawer at both ends, both sides) to CREATE that space, and keep the markers fro sliding around.. I got the small one, which is perfect for markers, pens, etc. in the office-supplies section of Target. I got the larger one at Bed Bed & Beyond. Sterilite makes one, too; Target sells them. And Iris makes two-drawer ones; those drawers are a tiny bit higher; office stores carry them, usually. Iris makes one that has shallow drawers AND one deeper drawer--that would be good, so you can put the paint in the lower drawer, and the stamps, markers, scissors, etc., in the upper ones. Don't forget to get those Rubbermaid or other drawer dividers--little boxes that help you make compartments. I put one in the front of one of those drawers, and it holds the scissors. You also need to relax your standards on this a bit, I think. It's never gonna be perfect,a nd lovely, and right. Here's what matters: 1) can she get to it? if you don' t want her to, store it up high; if you want her to be able to color without interrupting you, store it down low. But no matter WHERE you put it, store it in something that makes it easy for her to access the stuff. That's why a deep drawer of jumbled stuff doesn't work. Those shallow drawers work well, bcs they come out, and can become the container while she's working, and corral the markers to keep them from falling on the floor, etc.. Don't fill 'em too full, or stuff will fall out on the floor when she's digging for the green. 2) will it keep stuff from falling all over? Don't try to set any of this sort of stuff on the shelf, as you already know. Consider moving the playdough stuff away from the crafts stuff. Does she use them together? My kids don't. Maybe yours uses feathers and foamies w/ her playdough, but mine don't. So playdough goes somewhere else. That would free up your deep drawer to hold tubs of foamies, etc. I like the idea for racks on the top; don't try to combine paper w/ other stuff. And drawers seem like a good idea for paper, but they aren't.

Long-time lurker here, but new to posting. I thought I would tell you how we are opening up our kitchen (currently gutted now). We have a 12'x16' Formal Living Room immediately to the left when walking into the foyer. Behind that is a 12.5' x 12' Formal Dining Room. The kitchen (small 10' x 10' plus breakfast nook) is in back, next to the dining room, and the family room is on the other side of the kitchen. I entertain our family of 17 several times a year and I'm not willing to give up the dining room. However, the living room, to me, is a HUGE waste of space. Nobody ever goes in there. In fact, whenever I host a gathering, everybody gathers in my tiny "U" kitchen and I can't move to open the oven, cabinets, etc. It drives me crazy. My solution: move the DR set into the larger living room, which is open by columns to the foyer, and expand the "U" of my kitchen into the dining room. This allows for a longer peninsula with breakfast bar. On the far wall of the "old" dining room, facing the kitchen, will be a "bar" area and a desk area. I will be able to supervise my girls doing homework, being online, etc. all while I prepare dinner. Plus, it gives our guests an area to socialize while meals are being prepared. I should also mention, though, that we have a small study with french doors. This room, essentially, will be the LR, and will house the piano, two chairs and a small desk or table. I do think it's important to have some type of private, closed-off room. I recommend reading some books by Sarah Susanka - her theory of using the space more wisely, as opposed to needing more space, was extremely valuable to me.