In the face of simplify this, downsize that, and the small house trend, there’s a reason Todd and I were looking for a home with at least 2,000 square feet: we like our stuff.

We’re both collectors of one sort or another. For Todd it’s games and books, for me it’s art supplies, shoes, and books. And the monkeys, but that’s a story for another day. So the fact that the Dollhouse clocks in at 2,902* sq ft was a definite check in the plus category. (For comparison’s sake, our current rental is 1,571 sq ft and we definitely feel the pinch. If it weren’t for the additional 400 sq ft in the garage we’d be sunk!)

Now, with a space upgrade equivalent to my last apartment it might seem like we’ll have bare rooms once we get moved in. I think it’s more a case of our stuff will expand to fit the space since, room for room, we’re right at what we need:

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First Floor:

Living Room
Front Room
Back Room
Dining Room
Bathroom
Kitchen
Screened Porch
Utility Room

Second Floor:

Bedroom 1
Bedroom 2
Bedroom 3
Bathroom

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(current house equivalent)

Living Room
Dining Room as Library
My Office
Breakfast Nook as Dining Room/Bar
Hall (Guest) Bath
Kitchen
Garage (Todd’s tools, etc.)
Garage (W/D, chest freezer)

***

Our Bedroom
new space!
Todd’s Office
“Master” Bath

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*If we count the Tallahassee garage, though, it’s only fair to count the 300 sq ft of the screen porch at the Dollhouse, which will hold Todd’s tools and so forth until we buy or build him a proper workshop on the property. But the space increase still stands.

We are getting an honest-to-goodness guest room, but we already have a spare bed stored in the garage. This room connects to ours and will serve as additional closet space (I’ve already ordered 6 MULIGs to make up for the minuscule closets up there, until we find out a more circumspect solution). So even the “new” room already has commitments on its floor space.

It’s actually the dining room that we are lacking–my little 4-person table and chair set (also from IKEA, purchased 7 years ago) was going to look very sad and lonely in that 14’x14′ room and was actually far better suited to hanging out in the kitchen as an additional work space/island. My working plan had been to keep one of the folding tables in there as a placeholder, but after this past weekend we don’t have to!

If we’re friends on Facebook you may have already seen this picture, but we scored 6 dining chairs and a table with 3 leaves for a whopping $50 at the charity shop down the street. We’re not hardcore thrift shoppers or garage sale folks by any means, but we decided to stop into the Halcyon Home Store when we noticed it was open (on our weekly trip to Lowes, before the summer’s out I predict they’ll start recognizing us). We’d been talking about Todd maybe building our dining room table, but even that would have cost double in materials, plus the time, plus still needing chairs to go around it. And this table met all our must-haves in the process:

• 7′ long (with 2 leaves it should be right around that, and then we’ve got an extra foot to spare if we really need it)
• Wide enough to have an “aisle” for platters, etc. when there are place settings on either side
• Curved corners so if we need to we could squeeze 4 more people around it
• And the chairs are nice and sturdy as well as being comfortable

There’s not really anything in the way of markings on the table or chairs to show who made them. I sincerely doubt they’d fit the distinction of vintage, much less antique, but they were the perfect size and price when we needed them and I’m looking forward to the next big family dinner or game night around that table!

While at Halcyon (which, by the way, is a non-profit shop, proceeds going to support local battered women’s shelters) we also found 2 barrel chairs with caned back/seats that will go nicely in the library.

They all need a little work: refinishing the table and tightening the legs, eventually reupholstering the chairs, and a new coat of paint for the barrel chairs, but all in all it was a fabulous deal and the one thing we really needed for the house.

Now to get everything else moved in! (Once the contractor’s have to finish the exterior repairs… but that’s another post.)

Oh, and a sneak peek of what else I worked on this weekend when we were up at the house: