OUR DINING ROOM/FAMILY HUB!

      Through the years, I have always had a problem with homes I owned because the dining room never seemed to be large enough. I did, back in the 1980's,  live in a townhome in West Des Moines that had an oversize dining room with a somewhat small living room. I didn't care. It was great to pull a chair back from the table and not bang into the wall just behind. I knew why I loved that place. It reminded me of the dining room where I grew up.

      At Christmas time the table with leaves could accommodate 10 to 12 family members easily with the kids card table close by. It was where the action was at least from the perspective of this male kid. The real action, I suppose, was probably in the kitchen with the ladies.

      During the cold winters, Mom would close off the living room with the pocket doors that joined the two rooms and basically shut down the house to just the areas of the dining room and kitchen. With all the glass windows to the south with its built in bench seat, it was by far the coziest room in the winter. 

       Many a winter day when snowed in, we would play Chinese Checkers by the hour. And, on during those cold winters, the TV would be moved into the dining room and we could watch from there the likes of Davey Crocket on the Disney hour. Also, being in the middle of the house one had to go through it to go elsewhere. It was my favorite!