I have written several times, that less is more and sometimes visual space makes all the difference in your house. It is amazing how removing a couple of pieces of furniture and rearranging what is left can do.

I have hosted family dinners for a couple of years now, and I use a room in my basement as the dining room. Here the table is set for Thanksgiving, 2009. If you look closely to the right, you will see a bookcase that is over 10 feet long.

We moved that bookcase to the opposite side of the room a week ago. We gave away a storage unit and took out two tables. That freed enough space to add a table to the end of our big table, and I was able to seat the entire family around the two tables.

This was what the room looked like right before Easter dinner yesterday.

Easter dinner for the extended family.

I didn’t just start moving furniture. I measured everything and cut out pieces of paper to scale, 1 inch for 1 foot, and moved them around on paper first. It is amazing how much room you have when you remove clutter. If you don’t know where to start, visit FlyLady.net.