Dining room or storage space?

Since before the wedding our dining room has been a storage area. Gifts from bridal showers have found a home there. A box of paintings and photos to be hung has been pushed around, but not emptied and the box thrown away. Our dining room table and kitchen counter have been hot spots for mail and other junk. Today the counter and table are (mostly) cleared off, but the gifts and other items still remain. As a FlyBaby (this will be discussed more in the future), I am trying to declutter my home 15 minutes (or more if I feel so inclined) at a time. Today I'm working on the dining room. It's the first area I see when I get home and I'm ready for it to be free of the things that don't belong.

Before (with Gracie)...

Baby steps later...

I know it doesn't look like much, but I really did get some stuff put away. And I've collected all my bridal shower and wedding cards from the pile for an album project that will be coming soon to the blog... once I can get the rest of the pieces and get started on it. I also cleaned out these awesome storage jars, which I found down by the cardboard recycling area in the condo garage. Yay for free! Once they've dried, I'll be arranging them creatively somewhere... pictures of that to come!

Oh, and I needed to share a photo of my foolish cat. She was playing dead... well, mostly dead- as I was taking pictures, she'd look at me and let out little squeaks. Needless to say, it made me laugh out loud... which is always good!