We have lived in our house for almost 3 years. And for that entire time our rectangular kitchen table has been in the same spot. We originally set it up running the length of the breakfast nook in our eat-in kitchen because it looked like it fit better that way. The nook is wider than it is deep, so we simply assumed that lining up the longer end of the table with the longer wall would make the most sense. But we never ate at the table. The chairs that were along the wall were impossible to get to without pulling the table into the kitchen. So the table collected clutter. For 3 years.
Now we have a baby, and she’s starting to eat solid foods from her highchair, so I have been sitting down to eat with her. But I was constantly rearranging and pushing stuff out of my way to make it work. Finally I had a flash of brilliance. I pulled out the measuring tape and measured the length of our table. 60 inches. Then I measured how much space we were actually using from the back wall to the edge of her highchair in it’s original location – 72 inches!
It took me just a few minutes to flip the table so that the short end is now up against the long wall, and slide the chairs into their new locations. I was shocked at how much this opened up our kitchen! I can actually get to the far chair in the corner without having to climb over anything or squeeze by. You can see the results in the photo above (I wish I had taken a “before” picture, but I didn’t realize what a great post this would make until I saw the result.) Why we never tried this sooner is beyond me, but rest assured we will be eating many more family meals together from now on!
So if you have a problem area in your home, grab your measuring tape and try a few unorthodox arrangements – you might be surprised at what you find!
Feisty Girl 
Brilliant!