Clutter Busting! - Dining Room

Is summer just that special time of year when people get sick of all their junk because it's so hot outside that when you spend extra time indoors (in A/C!) you slowly grow a small, secret hatred for the extra stuff you have that's surrounding you?  Really, I'd love some insight.

I've noticed everyone is going clutter-busting happy these days.  Crystal just finished a Clutter-Busting Challenge in May and even my Pinterest seems to be exploding with clutter-busting suggestions.  Don't misunderstand, I'm so not complaining!

Since we recently moved in with my mother (hey, Hawaii is expensive!), it's been a long and painful process.  No, I'm not sick of my mom already (well, maybe...) but she's got a tiny place and an abundance of...stuff.  I know, I know, feel bad for my mom - she raised me out of the house, and then I had a baby and added a fiance and NOW is when I move back in with her into her retirement-sized (aka meant for one person and a solitary temporary visitor) home.  She'll sue me later.

Forgive the brain fart - I only took the after picture.  I've got a bad habit of doing that.  Usually, when it comes time to get down to clutter-busting, I get fed up an emotional and dive right in, then take a picture in my moment of pride and pout because I didn't get a before picture.  Trust me when I say, this is a monumental improvement. Those pantry doors didn't used to be usable unless you moved 9 bajillion other things out of the way first.  Don't even get me started on the table - we consider this usable - if you saw the before, you'd wonder where the table was at all.

For now, I'm going to try and keep tackling bits and pieces of the house little by little and simply document my achievements - if I started rambling about the how-to parts of this clutter-busting, I'll have written a collection of novels.  Hopefully, there will be some similar tactics I'll come across as I start clutter-busting room to room and give a cliff notes version.  Wish me luck!