Roll on Austerity August: Day 8: A new look

  Continuing to keep a tight rein on finances as I went through day 8 of August. I had received a mandatory notice from my water company that they were installing a new meter reading system and needed access to my inside meter (we already have an outside meter that they read remotely) so yesterday was the day I scheduled for that visit. No charge to me for this so that is good.
While 'waiting' for the meter company to arrive I cleaned house. Gave the kitchen, dining room, living room, stairs, upstairs hallway and bathroom a good deep clean. I also decided to do a little rearranging in the kitchen. My kitchen is small, small , small but wide with an attached table 'nook' area. The far end of the nook is a bow window, the wall to the left of the window has my pot rack on it with pots hanging from it, and the wall to the right of the window has some pictures etc. In the right hand corner by the window I have a small 'French door' wood pantry cabinet on which my tv sits. In the lefthand corner is the large bin of dog food.
I have a vintage enamel kitchen table with four spindle back wood chairs (this picture taken before I got the cabinet).

The area is so crowded you can't get four people seated comfortably there. After pondering the situation awhile I decided to eliminate two of the chairs. I have a vintage wood drop leaf table on my front porch with flowerpots on it, I relocated the two wooden chairs outside next to the table. It makes a cute 'country' tableau. Inside I moved around the table. It has two leaves that slide out and I decided to slide one of them back under the table creating a slightly smaller, more square shape. I centered this in front of the window and put the chairs to either side. I brought out a cotton red checked tablecloth for the table and centered a painted wooden tray in the center of the table. Vintage printed cushions on the wooden chairs that had been lingering in my linen closet completed the look. I'd like to relocate the dog food to the basement to free up a little more room in this area but with the recent flooding I am reluctant to do this. Now this doesn't sound like a big change but it sure did create the illusion of more space and it look inviting and cozy. This will be a pleasant place to sit and watch tv or be on the laptop once cooler weather arrives.
Keeping along with the frugal theme of my day breakfast was coffee and yogurt. Lunch was a grilled cheese sandwich on home baked bread and koolaide. Once the meter company left I gathered my things together and headed out to the GF's house to let out his dog and then to his place of business. We had major league baseball tickets and were joining friends for the game. Dollar Dog Night meant dinner was $1 hot dogs at the game!