Our first house had what the Realtor euphemistically called a “country” kitchen. That was supposed to mean it was “large,” but what it also meant was, “this house has no dining room.”

Where could you sit people for Thanksgiving dinner, I wondered.

Our agent pointed to a slight niche in the living room wall. “You need a drop leaf table, right here. Then you pull it out when you have company.”

We learned to adapt to living in a 900-square-foot house, and I was even thrilled to find at a garage sale a perfect drop leaf table that came with four fold-up chairs tucked inside it.

If only a handful of relatives are willing to trust your turkey baking skills, it works out well. But one year it fell to us to host 14 people for Thanksgiving. Turns out the drop leaf table was better left in the “dropped” position.

Despite our best efforts, both of the leaves sloped towards the floor. The legs were unreliable, so you didn’t want to stand up too fast. If you leaned on one side of the table top, the other side buckled dangerously. It was a good day not to be serving red wine.

Somehow we all managed. And everyone was polite about my first turkey.

Whether or not they have had to punt on Thanksgiving Day, many home buyers put “dining” room high on their list of must-haves. Then, like just about everyone else, they find that it’s the least-used room in the house.

That’s especially likely to happen if the home has another place to eat that is closer to the refrigerator (that “country kitchen” comes to mind). And it’s just about guaranteed to happen when the owners invest in expensive dining room sets that are considered “too good” for every day use.

It doesn’t have to be that way, unless you want it to be so. Interior designers suggest that dusty dining room syndrome can be combated with a little imagination.

For one thing, a less valuable table can immediately add value of a different kind to the space. If you’re not trying to protect the table, it can be a craft and hobby table, a sewing table, a Cub Scout project table, and a place to create the endless posters required of today’s middle school students. It’s probably the only good place in the house to build a 3,000-piece Lego star destroyer.

Naturally the table surface isn’t going to be showing up in furniture polish commercials, but that’s where tablecloths come to the rescue.

Many shelter magazines are starting to show unmatched chairs at a dining table, a style that instantly takes the “formal” out of dining room.

To give yourself more options, consider a storage bench as one of your seats. Benches not only hide the craft supplies but are great for squeezing in an extra cousin at Thanksgiving dinner, too.

If your dining room has the space, try adding some book shelves and creating a small library. If there’s room for an upholstered chair, too, you now have a functioning cozy room. Scoot the chair up to the table when company comes.

One of the most likely side uses for the dining room is as a home office, but a usual consequence is that the “office” takes over completely and before you know it, there’s no place to set the turkey. Designers recommend using a portable laptop here, so that at least one thing is easy to move.

During the long stretches between holidays and formal parties, the dining table can be moved to the wall so it can function like a desk. Hoist up the chandelier, if there is one, so that nobody loses their top hairs. A wood cupboard with doors can hide projects, papers, and files.

Finding all these tips for dining rooms made me realize that our dining room full of hand-me-down furniture is not some sort of blight, but is in fact, ahead of its time.

It even has a dusty drop leaf table, pretending to be a sideboard, just waiting for the next time a tipsy second table is needed.