Does your home have a formal living and/or dining room

[WitMom]

If it does, do you use it for it's intended purpose? If it doesn't, do you wish you had one or both?

We are currently house hunting, and many of the homes we are looking at do not have a formal dining or living room. Our lifestyle (at least currently) is one that doesn't lend itself to formal entertaining, so realistically these rooms serve little purpose for us (at least for their intended uses). Our old house had both, and they essentially sat empty (except when they became the collecting ground for toys and other junk.) BUT....I really want them in our new house, and I'm not sure why. It's not like we ever really used them. I'm curious what others think about the "use-ability" of these rooms. If you have them, do you use them? If you don't have them, do you wish you did?

[Momof3Labs]

Formal LR - no. Our last house had one and we never, ever used it.

Formal DR - yes. I need a place to put my grandmother's beautiful dining room set, so for me, a formal DR is a must. It doesn't get used as a dining room, though, more as a storage area, unfortunately.

[infomama]

Yes. Our home has a formal sitting room, dining room and family room (where our fireplace is). Right now the formal dining room is the playroom, the formal sitting room is our primary family room (where the TV/computer is) and the 'regular' family room is where our long craft table and bookshelf is along with some couches and art. Works for us.

[JBaxter]

We have a formal dining room which is used for that. Our formal "sitting room" is currently a playroom

[wellyes]

"Formal dining room" as opposed to an eat-in kitchen or a great room with a kitchen table? We have one, and use it for its intended purpose, but only because our kitchen isn't really suited to eating in. When we had a kitchen we could eat in, the formal dining room became a kind of office / area for table with lots of papers and junk stacked on it. I know so many people who have a formal dining room who never use it except when company comes over and it seems like a waste to me.

I don't know what a formal living room is. Everyone I know has a place where the family spends most of its time hanging out, I think of that as the living room. Do you mean having a more formal "parlor" type living room in addition to a family room? Again, that wouldn't be a big deal to me.

I think it matters if you do a lot of entertaining, especially hosting stuff like Thanksgiving dinner. It would also be useful if you have very nice furniture / antiques / family heirlooms that you want as part of your home without using constantly.

[Roleysmom]

Yes, we have both and I'm really glad we do. Our first house didn't have a formal DR and I really really wanted one. The place we moved into two years ago is an old (1908) condo and its layout reflects when it was built. It has what people now think of wasted space -- big foyer, very big DR and LR --but I love it. The LR we use all of the time. It is where people sit and visit when they come over. There is no other big room (no den or family room), so by default it serves its purpose. We eat all of our meals in the DR, but some of the space has non-dining room stuff in it, like DH's drum set. So it's more casual, than formal, LOL.

[WatchingThemGrow]

no on the LR - not really on the DR. We have space for a small table in the kitchen, but the dining room is connected to it, so we just use the dining room for all meals.

We had them growing up, and the Living Room was a good places to stretch out with a book, except that the furniture was uncomfortable. I've NEVER eaten in the formal dining room at my dad's house in the 25 years they've lived there, and it has had a table, etc. in it for 10+ years.

Most of the families I know who have them use one of them as a playroom.

[ciw]

I have a formal dining room and while we only use it about two dozen times a year, it's worth it to me. I can't imagine having sit-down dinners for extended family without it. So, yes, having a room that otherwise sits empty may seem silly to some but to me it's worth it to have less stress about where everyone is going to sit/eat on those occassions. We also will have "special" family dinners with just our family in there sometimes. DS loves those dinners because they're different from the norm.

We don't have a formal living room. I don't really miss it but I would sort of like to have one just to have a sitting area without toys. :rotflmao: But I really don't want a large formal living room. I'd like to just have a small living room on the first floor, about the size of a study, with just enough room for a sofa, loveseat, chair, to create a cozy little formal sitting area. Ideally, it would be near they entryway/foyer so that when unexpected guests drop by I have a place to whisk them off to and chat without having to worry about picking up toys, etc. first or cringing at a toy strewn room. But I want the living room to be small because I really don't want to have to clean a big unused room.

ETA: We do have a casual living room or a family room -- but since our playroom is on the second floor and there's no playroom on the first floor, that room has more than it's share of a toys. I have a train table as a coffee table at the moment. Not thrilled about that. It sort of kills the look of my otherwise beautifully decorated room. But, hey, it's practical.

[mamicka]

We have a great room (large family room open to the kitchen) & a formal Dining Room. The DR is currently used as an office/homeschool room. As much as I'd like to have an actual Dining Room, our lifestyle doesn't require it. Our eat-in kitchen is more than adequate for even large family gatherings.

[Ceepa]

Yes. We have a formal dining room and sitting room. The formal dining room is used for that but the sitting room is a playroom.

[almostamom]

We have both a formal DR and LR. They are connected and opposite the foyer. They are one of the reasons we loved this house. Those room are always clean. They are what you see from our front door and I wanted the first impression upon walking into our home to be a clean and tidy one. We use the DR for holidays and when we have company over for dinner. We've had 20+ people for Christmas so it's nice that the rooms are connected and can spill over into one another. DH reads in the LR or I'll chat on the phone in there in the evenings so that I don't disturb DH in the family room. It's also where I fold laundry before taking it to the bedrooms. It's in the middle of the house while the bedrooms are on opposite ends, so it's a central location for that.

Linda

[brittone2]

Our previous home had a dining room, and a large EIK. We moved when DS was 15 months but if we had stayed I would have converted the formal dining room into a playroom.

Our current house is the same size as that one, but only has an EIK (and not as big as our first house's EIK) and only one larger living room. We manage to integrate toys into the living room okay with the expedit for storage, and we rotate toys a lot.

DH just found our rental in the area we are relocating to. High on my priority list was either a nicely done walk out finished basement, or 2 living areas or a dining room plus larger EIK so we can have room for a playroom. We also homeschool, and while we are not "school at the table" people, I want room for storage of our homeschool items, and room for a table for projects (right now we always have to clear off our kitchen table in order to eat, so when we have projects going, it is a PITB). I have no interest in a "formal" living room for formal purposes, but would like to have the space available for other purposes.

[smilequeen]

Yes. The dining room gets used on holidays mostly. The living room has a beautiful view and I like to sit in there and read whenever I actually get a chance. No TV, bright and sunny, pretty view...I like it. It isn't used as often as I'd like though.

[mom2one]

We have both the FL and FD. I love having a FD and I love our FD set. We do not really have the FL furnished the way I would like (just a couch) so i would love our next house not to have a FL, to me just wasted space.

Our neighbors across the street had their house built to their liking. They kept the FD and opted to use the FL space to enlarge the Laundry area. It is a huge room with tons of storage, a washer, dryer, extra fridge and an awesome table and chairs for kids to play at. They do all the arts and krafts in their. How cool!

[belovedgandp]

Yes, it's one large space that is a dining room and living room. We eat all of our family meals in the eat in kitchen. There is a family room off the kitchen (almost a hearth room) that has our TV and lots of toys.

A dining room will always be a requirement for me. I do use it for activity meetings and larger meals three or four times a month. Right now we use the living room less than the dining room. It looks pretty and I enjoy reading in there and using it for parties. When we move in 5+ years I may skip the living room on the main level for a larger general living area. But by then the kids will be bigger without as many toys. In our area finished basements are common, so we would have a TV/kid area down there instead of on the main level.

[army_mom]

Our current house has both and luckily they are joined into one big room. Until we had DD, the big room sat almost empty. Now, it is her playroom and we spend a good portion of time in it. We have no use for a formal dining room and probably won't for a long, long time. I like having the extra space of an extra living area but there really is nothing "formal" about anything in our house!

[JTsMom]

We have both. The dining room hardly ever gets used for dining, but we'll use it for holidays/company b/c there wouldn't be enough room for everyone in the breakfast nook. We also use the table for projects, games, puzzles, etc.

The living room=the office. Right now, it's just a desk, but eventually I want to put a big comfy chair/ottoman, a table and a lamp- maybe even some bookcases.

Both the LR and DR run together. I call it "the bowling alley" b/c it's so long and almost empty.

[klwa]

We have a formal dining room that is used whenever we have guests (my dad, IL's, etc) because our kitchen table is just big enough for US, whereas, our dining room table is big enough for more. I wouldn't say we use it for "formal" dining, but it is used for it's intended purpose at least sometimes. (It's also used as the "I need a big flat surface to work on" room. And where the Easter Bunny leaves the goodies, etc.) What in our house plans was listed as the formal living room is used as DH's "study". He has his own TV in there & he has his lap top in there from work, so if he needs to work after hours, that's where he goes, or if he doesn't like what I want to watch on TV. :)

[ThreeofUs]

Formal LR - yes
Formal DR - yes

and we use both for their intended purposes. LR is a bit of a toy room now, but still....

[Seitvonzu]

i'm probably in the minority here , but i would LOVE a formal dining room and perhaps even a formal living room. i grew up in the south, were basements were NOT common, so two living areas was the norm instead. one was the "family room" and one was more formal. my mother always had our piano in the more formal space and it was typically where we had our christmas tree (now that i think of it, it was ALWAYS where we had our christmas tree). we weren't allowed to go into the formal living room except to practice piano, or if my mother gave us permission. i didn't think anything of that at all-- it was just the way things were.

we always had nicer holiday meals in our dining room, but it wasn't an everyday thing. we always had our regular meals in our eat in kitchen (which was at a breakfast barn when we lived in illinois). i would LOVE to have a formal dining set. i love to serve meals on my wedding china (which is my most prized possession) and i LOVE setting a beautiful table. when we move to a house (we're in a townhome now) this is a big priority for me :)

[elektra]

Yes, it's one large space that is a dining room and living room. We eat all of our family meals in the eat in kitchen. There is a family room off the kitchen (almost a hearth room) that has our TV and lots of toys.

A dining room will always be a requirement for me. I do use it for activity meetings and larger meals three or four times a month. Right now we use the living room less than the dining room. It looks pretty and I enjoy reading in there and using it for parties.
this is exactly us too!
I love our DR/LR combo. I even posted pictures of it yesterday!
We do spend more time in our family room and eat in kitchen though.

[AJP]

We have both and a large family room where we have the tv and fireplace. Our kitchen is eat in so we have a small table there. We only use the dining room for Christmas since that's the only time we have that many people at once to eat. The rooms work for us now bc the "living room" is a playroom for the girls. All their toys are in there...no other furniture. We have an office on the first floor for computer desk and all my junk. My only complaint is I wish the kitchen was more open to both the family room and dining room. Before we had the girls we furnished the living room but never used it. Everyone hung out in the family room and kitchen.
When me move next I will be looking for a room for a playroom, large & open kitchen & family room and the dining room can be it's own space or a large enough area to fit our 14 seat dining table that's open to kitchen.

[mommylamb]

We have both, and I'm glad we do, though they do get less use than the other rooms in our house. Our kitchen has a small round 4 person table, so anytime we have more than 4 people eating, we use the dining room. The living room is used less, but I do go in there and sit on the phone sometimes.

[Beckylove]

We have a formal dining room that we use frequently. Our eat in kitchen only has room for four, so whenever we have friends to dinner we use the dining room.

We don't have a formal living room. I wouldn't use that. I have a family room and would like a den or playroom. I'd like the family room for tv and family hanging out. I'd like the playroom for toys and kid stuff.

[hez]

Yes, we have one of each. We also have a breakfast nook where the family eats 90odd percent of our meals. Some are eaten on the back deck.

The formal living room is now home to a wall full of library shelves, two comfy chairs, a piano, and two end tables. Oh, and an old small dining room-type table that the kids do crafts on. Totally not formal now, though I'd like to give that old table away. :)

The formal dining room is now our study. We took the table & chairs out, and had built-in shelves and a three-person desk installed along the longest wall. We left the hutch on the opposite side and will replace it with a built-in dry bar eventually-- for entertaining.

DD's party is today, so we've put folding chairs/tables in the old dining room/new study for folks to be able to eat.

Prior to adding the built-ins to the old dining room, we'd used that room less than 10 times in 10+ years. Seemed silly to leave it unused, and it freed up the 4th bedroom upstairs for me to turn into a craft room :)

[newg]

We have a formal living room and dinning room.

The living room is isolated from the other rooms (not connected), so DH uses that as his prive office (he works from home) and one day we'll be putting some french doors to close it off. When we were house hunting we were looking for an actual study or a room that could be used as a study.......

We also have a formal dinning room. It wasn't a "need" for us while HH, but we either needed a big eat-in kitchen area for our large (can seat 8) table, or a dinning room. It's not a "formal" dinning room for us, but it's nice that we have a table large enough for 8 people (possibly 10 if we squeeze) and a place to put it!! Our kitchen eating area only has space for a four person table max, but that's where the three of us eat every day. When family comes over we eat our meals in the dinning room.

Most of the houses in my neighborhood have both and use the living room as an extended playroom or study (like us) and the dinning room as a dinning room (but not formal).

[SpaceGal]

Our house has a formal dining room, in the nearly six years we've lived here we've used it maybe 4 times! It is more our storage/staging room.

Right now our dining table also only has 4 chairs...we need to get another 2 since we now have a family of five. We currently have a large area between the kitchen, living room (family room) and morning room that we use as our eating area now.

In the future, I don't really see us using our formal dining room...I figure that it will become a study room for the kids to use. Where they can sit spread out and do their homework and what not...since their rooms are a bit small for a desk at the moment given the current furniture situation.

[bubbaray]

We have both a DR and LR. We also have a large kitchen with a large nook and a large family room (1 big room). The DR is now "Barbie central". The LR is used as a LR -- ie., rarely. DH and I use it when we are talking on the phone (to get away from the K/FR noise). And Christmas. Other than that, LR not used much.

[maestramommy]

We have both. At the moment our formal dining room has a rack for drying cloth dipes and our rower machine, as well as clothing that needs to be cycled in and out for the current season:p We have no dining set anyway. At some point we will get a dining set and it may function as a study for the girls when they are older. For now it can also be used as an extra bedroom if all the grandparents are visiting at the same time.

Our formal living room is being used that way.

[jent]

No. But our current house is a far cry from my dream house, so I'll talk about what I want...

I think a formal LR works best if your other room is a small family room/den. Then, like PP said, you have a nicer room for "company" and a comfy room for family. But, in a house with a "great room" instead of a family room, the formal LR winds up being a waste of space-- it's never used. In the house I grew up in, we originally had the formal LR/ small den layout. Then we expanded the den to a great room, and we never used the LR again. It was like a museum or something.

My sister also has the formal LR/ great room arrangement in her house, and she converted the formal LR to a playroom, otherwise it would never be used.

As for formal DR, it depends... like PP, I'd want to make sure I had a larger space for family gatherings.

My ideal house would have an open kitchen/DR/LR, with space to expand the eating area for big gatherings. I'm still holding onto an old issue of Cottage Living with one of their 'Dream Houses' with this layout as inspiration... some day, maybe :p.

[groundhog74]

We had doors put on our LR so it is used as an office. Our dining room is a playroom. lol

[ewpmsw]

We use the formal LR as a dining room.

We use the formal DR as an office.

[crl]

Formal living room--no
Formal dining room--sort of. It is separate but open to the kitchen and living room. We use it as our everyday eating room as well as foe homework, etc.

Catherine

[LarsMal]

We have a formal dining room in our current house, but not a formal LR. We don't ise the DR often, but I'm glad I have it. We had both in our lasr house and rarely used the LR. I would read or nurse on there if I wanted a quiet space, but it wasn't "formal" at all. It was more of a comfortable sitting room.

Our current house has a great room. It's fine, but I always feel like I need one more room. I have nowhere to hide!!

[gatorsmom]

We have both, a formal living room and a formal dining room. Except for the time the nanny let Sisi get a pen and go to town on the LR chair, they are both well decorated and it's the first room i usher unexpected guests into when the rest of my house is a pit- which is most of the time. The only reason it stays in good shape (except for the pen stains) is because I tell the kids there is a bear living in those two rooms (they are kind of dark) so they stay out. I will let the kids work that out in therapy later! :D

Honestly, I wouldn't miss those 2 rooms if I had a very nice eating area elsewhere in the house. As for the LR, I am dying to convert it into a library complete with bookshelves and overstuffed chairs- without pen marks. I wouldn't miss a formal LR at all.

[egoldber]

We have both (although it is really one large room) and I never use them. Well, every 3 years or so for Thanksgiving and that's it. One reason I want a smaller house is because I hate having these two rooms that need a ton of furniture that we don't use.

[kransden]

The formal living rm is MY living room. I sit and read and enjoy myself. The family rm has the tv and all of dd's stuff. I have a small kitchen table that was my grandmother's. If we have people over we use the formal dining room. Neither of my formal rooms are that formal though.

[galvjen]

DR - yes, used as DR about 0-6x/year and otherwise the table is devoted to puzzles with a gazillion pieces.

LR - maybe... the space could be used for a formal LR but it has a full wall of built-in bookshelves. We use the room as an office. One day I'd like to add doors to this room so our messy office is hiden!

[HIU8]

We have a formal living room and dining room. We use them them both for their intended purpose. We are the ones who host the rest of the family for all the holidays. Our dining room has no toys etc... in it. Our living room does have a play tent and a train table, but we still have all the seating, display cases etc... (we remove the train table and tent when we have company).

[MelissaTC]

Our home has both. The living room is pretty small. We call it the lounge. It has a sideboard with a bar, leather club chairs, a 32 inch lcd Sony and it is definitely more of our grownup room. It is open to the dining room which has a full dining set. We used both of these rooms for playrooms or tv room over the years and are quite happy to finally use them for their purpose. We love to entertain.

I could definitely live without a living room but not a dining room. We host major holiday meals and a big holiday party every year. Sometimes we eat in it just because. The living room sees less use.

[pinkmomagain]

Yes we have a formal dining room and living room. Alot of the time the dining room table collects mail and school papers....well most of the time. But we do use it for when we have large enough company to warrant it (maybe 6 times a year?)....otherwise, our family of 5 eats in our kitchen/great room. The living room stays fairly clean and it is a gathering spot when we have company, it holds our xmas tree and stockings that time of the year, it houses the fireplace we use in the winter, it is a quiet clean spot that dh and I go to to get away, and where dd3 goes to pout.

[erosenst]

We designed and built our "forever" house a few years ago. We intentionally did not include a formal living room - we would never use it. We do have a formal dining room. Although we use it infrequently, I still really like having it. (I also like the storage I have in there for things we don't use often.)

We asked several realtors, more out of curiosity than anything, if the lack of formal living room would hurt resale. They all said that, while a few people *might* not buy because of that, the trend was definitely away from formal living rooms.

[happymomma]

When we bought our house we had a formal dining and formal living room. We have since knocked down the wall between the dining room and the kitchen to make it a really large kitchen. The previous kitchen had a small eat in area but we found that we never really ate at the dining room. So when we decided to renovate, we decided to make it a large room instead of 2 small rooms. It's been so nice to cook in our new kitchen. It's spacious and comfy. We put in a huge island so that the kids can eat and do homework there. But we also have a big enough area for a nice size table. The table can expand to fit 10 people easily. So when we have a large party, we can still accomodate. But now we are using every room we have.

We also have a formal living room. It's not being used as that right now. The kids like to do their crafts in that room. With the renovation, we've been using the room more. The previous formal dining room was next to the living room. We found b/c we didn't use the dining room that much before, we also ended up not using the living room.

[AngelaS]

We have both. One is my sewing room and one is our school room. It works out GREAT! LOL

[ilfaith]

We have both.

While our formal living room is decorated as such (sofa, cocktail table, a couple of chars, two side tables, and a liquor cabinet), it is not used very much (although DH and the boys are in there now playing with DH's new iPad). I would trade it in a minute for a play room, however, our living room is the room straight across the foyer from our front door and is too open to be used as a play room. In fact, it is usually the only room in the house kept clean, since it is so visible.

Our formal dining room contains a billiard table. We don't play much pool, but we probably use our pool table a few times more a year than we would use a formal dining room. Most of the time the pool table collects mail and school papers. I imagine if we had a dining table it would do the same thing. The eating area off our kitchen is large and we have a table there that expands to seat eight.

One day I would love to build a "bonus room" onto our home which could be used as a playroom. I'd move the pool table up there and get a nice formal dining set for downstairs. For now it's just a dream.

[hillview]

We have an informal dining room right off the kitchen (open space) it can seat 12 (maybt 14 if you pushed it). I am happy/fine with this. We have a playroom which I love having (I guess if I wanted to, I could make this a formal dining room but we have no use for such a thing. We have a HUGE/open great room which is really 2 rooms but very open. They would be the formal living room if we were formal types. There are toys and kids books in this area but in general the playroom holds the kid stuff.

When the kids get a little older, we will redecorate to make this living room area more pulled together/decorated :)

/hillary

[baymom]

We have both. We do use our formal dining room everyday. Our formal living room has become a large playroom and I look forward to the day when we can reclaim it and make it a more grown-up space. Our LR is much larger then our family room which is open to the kitchen. I really wish it were the larger family room that opened to the kitchen and a small living room.

[becca_g]

We have both.

Formal dining room used as dining room (few times a month).

Formal living room set up as living room with pullout sofa. Use it occasionally as guest room. Otherwise we sort of forget it's there since it's in the front of the house away from where we spend most of our time (in the kitchen and family room) and has French doors that we keep closed. Planning to convert it to a playroom now that we have DS. Hopefully, it will get more use in future.

[salsah]

i don't have either, but i would like both. currently we would never need them for formal entertaining but they would come in handy as extra space for all entertaining. if i had them, i would not set them up as "formal" since we don't need them to be formal.
currently, dd does all her artwork, projects, homework etc. at the kitchen table. it is also the place where i do my sewing. where i wrap gifts. where dh works on things. and, of course, we eat all meals on it. it is a multi-purpose space where most of us spend most of the day. it would be nice to have two tables. one for all these projects (no one would have to clean up a project still in process just because it is time for lunch) and another for meals. the family and living room might not get as much use but are still nice to have. when we entertain, everyone sits in the living room, even the kids. the girls room is just too small to play in (even for just the two of them) so the kids bring out whatever toys they want to play with and play in the middle of the living room. (we live in a 2 bedroom so the living room is also the home office.) if we had a family room, then when we entertain, the kids could play in there while the adults hang out in the living room.
for us it is more about space than having a "formal" area for entertaining.

[MontrealMum]

Technically, yes, we have both a formal LR and a DR. It's an old house and has the stained glass and wainscotting to reflect both. We are presently using the LR as a Master Bedroom - DS is in the "large" BR, and another serves as my office. And we use the DR - complete with an entire wall devoted to a breakfront, all-around wainscotting, way too many moldings and stained glass - as a den/TV room. We have a kitchen that's plenty large enough to be eat-in, so that's what we do. All the formal dinners (in this town) are at the ILs anyways :p

Why do you ask?

I grew up in a large house, and I"d say I'd much rather do w/o the dining room than the living room - if you have a den and/or playroom. But we had a breakfastroom off the kitchen as well.

[Elilly]

No, we live in a typical 50s ranch with one living room on the main floor. Our house has a huge eat in kitchen that used to be a combo kitchen / formal dining room. So, we don't have a dining room either. We have a basement with a family room so our LR is an actual living room now that our kids are a bit older. In full disclosure, when the kids were younger, the LR was a room with nice furniture and a TON of toys!

[Carrots]

We have both. Our kitchen has a built-in breakfast nook and we eat breakfast and lunch there. Dining room is right off the kitchen and that is where we eat dinner.

Our formal living room has our fire place and sound system. We moved the coffee table out of the way so DD has plenty of room to "dance" and play with toys.

Our TV watching goes on in our small den.

[LexyLou]

Yes we have both a formal dining room and living room. They are connected.

We might be in the minority but we do use it, often.

We love to entertain and have dinner parties often. In fact just last night I hosted a 20 person sit down 4 course meal for my MIL's 70th birthday.

Last month we had a 25 person sit down Passover sedar and before that we had a big Hanukkah Party and then we hosted Christmas Day (blended family).

I love to entertain and bring out the china and silver.

I know it's not for everyone but for us, it works.

I do love the newer houses that instead of having a separate LR/FR have just one big Great Room. I love that lay out. If we had a really big Great Room we could do appetizers in there but I would still need to have a DR.

[nfowife]

We built our home in 2005 and it has both a formal living and dining. It's one big room. I would have preferred no formal living, but DH fell in love with the floorplan so I caved (we already had furniture for it as our previous house had a formal living, so it wasn't anything extra to keep it). We do have a breakfast nook and large family room we spend our time in, but use the formal dining on holidays or when we entertain. Don't use the formal living very much but on occasion we do. We have a separate playroom upstairs (open to the first floor) and study so there's not much else it can be but a formal living room! I have a sleeper sofa in there just in case but we have a big house and would have to be having like 8-10 extra guests to need someone to sleep in there.