NBR: So, the topic of houses got me thinking...

teacherjess

I was flipping through the pics Miranda posted below of her new house. We are preliminarily house-hunting with the idea to maybe buy again next year and the area we are focusing in has a lot of houses like the one she bought.

One thing that I can't seem to get past is that living room space. We pretty much live out of our family room and kitchen and it's really been the "heart of the home" so to speak in both houses we've been in. I grew up in a house with a formal living room and then a regular family room and I always found the living room to be a colossal waste of space. No one ever sat in it and it just had nice furniture but no TV. I've always said I'll never buy a house with a formal living room and so far I've stuck to it. But if we buy in the area we're looking at, we're going to get one whether we want to or not. Literally every house we've looked at has had a formal living room and they've been full of frilly furniture and clearly not used much.

So, for those of you with formal living rooms and then family rooms, what do you do with this space? Is it formal? Is it another family room? Does it have a TV?

doodlebug914

Totally agree with you   Our front "formal living room" is our family room with my armoire and our big tv.  I have a trunk in there to keep some of Ethan's toys so they can be put away quickly.  Our old family room at the old house had ALL of his toys and they were taking over.  We did it this way because the way the fireplace and patio doors sit in the back room off the kitchen, our family room furniture would not fit... so in that room, I have my computer desk and hutch, a loveseat, and Ethan's big train table.  It is also serving as the catch all room right now, lol and I haven't planned it all out yet... we had it wired for Directv also and will get a smaller tv in there at some point either to sit on the built in shelves or to hang above the fireplace.  It has worked out well for us so far.  I am liking having this extra space because he can play independently while I am cooking in the kitchen and he doesn't have to be watching tv.  We were depending on the tv a little too much to occupy him while we've been moving and everything and it's nice this way so far

ETA: My grandma totally thought I should use the front room as a "formal" room and that just doesn't work for us at all.  Our front room is quite big also.

Kle2922

Agree, they are a total waste of space!  We do have one though unfortunately!  We have a nice couch and coffee table. Then a secretary desk that i keep photo books in.  It's the couch the dog sleeps on, ha! Except for the circles Ashlyn runs through it or the overnight drunk friends that crash in it, we don't use that room at all.

JLPT830

Our TV, couch, etc is in the family.  We turned the living room into the "play room"  This is where we keep the majority of Caleb's toys and we play in here a lot.  It's a step away from the kitchen and I can easily hear him in there playing by himself.  It's worked out perfectly for us.

sara401

We've only been in our house for about 4 months now and I got furniture to fill the space so far!  However, our formal living room opens to our dining room and we entertain a lot.  So I figure when we have people over - it'll be a nice place for people to sit.  Other than that, I think that it's a great place to sit with a girlfriend and talk!  Especially when DH is home and watching TV in the family room.  We don't have a TV in it now, but DH wants to put one in there.  We have enough TVs in the house (including a finished basement with a living area), so I don't think we need one in there!

Moesten

Believe it or not, I love my formal living room. It is on a separate side of the house than our family room. We don't have "nice" furniture in there right now (just a normal love seat and sofa) but we do in the dining room which our living room opens into. I like the living room because it gives me a quiet, TV-free place to go talk on the phone, read, etc while chaos goes on in the family room. It also provides for a nice place to sit with guests or talk to contractors and workers without having to bring them into the heart of the home amongst the mess and kid-ness.  Our kitchen and family room open to each other and are overrun with kid stuff and family stuff. I love having an area that stays neat, doesn't get crap spilled all over the place, and remains "presentable."

Meg41208

we have a formal living room and right now, it's pretty empty.  We'll probably turn it into a playroom eventually.  If we didn't have a separate office, we'd use it as that, but the office is right across the hall from it. 

We bought this house with the intention of growing into it.  So far, we haven't grown into that room yet.  We still have 1 totally empty bedroom upstairs too.

KristenBtobe

We have one and we use it daily, because of the layout of our older home. It's the room you walk into when you come in the front door, and connects with the dining room and kitchen.  It has no TV, just decent furniture, a fireplace, and lots of toys. I like having a room with no TV for Maggie to play in, and it's a room the dogs aren't allowed in so it's pretty much dog-hair free which is nice for guests.

Our entertainment center and more toys are in the finished basement aka family room.

suprchicy

Right now it's got all the stuff we don't know what to do with, but I plan to turn it into DD's play area when she's a bit older.  It's a funky shaped room, long and skinny, with a fireplace that has brick running the length of a long wall, so it's not good to turn into a dining room, otherwise I'd turn our dinette into DD's play area.  It's also at the back of the house, so when she's older she'll have a spot that is a bit away from everything else to hang out with her friends if she wants.  If we ever buy another house I'll definitely be looking for one without the formal living room.

kel716

We only have one living/family room (whatever you call it).  There are times when I would like an extra room like this on our first floor.  This is because we use a spare bedroom for an office.  If we ever have #2, we'll have to lose either the guest bedroom (and we have a bed in there) or our office.  Having that extra space downstairs would help... but we wouldn't use it as a "formal" living space.  Just one would be our tv/play area, and the other would be our computer space. 

Rose.9.6.03

See, I wouldn't want a house without a formal living room - particularly now that I have kids.  Our family room is where the t.v. and the toys go to.  Our living room is adult space where the kids don't wreck our good (although not frilly) furniture and we have a quiet space for convesation or reading.    Also it's great to have a room that is always toy-free and presentable when we entertain. 

shawnsweetie

When we were looking for a house we really didn't want to have a formal living room. We ended up buying a house with one, but it isn't connected to the dining room like a lot of them are. When you walk into our foyer our dining room is to your left and our "living room" is to your right. It is a room all to itself (it doesn't open up to any other rooms). We have it set up as an office/ sitting room.

 

bgsugrad

We currently do not use our living room at all...has couches and furniture in it, but we never step foot in it! LOL...the real kicker is that it's the largest room in the house.  I have a small family room which has couches, tv, and loads of toys.  I would love to have a kitchen that wasn't so seperate and perhaps spilled into the living or family room.  If we knew we were going to stay in this house longer, we were going to take down the wall between the kitchen and living room and then just use our now family room as a playroom.  Since it is probable that we will be moving soon (relocated b/c of DH job) this has been a priority to have a open floor concept wth our house searching...and a seperate playroom area! :-)

sprads

When we bought our current house, it had a formal unused living room and DH looked at me and said..well, what are we going to use this room for? Game Room popped out of my mouth without really thinking. That is where the play kitchen is, bookshelves, an entertainment center with shelving that holds all the board games, etc and a TV with the video game systems. They aren't in the basement or the boys' rooms so we can keep an eye on what they are doing and playing. It has worked well for us.