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Thread: Formal dining vs formal living room

  1. #1
    Sarah Guest

    Default Formal dining vs formal living room

    I have a room at the entrance of my house that currently serves as the kids' toyroom.

    In a year or two, we will change the room over to its intended purpose of being either a living room or dining room. The room is not large enough to be BOTH a living AND dining room - it will have to be either one or the other.

    So my question is . . . if you could have only a formal living OR dining room, which would you prefer to have & why?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Alexandria VA
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    15,890

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    A dining room. I have both in my home right now and can't remember when we last sat in the Living Room with company. Guests are far more comfortable in the back of the house. However my kitchen table only seats (6), and my Dining Room can seat (12), and there have been many times we've had 8 to 12 people for dinner.
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Lakewood Ranch, Florida
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    Duane... and I've never been invited for dinner.....

    I would have a formal dining room that's not so formal you feel uncomfortable using it. We have the space that was designed as a formal living room converted to a library/study that has many hours of use each week, so I suggest formal living rooms are a leftover from our parents.

  4. #4
    carmela39 Guest

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    Dining Room definitely, but not tooooo formal... I agree with Cuse69. I have a mahogany table that seats 12 and 14 if we squeeze at holidays. For dinners with friends it comes in handy and we NEVER use the living room except at Xmas for our TREE.
    We are going to make that room a library/study with a wine bar. We get a lot of sun and it's a great room to read in and get away from the back of the house where all the action is with kitchen, family room, computers etc.

    If I had it to do again, I might opt for a farmhouse style table with a more rustic chandelier as opposed to a traditional 18th century style table with chrystal... I Just think we would be more inclined to use the room more often that way.
    Good luck.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
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    Alexandria VA
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    To add to the social aspect of this, I think the demise of the formal living room and dining room began in the 1960s as TV made its way into mainstream America, and also central air conditioning. Prior to that time, folks would sit outside on nice evenings to not only beat the heat, but to socialize. That ultimately let to inviting people over to your home for dinner and entertaining, and of course one would want to present one's best to the company. With TV and A/C, people stopped going outside and stayed in to get their socialization from the electronic box, and the house was always a comfortable 72 degrees.

    Add to that women moving into the workplace in large numbers, and the demise of home cooking skills among the younger generation. No time to cook, and too exhausted with work and kids to spend hours making a meal.

    Then of course, the internet and chat rooms/email/forum further distanced socialization and now you can have all the friends you want on-line!

    Nowdays one is apt to meet friends for dinner at a restaurant, where no one has to cook or clean up. its fast and easy. So the need for formal living and dining rooms has diminished greatly in the past 30 to 40 years, and I've no doubt they will soon vanish completely in all but the most grand of homes (where they will be mostly for show).
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

  6. #6
    habs88 Guest

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    We bought a 1860's Victorian italianite style home a few years ago. We converted a formal dining room to a kitchen because the old kitchen was tiny and at the back of the house. We knocked a wall down between old and new kitchen and still working on the old kitchen space.

    More on point though, we have a large family room in between the new kitchen and living room. It has doors and windows on most walls making it tough to plan for seating. We decided to turn it into a dining room and are very happy with it. It is big enough to seat 12. We are now using that room everyday when for the previous 3 years it got no use which was annoying for a 16 by 18 space.

  7. #7
    Sarah Guest

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    Great points! What a fun thread to read.

    Next Question: Am I the only one who feels guilty that my china, crystal, & silver sit unused? Even when we have people over, we tend to sit at the kitchen table & eat on our "everyday" dishes (they are also china but just a casual solid-white).

    Okay so the consensus is a more casual/relaxed dining room. After thinking it through, I think I WILL take the room that direction. I have some hand-me-down pieces that will work in the room to fill it for now until I can slowly upgrade the pieces with better furniture.

    I am receiving my tiger maple console/sideboard tomorrow. I like that it is a versatile piece that can be used either as a behind-the-sofa table, as a "console" table, or as a narrow sideboard. Since I will change the room to a dining room, it will probably go in there as a sideboard. After it arrives, I will snap some pics of the sideboard (and new H&M recliner!) as well as the in-transition room I'm talking about.

  8. #8
    Riddle Guest

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sarah View Post
    So my question is . . . if you could have only a formal living OR dining room, which would you prefer to have & why?
    I'm a great believer in using what you have, whether that's space or things. I prefer formal spaces in general, so that would be a hard choice for me. I like the living room because I hate tv and want music and my books. I'd probably pick the dining room. I like to cook, and I prefer formal dinnerware. I ditched the "everyday" dishes thirty years ago. I saw no point in having china for company. I love the stuff, so I use it. I hate to see the kitchen from the dining room, so formal is best for me.

  9. #9
    carmela39 Guest

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    I agree with the theme of using what you have! I think it's a great idea to create your room using the new tiger maple sideboard but also mixing in what you have that can be used until you may find something you like better. Also, although my dining room is formal, we do use it and the China. My mother gave me a lenox service for only six which is all she had. It was a discontinued pattern called Moonspun that I always loved. Well I wound up finding another 10 place settings plus veggie bowls etc that she didn't have on Ebay. It just makes the food look and taste better to me. Why save it when if Dining rooms go by way of the dinosaur as Duane implied and my daughter winds up buying a bunch of white plates from Crate and Barrell.
    Make sure you post your pics, would love to see what you do with the room.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    NW Pennsylvania
    Posts
    216

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sarah View Post
    Great points! What a fun thread to read.

    Next Question: Am I the only one who feels guilty that my china, crystal, & silver sit unused? Even when we have people over, we tend to sit at the kitchen table & eat on our "everyday" dishes (they are also china but just a casual solid-white).

    Okay so the consensus is a more casual/relaxed dining room. After thinking it through, I think I WILL take the room that direction. I have some hand-me-down pieces that will work in the room to fill it for now until I can slowly upgrade the pieces with better furniture.

    I am receiving my tiger maple console/sideboard tomorrow. I like that it is a versatile piece that can be used either as a behind-the-sofa table, as a "console" table, or as a narrow sideboard. Since I will change the room to a dining room, it will probably go in there as a sideboard. After it arrives, I will snap some pics of the sideboard (and new H&M recliner!) as well as the in-transition room I'm talking about.
    Due to the layout of my house I find most meals we use the Dining room for, even though the Kitchen is big enough to have a 4 person table we just haven't used it at all for mealtime. Part of the reason is the setup of the house allows the tv to be viewable from the dining room if you so want to watch while eating. Every family and house have their own personalities so go with what works best for you and everyone. As for feeling guilty, I eat in view of our china/crystal 3-5 times a week and barely notice it but that's me.

    I also got the answer from a question I asked in another thread what wood your new sideboard is in, very nice.

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