<p>My new little duplex doesnt have either. Never used them in the other house. I have a grand open sitting area, galley kitchen with a eat in bay in front of sliders. With a glorious view and exposure. I live in every square inch of this treasure.</p>
<p>I use both – the living room is right off our entrance hall and is where we visit with each other and/or any company. We also use it ourselves to read, etc. It is the room I always keep in nice shape (no clutter there). It has no TV, just a stereo in an entertainment unit that has closed storage. </p>
<p>The dining room is behind the living room, separated by partial walls. We use it numerous times a year for entertaining – holiday meals and occasional dinner parties. Our “just the family” meals are held in our eat-in kitchen. Whenever we have a larger group, or for special occasions, we eat in the dining room.</p>
<p>When the dining room is not being used for entertaining (which is most of the time) it functions as my office – I do paperwork, etc. there and also admit piling stacks of “to be handled” papers there. It is where I do my Christmas cards, for example. So one way or another the dining room is well used. I just clear it off temporarily when we are using the DR for socializing. My fantasy is to get all my “to be handled” papers dealt with so I can always have a clear dining room table.</p>
<p>We have a lower level family room with a TV and computer desk setup. But for reading and just conversing we use the living room. It is more comfortable and has a nice large bow window in the front of the house, providing good views and light.</p>
<p>Momof, the people that lived here before me did something similar to what you mentioned. they used my current office as a formal dining room and just had a breakfast bar type place in the eat in kitchen. I remember touring my house and wondering why this bedroom had chair rails and was painted such a weird bedroom color and why did it have no door… Lol.</p>
<p>It’s a good size for a dining room and I can see why they did it that way but this room makes a much better office for me. I also contemplated making my living room into a dining room and turning my second floor into my living room and a guest room… But I think it seems weird to have a living room on the second floor… That would be the only living room.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure that wall I want to take down is load bearing so if I ever did do it I would probably need to keep a support pole there or something. </p>
<p>This house is seventy years old with the old style arch ways into rooms too so it could impact that aestetic as well. </p>
<p>Sent from my DROID BIONIC using CC</p>
<p>Our home is a 100 year + Craftsman Bungalow farmhouse so we only have a “front” room that we use as a family room. The very large “family room” as it was marketed when we bought 18 years ago is in the finished basement. We do have a tv down there, but it’s mostly laundry room, where I sew and where DS plays rock band.</p>
<p>We do, however, have a gorgeous dining room with original built-ins, crown molding and box framing on the ceiling. French doors come off the front room. It holds my big table but if it were up to me, the DR would be 10 feet longer. I love to entertain and there is never enough room! Our piano is on the wall separating the kitchen & dining room. I’d love to build a family room so the piano could go into the front room and I’d have more space for a hutch and all of my china :)</p>
<p>We eat in the dining room a lot, but currently the dining room table is piled high with school papers and until a few minutes ago, the cat – argh. We have an eat in kitchen and a small office where the computer lives.</p>
<p>Need/wish for the rooms depends on the family size- ages and stages. It is nice to have separate areas for different ages when entertaining. It is nice to congregate in the kitchen/family room- but then anyone we would invite to our home will be friends enough for informality.</p>
<p>I rarely use either, but my soft coated wheaten terriers regularly use them as part of their racecourse during daily puppy olympics. :)</p>
<p>Our living room and “family room” are divided by pocket doors. We slide those closed when there are teenagers around. We just moved the TV and Playstation into the formal living room for the kids because I like to read in the family room at night (much warmer and better light). Also the piano is in the formal living room and S2 plays for an hour or so every day. So, yes the living room gets daily use. The formal dining room - not so much - but my grandmother’s dining set is gorgeous to look at!</p>
<p>“Shrinkwrap…in the Midwest where I grew up, the front room was another name for the living room.”</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>Trying to translate the less than 1500 square foot house I grew up in Queens, sharing it with two other families…into the context of where I am now. I’ve said recently that that house in Queens is worth more than where I am in N.Cal now.</p>
<p>So the size of your entertainment area does not dictate how many friends you have, or how often you entertain? </p>
<p>If only. </p>
<p>For me, it seems like how far you are from friends and family. I like to think if I had stayed put, the two would be more related.Or if the two were more related, maybe I would have stayed put!</p>
<p>Kids play piano in living room. rarely use dining room.</p>
<p>Tigerdad and others, how about a running tab: is your living room just for the piano? Add me to the “yes” column</p>
<p>The upright piano is against the dining room wall. The living room is open to the kitchen which is open to the dining room. It is a very open, flowing concept using all three every day and time is evenly split.</p>
<p>Using dining room tomorrow when I host a birthday lunch for a friend. We will be twelve at the table. I will get out the china, fresh flowers, crystal water goblets. Any excuse for a party!</p>
<p>In our old house, which we left last October after 25 years, we had a formal LR which we never used. Never. We also had a DR which we used a lot, for dinner parties. (I give a lot of dinner parties.) For family, we ate at the table in the large eat-in kitchen.</p>
<p>In our new house, we use the LR, which makes me happy. Different layout. In addition, once our kitchen renovation is over, we will not have an eat-in kitchen, except for some stools at the island. So for dinner, I expect we will use the DR every day.</p>