The Dining Room

[kybearfuzz]

I've lived in my house for 17 years now and as I'm working on upgrading things, I've realized that the dining room might just be a waste of space. In all these years, I think I've eaten at the dining room table with guests or family probably three or four times.

It seems strange to have a room that gets so little use, kept just "in case" or because it's defined that way in a house design. A house has a dining room. What would happen if a house didn't? Right now the table in the dining room serves as a place to stack the mail and gives Boo the Cat a place to sharpen her claws on the legs.

I've given it some thought and I think I might get rid of the table and chairs and turn the room into something else. I'd enjoy having a sitting area, just a couple of comfy chairs and a low table, with maybe a couple of book shelves. I've also thought of moving my drafting table down there and buying some high stools that can fit around it. That way, at least it can function as both.

Has anyone else ever done this or thought about doing it?

Comments

[pink_halen]

For a while I converted the formal dining room into a computer room. We put the hutch over one of the openings and placed the computer behind it. It worked well but the dining table seemed out of place in the living room even though it could be collapsed to a tiny footprint.

It is good to mix things up a bit. You might try it and see if it feels right.

If you put a reading room where the dining room is now will you make the living room a lost unused space?

I'm going to make an assumption here. Is it a traditional designed house where you have the front leading to the living room with the dining room next and the kitchen behind that. Or is it some less linear configuration.

[kybearfuzz]

The living room is where the big TV is, so I don't worry about it getting less use.

And my house is basically front door into the living room, then dining room with the kitchen to the left of the dining room. The kitchen and dining room together are the same size and parallel to the living room.

My home office is upstairs in my house, but it's basically the comic book/computer room.

[rickps]

I've had the opportunity recently to tour some new home construction. The formal dining room seems to have effectively disappeared. People just don't do family dinners/formal entertaining, etc. these days.

The only things I've seen done with unused dining rooms is to either tear down walls and expand adjacent rooms or create special spaces like a library. Myself, I'm a recovering stereo junkie. I'd probably want to turn it into a listening room.

[kybearfuzz]

I've thought about taking down the walls between the living room and kitchen and making it one giant room, but it seems like a lot of work.

I'm going to give it some more thought, but we'll see what the space turns into.

[furr_a_bruin]

Both the houses my parents had from my birth through 1st grade and 2nd grade on had "extended" kitchens with no distinct dining room. I don't know if it was a feature specifically selected for or not, but that's what I'm used to.

[kybearfuzz]

In the house I grew up in, we had the same. The kitchen was just big enough to have the dining table and chairs in it.