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I think the family room is a good idea and I don't like the basement family room. Having lived in a variety of houses I can say that the basement becomes more like a play room. Most people do not like being underground.
I have both a main floor formal living room and a family room but spend ninety nine percent of my time in the family room. The living room is lovely but rarely gets used. I would prefer having a great room. I would do away with the formal living room. My style of decorating the great room would be not formal like a living room but a bit more upscale than some family rooms. With today's electronics and media units you could have quite a nice looking great room
Our living room is where we generally hang out and relax. The family room is where we go when we want to get away from the TV, read, or work on the computer.
We lived in apts most of our life, so the living room was the family room. My wife finally got her wish and we have a house with a separate LR/DR and FR. The LR/DR was empty for more than a year with no furniture. It didn't affect us a bit. Even now that we have stuff there none of our guests feels that formal to sit there. I guess the only function is keeping my wife happy.
We added a FR to our small house when the kids were young because we didn't always want to be in the same room to watch TV, listen to music, read, talk, etc. as the kids and their friends. We also created a roomy country kitchen where our one and only dining space is. Neither is "formal" because the living room is actually where the flat screen TV and all the game systems are! We use all of our space every day since even with the addition the house is still small.
Without kids I'm happy with one living space and an eat in kitchen. I have no use for "formal" space that rarely gets used. The idea of paying for square footage that just sits there doing nothing is not something I'm comfortable with.
We lived in apts most of our life, so the living room was the family room. My wife finally got her wish and we have a house with a separate LR/DR and FR. The LR/DR was empty for more than a year with no furniture. It didn't affect us a bit. Even now that we have stuff there none of our guests feels that formal to sit there. I guess the only function is keeping my wife happy.
My house has a formal living and dining room that are very seldom used.
I keep thinking about knocking through from the den but then I'd have to pay a fortune to match the floors in the den. Plus I would lose valuable wall space. Hmmm.
Isn't a Living Room and Family room really the same thing,?? just decorated differently...
usually the LR is fancy, the fam is casual....
but realty is, it really is one and the same..................
Isn't a Living Room and Family room really the same thing,?? just decorated differently...
usually the LR is fancy, the fam is casual....
but realty is, it really is one and the same..................
Not really. The living room is located near the enterence of the house and is supposed to impress guests. The family room is located elsewhere and is more flexable and functional. Houses built from the 1970ies onward will have both and some older houses have additions and basements converted into family rooms. Basically it is a the rec room.
Some newly built houses have done away with the formal living room in favor of the family room. (i.e. no two seperate rooms or basement family room or largish room toward the front of the house.
Formal living is a waste of space IMO. Except that we use it for a bar and pool table area. Family room is where everybody hangs out. For me, my friends, my parents, my friends' kids, my friends' parents...it's just how people I've known do it.
I have no one to impress with fancy furniture (although I guess technically our whole house is full of fancy furniture for everyday use), so I don't need a room just to sit in and be fancy and look important.
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