Switching room uses- help me think this through

[shamrockshake]

I need to talk  through this and if anyone has any feedback I’d love to hear it. Our house is a center hall colonial, from the foyer the formal living room is to the right, the family room is connected off that. The dining room is to the left, the kitchen straight back, also connects to the family room.  Through the kitchen one way is the family room, the other way is the laundry room, with my office off of that, and a door to the dining room. 

In the 9.5 years we’ve lived here we have never, ever used the formal living room as anything more than a space to collect stuff, for a long time the laundry would be thrown on the couches until we could fold it, there is some exercise equipment etc. 

I work from home full time and my office is getting a little small for my work stuff and my hobbies. I’d like to turn the current dining room into my office and the formal living room into the dining room. We’d make my current office into a laundry area where we can shut the doors and not see it. 

that would make the dining room about 10 steps from the kitchen, rather than right through the doorway, and make my office right off the foyer. 

is there anything I’m not thinking of that I should be in this scenario? We’ll have to have doors installed on the dining room/ new office. My husband already piped the lines for moving the laundry area (we’re finishing our basement and he’s a plumber, he ran the lines while working on the basement) the exercise equipment from the living room will have a place in the new basement 

[zarapipe]

Do you use the living room? I guess I don’t understand moving the dining room to another room if you don’t use the dining room instead of just getting rid of the formal dining room. I assume you have a separate eating area you use daily?

[shamrockshake]

Jul 19, 2022 18:44:40 GMT -5 zarapipe said:

Do you use the living room? I guess I don’t understand moving the dining room to another room if you don’t use the dining room instead of just getting rid of the formal dining room. I assume you have a separate eating area you use daily?

It’s the living room we never use. We use the dining room, and have an eat in kitchen that we use for daily meals 

[Susie]

So the room you would lose completely is the living room, am I understanding that right?

If so, we did something similar.  We also have a center hall colonial, which originally had a dining room (small) and living room (large) in the front of the house, with foyer in between.  The kitchen/half bath/laundry run along the back half of the house, with the family room off the kitchen (family room is behind the garage).

Like you, we weren't using a "formal" living room (in addition to the separate family room), the dining room was too small to comfortably seat more than about 6, and we were lacking an office.  So we turned the old dining room into a shared office, turned the old living room into a larger dining room, and gave up having a living room.  The plan is to finish part of the basement to "replace" it eventually, so that there can be two rooms to hang out in, probably one for kids and one for us.  The dining room pulls marginal double duty because our spinnet piano and guitars are in there.  So it's also the music room.

It might have gone easier for us because both the front rooms connect to the kitchen.  We have a really large/long kitchen.  But so far, so good.  I don't miss a LR at all.

[shamrockshake]

Jul 19, 2022 19:00:35 GMT -5 Susie said:

So the room you would lose completely is the living room, am I understanding that right?

If so, we did something similar.  We also have a center hall colonial, which originally had a dining room (small) and living room (large) in the front of the house, with foyer in between.  The kitchen/half bath/laundry run along the back half of the house, with the family room off the kitchen (family room is behind the garage).

Like you, we weren't using a "formal" living room (in addition to the separate family room), the dining room was too small to comfortably seat more than about 6, and we were lacking an office.  So we turned the old dining room into a shared office, turned the old living room into a larger dining room, and gave up having a living room.  The plan is to finish part of the basement to "replace" it eventually, so that there can be two rooms to hang out in, probably one for kids and one for us.  The dining room pulls marginal double duty because our spinnet piano and guitars are in there.  So it's also the music room.

It might have gone easier for us because both the front rooms connect to the kitchen.  We have a really large/long kitchen.  But so far, so good.  I don't miss a LR at all.

This is what I wanted to hear! Yes, we’re doing away with the living room, and our current DR is same situation as yours- we can only fit 6, so this will be larger. And the new one will also double as the music practice space, but a much smaller instrument- violin. 

do you find the office off the foyer to be an issue in anyway? Did you put doors on?

[Susie]

shamrockshake, we don't have doors (yet), but I think we probably will eventually. We've only been here a year, and we only implemented this swap in about February. The holdup was waiting for the electrician to wire for the chandelier in the new DR, since it did not previously have any overhead light.

The more important office door will probably be from office to kitchen. That doorway is near the family room, and the garage entrance to the house. So much activity right there. The foyer side is quieter. We'll probably do a doorway to the foyer too, but I think it will be less critical.

[zarapipe]

Jul 19, 2022 18:59:27 GMT -5 shamrockshake said:

Jul 19, 2022 18:44:40 GMT -5 zarapipe said:

Do you use the living room? I guess I don’t understand moving the dining room to another room if you don’t use the dining room instead of just getting rid of the formal dining room. I assume you have a separate eating area you use daily?

It’s the living room we never use. We use the dining room, and have an eat in kitchen that we use for daily meals 

Gotcha! I’m sorry I read that completely wrong.

[Wallflower]

I have friends who did exactly this and it was perfect!

Living styles change. I don't know many folks who need to living rooms, though I like Susie's idea of setting up the basement for the kids.

Go for it!

[kitty]

We did exactly this recently for similar reasons. Our original dining room was 10x11 and almost filled up just with our family of 5. We had literally never used our formal living room - like never even furnished it because we have a family room and a finished basement.

We got a bigger table to put in what used to be our living room and had an electrician come and install overhead lighting (they have bluetooth 3 way switches now so you only need to hardwire on one side of the room!). Our biggest challenge was that our formal living room was long and skinny with a fireplace and big bay window so it made furniture sizing and placement a little more complex.

The old dining room is now an “office” but mostly for the kids to do their homework and art projects. We put two desks in there along with my DD’s keyboard. We someday plan to get French doors to be able to close that room off but it isn’t an immediate priority since DH and I don’t regularly WFH. I like being able to monitor the kids when they are on the internet or on kids messenger.

We do have to walk a bit further to get from the kitchen to the new dining room (have to go through office or foyer because they are no longer immediately adjacent) but the extra space has outweighed that small con. We made the new dining room a bit less formal that the original one which I think has made it more inviting for everyday usage. The kids play board games in there because the chairs are comfier than the old set. One side of the table has an upholstered bench with a back - kind of like a non-fussy settee - and that has become one of my favorite places to enjoy my morning coffee on the weekends.

[definitelyO]

my friends redid their house and made the formal living room off the foyer into an office. they put in french doors. it looks great and functions well

[shamrockshake]

Thanks for all the feedback! It makes me feel better about the plan