Do you have a formal or pretty room in your house?

[simpsongal]

Inspired by my CWs' reactions to my formal living room pics (still in development). I suppose this ties in well to the toddlers & having nice Christmas tree discussion in the YHL thread.

We have a formal living room, so I'm decorating it in a formal style. Heavy curtains w/valances, pretty furniture, gold-framed paintings, piano, etc. I think it looks nice but my CWs think it's all a bit much. I don't see the point of making it another casual space - we have a family room and a basement rec-room type space. To be fair, I think one CW thinks that anything coordinated and put together = formal. No matter how kid friendly, it's a designed space and therefore uncomfortable.

So, to quote one CW, do you have a museum-like room in your house?

[Susie]

No. I mean, we have a living room with a piano, bookcases, panel curtains, etc., that's connected to the formal DR and separate from the family room, where we generally hang out. But it's not especially formal and definitely not "museum-like."

[kaylie]

We have a formal living room that is currently curtained off as storage. It won't really be used for a year or so but when it is we'll add french doors and make it a grown up room. I plan to have nice built-ins, a desk and a sitting area.

We also have a formal dining room that I wouldn't let kids eat in.

[midwest07]

No, but that's due to the layout of our house and how open it is. It's basically the dining room, then one large living room that runs into the kitchen and eat-in space. In a future house, I wouldn't mind having a more formal sitting room and I certainly don't think it's weird to have one.

Some people also think having an actual dining room is outdated and it should be transformed into another living area. Personally, I love having the dining room, even though it's only used for dining around 8-10 times a year. This is the space I use to have a more formal decorated space in our house, since the rest is pretty casual and where we mostly "live".

[bleubook]

I was raised in a traditional center hall colonial with a formal living room on one side of the entrance hall and a formal dining room on the other. We also had a large casual family room. Right now we are still renting, but I really want a house like the one in which I was raised. We enjoy entertaining and collect antique furniture. We are formal people, lol.

[thewop]

Nope. No space for a "formal" room. Every room is used in a "casual" manner.

[mrsemilys]

We have a formal living room but it is decorated the same as the rest of our house. It holds our apt baby grand and a few musical instruments as well as slip covered wingbacks. I need to do curtains and might do silk which would dress it up a bit

[SusanBAnthony]

Nope. I am opposed bc I find them a waste of space (for us). We don't entertain, or anything that would ever use a formal space, so it would be a complete waste for us. If we ever buy a house that has a formal living or dining room we will likely turn it into an office with French doors.

For people who host lots of parties I can see it. My experiences with family having them, though, is they never get used. Even when there is a party, everyone ends up in the kitchen or family room.

[pickle123]

No, we designed our house layout with all useable (for us) space. No formal living or dining room.

[ssmjlm]

We have a dining room that I guess is "formal." But I've been slowly hinting to DH that I want to do some built-ins (maybe when we re-do the kitchen) and do a drop leaf table so it can be more hang-out, less eating. We use it maybe 5x a year if that and I know that will change with a little one b/c my IL's will have to step up the hosting shizz.

[pamela]

We did at our last house. The front door opened into a living and dining area. We used a bedroon (out of 5) for our tv room instead of the room right where you walk in. That front room had an antique couch, gold framed pictures, fire place, more formal rug. The dining area had our nice antique table and chairs with a pretty glass chandelier. Our informal dining area was a smaller table set next to our bar which was great for 2 to sit at. And we could pull the table out into the space between the living/dining areas to seat 6 at it.

[bunnymendelbaum]

Dec 3, 2012 13:43:45 GMT -5 SusanBAnthony said:

Nope. I am opposed bc I find them a waste of space (for us). We don't entertain, or anything that would ever use a formal space, so it would be a complete waste for us. If we ever buy a house that has a formal living or dining room we will likely turn it into an office with French doors.

For people who host lots of parties I can see it. My experiences with family having them, though, is they never get used. Even when there is a party, everyone ends up in the kitchen or family room.

This.

[sratsey]

We have spaces that are "formal" in terms of how they're decorated (antiques, silk curtains, chandeliers, etc...) but we use them in a casual manner: The dining room gets used once a week because I make it a point to do so. That doesn't necessarily mean I'm hosting a fancy dinner...but if we have guests for dinner, we eat in the dining room, no matter what we're eating. It could be pizza or any other form or takeout.
If I have girlfriends over, we hang out in the living room and another area of the house that everyone has taken to calling the "mommy lounge" because it's a pretty space that's in the playroom. LOL.

When we have parties, I find that the women tend to end up in the living room/mommy lounge and the guys end up in the family room where the TV is.

[Deleted]

No. Its not my style. Im not opposed though. Different time place and house and id consider. I like nicer stuff intermingled for sure though.

[tarheels]

We used the formal LR in our last house as a library. It served as a bar when we entertained. Decor-wise, it was decorated the same as the rest of the house: dressy-casual. I'm a dressy person to begin with, with antiques and precious items mixed in with TJ Maxx finds, and that went for the library too. Even DH's bachelor work apartment, which could by all rights be a really casual schlumpy space, is still dressy-casual with antiques and faux silk curtains with the comfy sofa.

If our next house has a formal LR, I'll probably treat it in the same dressy-casual way. A good friend of ours has a stunning formal LR that has formal Queen Anne and Chippendale furniture and really fine art, but it's all upholstered in bright coral silks and the coffee tables are modern, so it reads much more fun. I like to mix styles to avoid the museum look, but if you like a formal-formal look, go for it!

[simpsongal]

Thank you all for weighing in.

[emoflamingo]

Current house is a big no, but we don't have a lot of space. Still no with the new house, but the layout is pretty open for being built in the 1960s.

I have a good friend with a piano in the living space of her house, but she has a separate rec room for her TV and couch. (The piano does share a room with an organizer full of kids toys though!)

[hbomdiggity]

Nope. Our house is small so it's all more livable - not formal.

I grew up in a house with a formal lr/dr. They actually close off that side of the house in the winter for heat efficiency. Nice to have dyring the holidays, but otherwise its kind of a waste.

[pitterwoo]

No. Our house is small, so the dining room gets eaten in daily, the living room has the TV and it's all fairly open. However, not everything I've chosen is super casual. Now that we're TTC, I'm paying more attention to how much stuff a kid could ruin around here. Glass door china cabinets, white upholstered wing chairs, caning (kids love to poke holes in caning!)...

[boiler717]

Yes. I prefer casual spaces to be smaller so we have a sunroom (our main family room), a bonus room (TV/game room) and a "flex" room (what will hopefully be a playroom). Then our big great room will be more formal. Every says we are completely crazy but I like having a big space to be able to gather with guests rather than trying to talk on a sectional.