Family Room vs Living Room

kerri_gt · 8 October 2017 at 12:16AM

The spaces are what you make them, but as posters have said a lot of families like somewhere to shut the kids stuff away and have a grown up space. If you didn't like the space between the two rooms in your example you could always add some kind of doors which could be opened / closed if you wished. It's not really so different from using a third bedroom as a study. Even with just two of us we'd love an extra room downstairs so OH could have a 'man cave'

Lolly88 · 8 October 2017 at 12:17AM

00ec25 wrote: »

a family room is what others have already said, a space where standards may be lower in terms of mess and where the kids rule. The separate "lounge" is then the adult zone where standards are higher (perhaps!)

in the respect of the house referenced by OP, making one big "lounge" is not what I would do given the unfamily friendly nature of the kitchen & dining room. That is the wall I'd knock down and make it into a "family" kitchen diner. If you want to give posh dinner parties you can always temporarily convert the family lounge into the "proper" dining room and then revert back when the guests have left.

Thanks. Just to clarify that's not my house! It's just a random house I found on right move as an example of what I was describing.

I'm obviously getting the fact that those who have families have multiple uses for multiple reception rooms. But if people don't have families what do they do with the reception rooms?

I'm getting the sense that people are/will think I'm stupid or weird for asking these questions but I've just never come across these room set ups before until looking online at houses across the country in the past year or so.

Cerelia · 8 October 2017 at 12:35AM

For a couple with no extended family at home there are still plenty of uses for additional reception rooms - off the top of my head such a room could be used as a media room, study, home gym, man cave, library, reading room, to house a snooker table or even to have a home bar. I've been looking at houses online for almost two years now while searching for the perfect house and it's given me a lot of ideas for how to use rooms over that time. It would be a boring world if everyone was the same.

PasturesNew · 8 October 2017 at 12:45AM

Lolly88 wrote: »

But if people don't have families what do they do with the reception rooms?

It's just space ... that can be kept separate.

A single person living alone with 3 rooms downstairs might decide to use one to start their own business, or as their "gym room", or a crafts/hobbies room.

People want/need different spaces for different things.

It's all just space.... and you either have a plan for more rooms/space, or not. I've no use for a dining room, or a 2nd living room ... but I am just having a utility room built as I'd like space for keeping cleaning things and possibly doing crafts/hobbies.

If I had 3 separate rooms downstairs I'd be stumped what I could personally use them for, but I'd not be stumped by the concept of three rooms existing.

Lolly88 · 8 October 2017 at 1:12AM

PasturesNew wrote: »

If I had 3 separate rooms downstairs I'd be stumped what I could personally use them for, but I'd not be stumped by the concept of three rooms existing.

That's the exact same point i've made in this thread. I never said I was stumped by them existing. I clearly indicated that I was confused by how they had been laid out. I then asked for examples of how other people used such a space. Some people have kindly provided some helpful examples of how to use that space...I've just not generally seen that in houses online, it's nearly always two living rooms with sofa and TV and not much evidence from the images of how they are used differently.

hazyjo · 8 October 2017 at 1:13AM

Only 2 of us but was gutted to lose out on a house with a lounge-diner and separate living room. We rarely sit together during the day - 'im indoors watches sport and I watch a load of crap on the other telly! Plus he'd hate to have to be in the same room when my friends come round.

House we are moving to only has a lounge-diner but we'll be separating it as soon as humanly possible once we've moved in!

Three rooms (well, one lounge-diner or kitchen-diner, plus another reception room sounds like heaven to me!

ScorpiondeRooftrouser · 8 October 2017 at 1:45AM

I use mine for strangling goats.

Frogletina · 8 October 2017 at 2:27AM

I have an apartment which was advertised as having 3 bedrooms, and an open plan kitchen, living and dining room.

One of the bedrooms I turned into what I called a study, which at one time also had a sofa bed and was used as an occasional bedroom when I had two house guests - that is not likely to happen again.

I've now emptied it for decorating, and re carpeting, and no longer have the sofa bed, and I'm interested in what to use the room for to make it a useful space, rather than just storing things there. The sofa bed made it feel very cramped. I keep walking into the empty space now but cannot decide how I want it to be. It has a built in wardrobe (not used for clothes now)

I've thought of using it as a reading room, dressing room, exercise room. It is small with sloping walls as my apartment is in the roof space of the building.

Interesting to read what other people use extra rooms for.

getmore4less · 8 October 2017 at 7:28AM

Lifestyle will drive the direction for use.

Families/multi occupation have been covered.

I like to have an computer/office/study/storage space, currently one of the bedrooms but could be downstairs if we had the room.

I have a friend that has a hobby that needs a lot of space their house was not big enough so is in the roof above a double garage.

I have seen some that are very keen on books create a library/reading room

Cinema/computer games room is another option if into that

Spare rooms upstairs can be easier as you can use one as a dressing room to free up space in the bedrooms.

If you are looking for somewhere maybe you need to think about what spaces you want/need first then map that onto the places you are looking at.

getmore4less · 8 October 2017 at 7:34AM

Lolly88 wrote: »

That's the exact same point i've made in this thread. I never said I was stumped by them existing. I clearly indicated that I was confused by how they had been laid out. I then asked for examples of how other people used such a space. Some people have kindly provided some helpful examples of how to use that space...I've just not generally seen that in houses online, it's nearly always two living rooms with sofa and TV and not much evidence from the images of how they are used differently.

Typical layout/use for the older places would be front room(sitting room) back room(dining room) and a kitchen.

many get extended to create kitchen dining spaces freeing up the back rooms.

The sell to the family market(the biggest) is 2 daily living spaces rather than a formal dining room.

Even if they were used differently the "dress for sale suggestions" would be to revert to the 2 sitting room or sitting dining configuration.

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Family Room vs Living Room

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