Do you use yours much? One of the reasons we did a huge farmhouse table (with 5 leaves) in our kitchen is that people don’t seem to use the formal dining room these days? Why is this? I love eating in ours….last time we had friends over and had the room set up for the adults we got comments about “oh, so formal.” Why is this? I almost felt funny that we were eating in there….they were newish friends and I almost felt weired we had planned to eat in there.
And no offense if you do this, but I don’t understand using a dining room or formal living room as a playroom for the kids. I am always taken aback when I walk into a home and am greeted by slides and tricycles and a big playmat prominently occupying a prime piece of property!
Anyways, our dining room is near completion. We need art and are doing Conrad shades on the windows (since I don’t want to open and close the drapes daily and we like our privacy since our lots are small)…then we are done. I’ll share the work of an artist I’ve been thinking of for the space later. In the meantime, tell me you wouldn’t be happy to take all of your meals in this dining room?
Stephen Karlisch via D Home
What is the point of having a space that you don’t use?
Are you with me on this?
9 Comments
Absolutely! I love having my formal dining room and it is the room I eat in. I have 2 breakfast bar seats to perch in informally for the cup of coffee, but have always been at a loss as to why everyone has to have a kitchen eating area they always use and feel like a dining room is off limits.
August 7th, 2012 at 8:50 amI would love a formal dining room. We would need to add on, not sure if that would make sense in this house. I never understood why people don’t use theirs if they have one. Even if you don’t use it all the time, it makes special celebrations, well, special. Love this room!!
August 7th, 2012 at 8:53 amI’m totally with you on this. I grew up in a family that always ate dinner in the dining room, and I raised my children that way, too. I love the table in the photo you posted. Such an unusual piece!
August 7th, 2012 at 9:52 amDefinitely; I love my dining room and when we are home on Sat and Sun evenings except for in the summer months, we enjoy a leisurely meal in our dining room, just the two of us (and fyi, we are years away from retirement). We also use it all the time when we have friends over for dinner. I find it more relaxing and enjoyable to eat in the surroundings of my art, and other beauties rather than in view of my kitchen no matter how nicely designed! I have already told my husband that if we move back in the city, we can have a combined dining room/library if neccessary, but I’m not giving up our furniture or having a separate space for meals.
Look forward to seeing your dining room once it’s complete!
August 7th, 2012 at 9:59 ami love the sparkle of crystal, the gleam of silver, and pretty dishes are a weakness but i have to be careful because a whole suite is required. i love linen napkins, abhor polyester(have never understood using an unabsorbing fabric to use as a napkin.love
August 7th, 2012 at 10:25 amfloral arrangements, roses floating in a crystal bowl. i miss pretty tablesettings–one of my favorite cookbook authors SUSAN BRANCH states she learned to cook because she loved to set the table. what better way to celebrate one of the necessary rituals of life but with wonderful food in a pretty, gracious place –your own home. it can be simple and unassuming and still be gracious and not pretentious.
I’m the odd one out. I enjoy a large kitchen, counter space for 5 & a farm table that sits 12. I’m so over the LR & DR. Give me a huge mudroom in its place coupled with enough closet/storage space to hold winter coats boots rather than switching it out seasonally. Add in a gift/wrapping area & arts n’ craft space too. We don’t entertain formally like my parents did – kids & adults pile in the house together.
August 7th, 2012 at 1:53 pmOMG! I am soooo with you here. I enjoyed making my formal DR into a cozy, festive place to enjoy holiday meals. It also works well when we want to have a “grown-up” dinner with friends. We have the kids at our everyday table and they are happy to not have Mom and Dad there for once.
August 7th, 2012 at 4:51 pmOur neighbors have their formal living room as a playroom and I was aghast the first time I saw that. They have never used their formal DR in six years of living there! I can’t imagine.
I’m with you, Susie! Unfortunately we live in a small house, so everything has to compromise. We just opened our wall between the d/r and kitchen. But I made sure the kitchen’s design made me smile, and I plan on designing a dining room that is relaxed and formal at the same time somehow…a room that I won’t cry if kids break something, but that I can also “glam up” for occasions! I love to teach my kids how to sit at the table and eat nicely – I think it’s an important skill that so many parents today do not value. Whenever we have guests over, it seems more children than not are allowed to eat wherever, standing on their head if they want to, while my jaw drops and I run to get the baby wipes!
August 7th, 2012 at 7:59 pmDanielle M.
Our dining room is so far from being done but I hope to use it one day;)
August 7th, 2012 at 9:10 pm