Browse Forums General Discussion Re: Formal lounges and formal dining... what a waste of time! 21Jun 17, 2009 10:40 am we have the so called waste of time formal lounge and foram dinning room I personally would not be without them very home we have owned had one we look at many homes while building that did not have one was not even borthered with them saying this we also have a meals room family room rumpus and home thearte room as well finished building 40 square home on 5 acres with perry homes.working on the landscaping just finished pool deck with ://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=2217 Re: Formal lounges and formal dining... what a waste of time! 22Jun 17, 2009 11:00 am I agree it depends on your lifestyle. We have three kids under 5 yo and our family/kitchen is where the kids play and where it is always messy with lots of toys. They are not allowed in the formal lounge area. The formal lounge is where adults can talk without TV noise or kids around and guests don't have to walk past the kids' mess! We have a combined formal lounge and dining area but we don't need a formal dining area so we are using the whole area as lounge only (which is quite big). It also means that I only clean the family areas rergularly and leave the formal areas for special occasions. When you have three young kids, it is better to confine their play area to a small part of the house or the house would be a complete mess! When the kids are older we may convert the formal lounge to media room, but I don't see us doing that. All I need is some thick curtains and a big TV isn't it? Re: Formal lounges and formal dining... what a waste of time! 23Jun 17, 2009 11:09 am Each to their own. Our old house (the demo'd one) had one 'L'shaped living and dining. No family room, no 'proper' otdoor eating area, and had 4 people living in it and hardly anywhere for the kids to play. The one living area was so small, that it was mostly taken up by furniture. It got to the point that I couldn't entertain because there was no room. In our new house we will have a so called 'formal' lounge and dining, a combined open plan family/kitchen/meals, an alfresco and a TV/ play area upstairs for the kids. Personally, I can't wait. We chose our plan so the formal lounge and dining are opposite one another and just next door to the kitchen/meals/family area. That way, when we do entertain, the guests can spill out into the other areas instead of going down to the front of the house where quite often the formal areas are. We have a large extended family with many kids, and personally, I can't wait to have parties and Christmas dinners etc. It will be the largest house in the family and these rooms will get used very often! There is not a month go by in a year when we don't celebrate something or someone's Birthday. For us, it will be worth every cent, and not a waste of money at all. A theatre/rumpus room FOR US would be a waste of money. We hardly ever watch TV or DVD's. Every family is different! Henley - Wilshire Mk 3 ... I love my house!! Site start: 4th Feb 09 Handover: 10th Sep 09 Blog: http://stormygirlscastle.blogspot.com/ Build Thread: viewtopic.php?t=7166 Re: Formal lounges and formal dining... what a waste of time! 24Jun 17, 2009 11:32 am Quote: We chose our plan so the formal lounge and dining are opposite one another and just next door to the kitchen/meals/family area I think this raises a good point that the usefulness of rooms partly depends on good placement - as previously stated we have our lounge at front off the front hall, this hall then opens into casual liveing - kit/family/dining (minor bedrooms etc are behind this) and this way it is easy access from casual liveing for guests and ourselves to 'spill over' from one area to the next - in other words our lounge is an integral part of our everyday liveing, not a separate area for formal occasions. I do agree that a formal lounge at front of house and liveing area at back with bedrooms in between limits the practical uses - even with simple things like taking drinks from kitchen down a long hallway to the front lounge Re: Formal lounges and formal dining... what a waste of time! 25Jun 20, 2009 1:24 am This is a question that has been spoken about lots lately at my house. My home (parents house) has a massive formal dining and lounge area that we were never allowed in, growing up! We used it for special occassions but nothing else! We have another dining and lounge area we barely ever use, and then our normal meals and lounge room area that we basically live in 99% of the time, plus another rumpus room area thats rarely used. Having lived in a home that has a formal dining/living, I have chosen not to include one in my house. I am having an open plan living area all in one and no formal areas. DA approved Waiting on a few more Builder's quotes. Re: Formal lounges and formal dining... what a waste of time! 26Jun 20, 2009 5:22 am from the majority of comments it's pretty much dependent on your own personal lifestyle. if you do formal entertaining a formal dining might be appropriate. If you have a very casual lifestyle where the only dining is with close friends and family then in the main living area at a meals area might be more appropriate. when our kids were little it was great having a big area near the kitchen where I could play with them or supervise them but still get to the kitchen. We will still have a large main living area but i am very excited that now we will also have a kids activity room where the youngest (11) can spread out his cr@p instead of in our main living area. Our lounge will be a main family tv room. ATM we have one 20 year old 68 inch tv hopefully soon that will go to live in the kids activity room and something newer will end up in the family tv/lounge room. we've never had a room the kids were banned from. though in this house we will have a parents activity room. It won't have anything in it to appeal to our kids. Its also going to be my office and a hobby room for DH and myself. Re: Formal lounges and formal dining... what a waste of time! 27Jun 20, 2009 9:53 am Brickie joles We will have four different living areas... Why? Do you get to live a different life in each area? Im intrigued...... hahahahaha. That cracked me up. We have formal lounge and dining in our house too. We will use the formal lounge as our TV room and as a place guests can sit and talk to us without being overwhelmed by mess and noise. I have a strict no toy policy in the formal lounge. It's nice to sit down with the confidence of a person who KNOWS they won't be winding up with the hard end of a match box car in their bum. How my life has changed..... Re: Formal lounges and formal dining... what a waste of time! 28Jun 20, 2009 9:58 am will0305 It's nice to sit down with the confidence of a person who KNOWS they won't be winding up with the hard end of a match box car in their bum. How my life has changed..... HAHAHAHAHHAHA I'm soooooooooo glad I had just swallowed my mouthful of tea before reading this post, that cracked me up! 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: Formal lounges and formal dining... what a waste of time! 29Jun 20, 2009 10:25 am We said from the start that we didn't want a formal lounge or dining room. We did however say that we wanted a massive alfresco, theatre room/bar, and a massive open style living area. 41sq's later and we still don't have a formal lounge or dining room. As others have said, it depends on your lifestyle. We would never buy or build a house with these formal areas, unless we saw the possibility to use them for something else, a second study or second rumpus room maybe? Our house thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=18335 Re: Formal lounges and formal dining... what a waste of time! 30Jun 20, 2009 10:27 am My dad's place that he is building as a formal lounge at the front and they didn't want it, so they are moving the wall and making it a workshop off the garage but from the front of the house it will still look like a room with the window etc still there, a great idea I reckon! 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Can anyone suggest a house layout where the kitchen-dining - living runs the length across the rear of the house left to right where our best view will be we… 0 4345 9 24757 1 13116 |