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ONe LR or two in a new house?

post #1 of 39
9/19/06 at 8:13pm
Thread Starter 
We are looking at houseplans, and DH thinks we need one w/ two living rooms. ONe will be our front, pretty, for guests room, w/ no TV, just chairs and NO kids/toys, ect. THis would be what you see when you walk in the door. THe second LR would be on the back of hte house, a family room w/ a TV, and the kids can play in there. Is this overkill? Right now we live in a 1500sq. ft house, and we are practically tripping over toys every day, no matter how often I clean up. I even do the toy rotation thing, and only keep one small box of toys upstairs. They just take that ONE box and strow it everywhere. DH wants one nice room that does't look like a disaster when you walk in the door. What do you think?

Here is a link:
http://www.dongardner.com/plan_details.aspx?pid=2695

We don't really need all that space, IMO, but every house we find w/ the number of rooms, the size we want is at least 2400 sq ft. We also like these:

http://www.dongardner.com/plan_details.aspx?pid=2530

http://www.dongardner.com/plan_details.aspx?pid=2619

We would just have to tack on that extra room ont he back? What do you think?

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post #2 of 39
9/19/06 at 8:16pm
i like having my living room without toys, etc. but that is the room where the TV is (i try to discourage kids from watching it). so, i vote for the 2 rooms.
however, if i had it to do all over again, i would prefer a library to a second living room. large bookcases, nice cushy chairs. and that room would actually get use, as opposed to our l/r right now where no one goes unless they are watching tv.
post #3 of 39
9/19/06 at 8:41pm
I vote for 2
post #4 of 39
9/19/06 at 10:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Free Thinker View Post
We don't really need all that space, IMO, but every house we find w/ the number of rooms, the size we want is at least 2400 sq ft.
Given the increased construction and maintenance costs of a too-large house, it may be worth the money to have customized plans drawn up (which of course would also allow you to add other customizations you want).
post #5 of 39
9/19/06 at 10:39pm
I guess it depends on how you live. I prefer a smallish house - less to clean, less to heat, less to furnish, lower taxes, etc.

I've always found it wasteful to have a room just for show, that nobody uses. I see formal livingrooms in most of the houses that I visit, but we are never entertained in that room. Instead, we all go into the kitchen or the den, so the point of the front room is ???

We are developing plans for a new house. Instead of a formal livingroom and family room/den, we are going to have a living room with a small library/reading alcove off to one side of the living room. So there is a somewhat secluded retreat with a couple of chairs.
post #6 of 39
9/19/06 at 10:54pm
Our front room is the living room- no tv, lots of books,computer, fireplace. We have a family room off the dining room which has a large toy closet, and thats generally where the biggest messes are. I like the idea of two rooms- but wouldnt want to have a room we didnt LIVE in. Since the computer is in the living room, and some cozy reading chairs, we usually end up here at night...
post #7 of 39
9/19/06 at 11:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by srain View Post
Given the increased construction and maintenance costs of a too-large house, it may be worth the money to have customized plans drawn up (which of course would also allow you to add other customizations you want).
This is what we are doing. The 2-story, 3-bedroom, 1 1/2 bath house will be 1600 sq ft, plus 600 sq ft of finished basement space (exercise room, laundry room, and pantry storage). The custom plans will be pricey, but it should be less expensive to build, and just what we want.
post #8 of 39
9/19/06 at 11:38pm
Thread Starter 
We will get customized plans, I think, when we get closer to actually having a plan :P Right now we are just trying to decide what to put where And we will have a basment, but no upstair (I think). Just one level that we live on, and a basment. If the house is really big, like the first link, we won't have a full basement. We also run a business from our home, and people do stop by. DH ususally goes outside on the front porch instead of inviting them in. We do plan to have a study/office on the main floor, by the front door for this reason. It just seems when you add up all the rooms, the house gets big! Also, I think we would use the formal LR as a reading room, ect., it jsut won't be used by the kids w/ toys everywhere. It will be a NO TOY ZONE!
post #9 of 39
9/19/06 at 11:41pm
i agree with the need for a "show" living area that you never have to worry about cleaning up when people come over - but the truth is, people almost always walk with you into where your kitchen is anyway, to have drinks etc.

the ideal would be a kitchen in between 2 living rooms, both with doors that slide shut:
- normally, you'd keep the formal living room door shut, and have the kids play area, meals, tv and living area adjoining the kitchen.
- and when guests come, you'd slide the family room door shut (to hide the messy toys and cushions etc), and just have the guests move between the kitchen and the formal living room.
that way you can also keep the kids and the guests apart, each having their own space - kids can still have their playroom when guests are over, and you can check on them regularly.

one thing you could try with your family / playroom to keep the toys under control, is to partly subdivide that room's floor space (eg with a sofa across part of the middle of the room, or a low bureau), so that no matter how the toys are strewn, they won't make it all the way across the room. that way DH at least has a cleared area to relax in while the kids play nearby to their heart's content.
that way, you can also just throw toys that "leak" out back over the sofa into the play area, which will suffice until you all put the toys properly back in the toybox.
post #10 of 39
9/19/06 at 11:46pm
It's pretty standard around here that all the newer homes are built with a living room out front and then a larger family room adjacent to the kitchen. Makes a lot of sense if you have a large quanitity of toys/stuff.

We have a 1950s house, so instead of the family room, we have a huge rec room in the basement. The space really gets used, and I kind of like not having to go down there and look at the mess.
post #11 of 39
9/20/06 at 9:16am
We have a 1950's ranch which had a family room added on sometime after the house was built. We use our living room all the time, but we do have the TV and the toys in the family room. I like having both, but our house is still only about 1500 sf. And it suits us fine.
post #12 of 39
9/20/06 at 10:05am
We aren't considering building but if we do move we will look for two living rooms and a kitchen downstairs. There are six of us and as we all share bedrooms it would be really good if we had two rooms where we could do different things without having to be together all the time. Something like a 'working' room and a lounging tv room.
post #13 of 39
9/20/06 at 12:23pm
We have two living areas, but we also house-share with my BIL and his GF. The plasma TV, humongous collection of DVD's, DH's computer, and BIL's GF's computer, the foldout couch, and a couple of cushy chairs are in one living area (the one toward the back), while a sectional couch, my desk, bookshelves full of books, and the altar are in the front living room, along with DD's mini table and chairs and bouncy horse. Guess which room I like better?

Of course, I'm by far the clutterbug of the house (not counting DD), so my desk tends to be rather cluttered, along with the floor around it, and it's in the front room near the front door. I do clean up when guests are coming.
post #14 of 39
9/20/06 at 1:24pm
I vote for two, but stringently disagree with having "a pretty one for guests." I grew up with that mindset and so many people never even walked in their living rooms, and lived in smaller dens. We have two, and use the front one for a "living" room, and the second for the schoolroom / office. It would be the music / playroom if we didn't homeschool.
post #15 of 39
9/20/06 at 2:36pm
We have three. The living room is in the front of the house, very peaceful, no tv, we use it all the time for reading, talking, playing board games, etc. The family room is on the bottom floor (we have 3 floors) and contains a tv, computer, foosball table, video games and lots of comfy furniture. This room is used mostly by our kids and their friends (my kids are 15, 12 and 9). The third is what we call the "fireplace room", on the middle floor right off the kitchen. We all gather there most regularly and I especially like it because I can be part of things even when I'm cooking. So, I would vote for at least two...especially as your family grows up, you'll be happy to have the space.
post #16 of 39
9/20/06 at 2:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolfmeis View Post
I vote for two, but stringently disagree with having "a pretty one for guests." I grew up with that mindset and so many people never even walked in their living rooms, and lived in smaller dens. We have two, and use the front one for a "living" room, and the second for the schoolroom / office. It would be the music / playroom if we didn't homeschool.
I agree. I had a friend in high school who used to refer to her livingroom as "The Museum" because us kids weren't allowed to touch anything or even sit on the chairs or use the room in anyway. It was strictly for guests. So weird.
post #17 of 39
9/20/06 at 3:04pm
My sil had her old house set up like that and it was nice. If I was building a house I've thought about it. It wasn't a no one allowed in it room but it was kept cleaner than the family room in the back of the house and it was decorated more so you saw a nice room when you looked in.

I wouldn't have a no kids allowed pretty room but I wouldn't want toys and stuff in it.
post #18 of 39
9/20/06 at 4:48pm
have you tried the exercises in the book The Not So Big House?

the theory is that you should build based on what you use and need, and also based on how your family will grow. The book has a series of questions about where your family spends the most time, what you perciece your needs will be over time (for example, in a couple of years, toys will be more contained as children age and learn to put toys away), including things like how often you entertain and how you entertain.

in the circles that my hsuband and i run in, all but two of us DO NOT have separate living rooms/dining rooms. Whenever we go to these homes (both of which have young children under 5), we always gravitate toward the kitchen and 'family room' and not the formal spaces.

also, one of the families bought the extra room for the same reason that you are talking about--only to discover that she rarely entertains, and when she does, it's usually friends and family who are completely "ok" with any mess to begin with.
post #19 of 39
9/20/06 at 6:02pm
We turned our formal living room into our home office. We never entertain any "formal" guests. Our guests are friends with kids and our families. We all end up in the kichen and family room anyway. That's where the food and fun is!
post #20 of 39
9/20/06 at 6:26pm
I like the idea of having the extra room being the library, maybe a game table and a fireplace, that sounds nice.

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