That's where we put our Christmas tree!

We also have a living room and a TV room. It isn't so much formal vs informal (we are informal people) but purpose. TV room is for watching TV and playing wii, and living room is for lounging with a book, drinking coffee and reading the paper in the morning, and where we sit when people come over. We use the living room many hours every day.

Piano, books, seating

The living room is my adult space, vs. the family room which is the kid/family space. I don't allow toys in the living room. I have a couple of easy chairs for reading, a small TV in the corner (for when I want to watch MY stuff, not my kid's) and the piano is there, plus some books. I like having a neat, orderly space when you first walk into the house, since the family room is usually more cluttered and lived-in.

our floor plan is pretty open and both the family room and living room border the kitchen, so if we have a party, people can mingle easily amongst all the rooms.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We knocked down the walls to make an open floor plan. I know, some people don't like it, but we do. When we have friends over, it's nice to be able to interact with everyone. Plus, everyone seems to like hanging out in the kitchen.

The OP already has a family room open to the kitchen. Do you mean you have two living rooms open to the kitchen?

yeah, the room in question is already open to the dining room and for the age of the house, it is a pretty open plan. there aren't any walls to knock down, it's not next to the kitchen.

Anonymous wrote:We knocked down the walls to make an open floor plan. I know, some people don't like it, but we do. When we have friends over, it's nice to be able to interact with everyone. Plus, everyone seems to like hanging out in the kitchen.

The OP already has a family room open to the kitchen. Do you mean you have two living rooms open to the kitchen?

We knocked down the walls to make an open floor plan. I know, some people don't like it, but we do. When we have friends over, it's nice to be able to interact with everyone. Plus, everyone seems to like hanging out in the kitchen.

I use mine as a library sitting room. Not super creative but it is relaxing and when others want to watch tv I can relax on the couch and read a good book.

OP here- Thanks for the ideas! I don't really want a TV in there, personally, but seems like people come over and sometimes want some sporting event on or something like that. I like the idea of space to play games and just hang out, and would prefer comfy furniture to the more formal looking, and to seat more people than the existing family room. Might not be a bad place for a little bar type thing too.

You want to have the tv on when you have guests over? Ugh.

I would probably make it a more "grown-up" area. Maybe a small "bar" setup. A nicer space for entertaining basically.

Second family room! We kept ours pretty "casual" (I don't have couches that kids could jump on and I don't baby proof- I teach them not to ruin stuff). We really enjoy hanging out with friends in the front living room. We play games and talk. It's nice to have a room without a TV.

We have a grand piano and a sitting arrangement in ours, around the fireplace. No TV -- that doesn't belong in a formal living room.

My house is '71 (a rancher) and you walk right into our formal living room too, but it's small. We already have a big family room so it's not as critical of a space for us. We are doing board and batten as you walk in and building a bench with baskets underneath for shoe storage and hooks above bench. Sort of a mini mudroom. Ours does have a fireplace and we have a couch, coffee table and chair and I don't feel we need a TV at all. We also have a big window that I've thought of doing some sort of built in bench seating down the road. If your family room isn't cutting it for larger gatherings, I would definitely make a larger seating area in this living room. Also you could always have some sort of cabinet that could hide a TV if you don't want it out all of the time.

We just moved into a 1970s house, and we have a nice family room that the kitchen is open to, but due to doors to backyard and garage, plus the fireplace we don't have room for alot of seating in there- just have a big couch, and also the TV is in there, so it's not great for sitting around when you have more than a few people over. We also have what was intended to be a formal living room, which is a step-down from the dining room (is completely open to dining room). I don't know what to do with this room! We have a piano in there but don't know what else to do. it's also right when you come in the house, with vaulted ceiling so it's not like you can convert to office/craft room. I'm thinking maybe a second family type room- there is room for a sofa or sectional plus a chair or two, so we could have more seating than in our family room. Seems like a place adults could hang out when we have people over, but maybe it needs a TV too for that purpose? Ideas? It would be nice to have something cozy but that doesn't seem to go w/ the high ceiling, etc.