The majority of older homes have living rooms and family rooms. Many of these spaces have been repurposed, but many have remained as originally intended. So what is the difference between a living rooms and a family room?
Living rooms are more likely to be used as formal living areas, while family rooms are more comfortable, cozy, and informal. It’s the family room that has the large ottomans, the couches that are used for sleeping and eating on many occasions, as compared to the more formal furniture, fabric and style for the living room. In the “old days”, many people would cover their “living room furniture” with plastic to preserve it, and, hopefully less common, many living rooms were used as showplaces to be looked at but not used. In years past, living rooms were called front rooms, parlours and drawing rooms depending on the time in history and geographic location.
The layout of the furniture in a family room and living room are usually very different. In a living room the furniture is placed towards the center of the room, creating more of a conversational area, while in a family room the furniture is more often closer to the walls leaving more space in the middle of the room.
Both these rooms have different locations in the home. Living rooms are usually found towards the front of the home making it more convenient to welcome guests. This space is also located near the dining room so families and guests can use the living room and dining room in unison for gathering places at holidays and special occasions.
Family rooms are typically located towards the back of a home usually opening to the backyard patio. This is the room with the large TV, the gathering place on game day, the place where kids can use the floor for games, and typically, near the kitchen making it convenient for casual entertaining and family activities.
Many of the newer homes are built with great rooms eliminating a separate living room and uniting a dining area, kitchen and comfortable seating for media. This floor plan encourages family unity and entertaining with friends. Having separate rooms, (living rooms and dining rooms) were a status symbol, but lifestyles have changed effecting the layout and function of spaces.
To be formal or casual is a choice homeowners should make when purchasing a new home or remodeling their existing home.
Nice overview, Nancy.
In my house, a separate living and family room exist and, the use of the L/R is practically ‘nil’.
It gets cooled in the summer & heated in the winter, a cost with no benefit to me. However, I understand many families obtain great satisfaction with these areas.
We purposely bought a resale home with a large formal LR and DR up front, kitchen/pantry in middle, and large family room at rear that opens to the patio. It has a higher bkfst bar between kitchen and family, and we love that, old-fashioned though it may be. Unlike Gil, we have a use for the LR.
We made the LR a music room as well, with grand piano, stereo equipment, guitars on stands and amps at the ready–so friends can jam. There’s a huge, curved, red sofa for guests, the occasional insurance agent/salesperson, a music student’s parent, or friends who want to join us making music. The walls feature musician-signed instruments, signed original art, and a camera collection with one camera per small shelf.
Would we want a large space like this to sit unused? No. And it doesn’t. It all depends on who visits your home. Our formal dining room gets the least use but works great for buffet meals on various holidays. When not in use, it still looks inviting, and has storage for (wait for it…) four sets of traditional and modern china, including two sets of holiday china. There are also two large, lighted curio cabinets with our collectibles that are great conversation starters. Some are tea sets and, yes, I use them. Even my young friends LOVE to sit and have treats while trying various teas. Things are hectic enough out there, we need to slow down and enjoy life a bit.
The family room is the place for that ridiculously large-screen black TV with surround sound and for cats lounging with us on a reclining sofa. The living room is not. All you can do in a great room is have the TV recede into the ceiling (if the TV is small enough), or cycle lovely photographs on it when it’s not in use.
I get that younger families lean toward great rooms, but if the movies the parents are watching aren’t appropriate for young ones, don’t the kids still have to go to their rooms to watch something on their screens at the same time?
Also, out here in Mesa, many front rooms are probably still used for religious activities that involve the entire family at some times and visiting church members at others. My uncle was a judge and performed weddings in their living room…his kids were off in the separate family room or bedrooms, where they couldn’t be heard. Resale homes out here with separate LR/DR and FR don’t last more than a day or two on the market. Supply of the LR/FR homes are now mostly limited to resale or custom homes, so their value is high. We grabbed ours the day it went on the market.
It’s all about time and place and yes, the times are changing…but it’s still nice to find homes with the options that work for your own unique family and their activities/needs, with spaces to gather and ALSO spaces to separate yourselves from one another now and then.