Guest room? Formal living room? Help me make the most of our space!

[ChristusG]

We were going to move....but now we are not. We've decided to put some money into our current house to make it how we want it. We just signed a contract on adding a sunroom to the back of our house. We're building a covered patio off of it. We're putting wood floors down in our house, resodding the yard....eventually we'll do a kitchen and bathroom remodel.

 

I need some help setting up my house in order to maximize our space. We have a formal living room connected to a formal dining room. We need neither. Right now our computers are in the formal dining area. The formal living has a rocking chair. I feel like we are not maximizing this space.

 

We also have a guest room. We don't have guests often at all. DH's mother comes and visits for about 2 weeks once (occasionally twice) a year. My dad occasionally comes and stays a few nights when DH goes out of town (yes, I'm a chicken, plus he uses it as an excuse to spend some time with the grandkids in the evenings). But that is it....no other guests. Yet we have a a king sized bed taking up an entire room.

 

I would love to do something neat and unique to the areas I mentioned....but I'm not sure what. We don't really need a school room. The lighting in our house is not wonderful and I can already tell that we will probably do a lot of our schooling in the soon-to-be-sunroom.

 

I actually thought about taking down the wall seperating the family room from the kitchentte, from the formal living/dining combo. Then it would be one really large room. But I'm not sure.

 

Anyone have any ideas? Suggestions? Neat things they have done to their own homes?

[Teachin'Mine]

What do you like to do together as a family that you don't already have space to do? Do you have a playroom for the kids? The dining room or living room might work well for that. How about making the other room a quiet reading room/study/prayer room? Or maybe you'd like to get the TV out of the family room and you could turn the living room into a media room.

[Denisemomof4]

I'm TOTALLY not a formal living/dining room person either, which is why we're calling our addition a breakfast room. :001_smile: It'll be 14 x 18 and have a fireplace, but it's going to be a breakfast room where we'll do all our schooling.

 

I'd vote for removing the wall so you have a huge living room. That can be combined for a playroom. When you say kitchenette, is it small? If so, removing walls to make a larger space could make the kitchen/eating area open up to the living room. Most of the newer homes are built like this, having the kitchen open to the Great Room.

 

Growing up my mother had rooms for decoration only. We used the dining room once or twice per year and the formal living room was only used for my wedding shower. :001_huh: I personally think that's SUCH a waste of space, and I'd recommend large rooms that will be used all the time.

[ChristusG]

We do have a playroom already. Our home is a 4 bedroom plan, but the original builders only put three rooms in....so one room is large. We use that as the playroom and eventually the kids bedroom when we put them in there to sleep. Right now they share a bed in the master bedroom with us. We have a family bedroom with two beds in it LOL.

 

It will be really easy to take down the wall seperating the rooms....it is not a weight bearing wall. It goes not even reach the ceiling....it just goes most of the way up.

 

Our kitchenette is really small and it would be nice to open it up a bit. We were looking at homes to buy over the past year and I LOVE the open floor plan. I wonder if theres a way we can incorporate a breakfast bar anywhere?

[Mejane]

Before you knock that wall down, you might want to consult someone (a realtor or appraiser) about what it might do to the home's value. We considered knocking out the wall between our family room and formal living room to enlarge the family room, and were told it would reduce the value of the house not only because there would be less rooms, but because many people like having formal rooms especially here in the northeast. (I don't know who these "many" people are - the people I know almost never use their formal rooms. :glare:)

 

Anyhoo, we opted to leave it intact and use the living room as a guest room; it now has a very nice Castro in it.

[MaMa2005]

Last summer, we converted our guest room into a craft room/sewing room/guest room. We went to IKEA and found 24x24 inch kitchen cabinet with doors for $9.99. We bought 20 of them. On the two solid walls of the guest room we double stacked 10 of them. Nice storage that is concealed. We then put tables underneath the cabinets for scrapbooking, sewing, etc. Thus, the center of the room was now vacant. We bought a foldable type bed/couch at IKEA and it is now between the windows. It is a perfect couch and turns into a double bed if needed.

 

One of the best projects we have ever done!!!!

[elegantlion]

I would change at least one room into a library. Wall to wall bookcases, a set of comfy chairs, a writing desk, and no computer or TV.

[Doodle]

How about turning the formal living room into a library with wall to wall bookcases?

[Cornflower]

We recently moved and have a formal living room for the first time. We have been in this house since Aug 2009. At first I was excited to have a formal living room. Then I found that it sat empty most of the time. It also happens to be the largest room in our home. We decided to turn it in to a family media room. Now we have a big screen TV and our computer in there with a sofa and chair. I have a teenage son and he can hang out in there when his friends come over and their not stuck upstairs in the bonus room. We turned that room in to a music room. Anyway my suggestion is to turn your room in to whatever family area you will use.

 

Cornflower

[Angel]

Last summer, we converted our guest room into a craft room/sewing room/guest room. We went to IKEA and found 24x24 inch kitchen cabinet with doors for $9.99. We bought 20 of them. On the two solid walls of the guest room we double stacked 10 of them. Nice storage that is concealed. We then put tables underneath the cabinets for scrapbooking, sewing, etc. Thus, the center of the room was now vacant. We bought a foldable type bed/couch at IKEA and it is now between the windows. It is a perfect couch and turns into a double bed if needed.

 

One of the best projects we have ever done!!!!

 

Sounds cool! Do you have pictures? How big was the room? We have an extra room (bedroom) in our basement and it is having an identity crisis :D This sounds similar to what we would want.

 

To the OP, is the formal living room the first room you see when you come in the door, or is it separated from the entry way. I think that would decide for me which direction. I would think a media room would be cool, if you do movies/videos as a family. However, if the front door opens up into it, that may change some things. I would maybe convert the formal dining room to a library room like elegantlion suggested. Your halfway there it sounds like.

[Brigitte]

Before you pull down any walls, think about how that would affect your future kitchen redo.

[DarlaS]

Before you pull down any walls, think about how that would affect your future kitchen redo.

 

:iagree:

 

Also, will there be anywhere in the living area where you will not always be in someone's line of sight? Would that bother you? We had an open floor plan for years and have added a wall because it got kind of old.

[kalanamak]

 

Anyone have any ideas? Suggestions? Neat things they have done to their own homes?

 

 

I envy my friends wall bed...the kind that folds down from the wall. That way, your parents have a place to stay, or a room to put a sick spouse, etc. The rest of my friend's room has a built in counter that is basically two desks for the two kids, with drawers in between.

[rafiki]

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[KatieJ]

We have a den with fireplace, TV etc..and a more formal living room. I call it the "front " room as it is in the front of the house. It is where the piano is, the Bose music player, the bookcases..the comfiest sofa....it's the quiet room. It is where we read and take naps on sunday afternoons. No TV's allowed. It is where we sit and chat with guests over coffee. I would prefer that the wall between and the kitchen could be removed and we would have more space ..since we are always in the kitchen, but we can't as it is a load bearing wall..so we make it work.

[pryde55]

You might consider getting rid of the king bed in the guest room and (like ElegantLion suggested) put in bookshelves. I recommend a nice wooden-framed futon with a firm cotton core to sit on while enjoying your library. It can quickly change into grandma/grandpa's room when they visit.