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Forum -> Household Management
Would you prefer and bigger living room or dining room



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Shani88




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Aug 26 2021, 8:26 pm
The house we bought has a tiny tiny dining room and a nice decent sized living room (not big enough to split into 2 rooms). We are thinking of making the bigger room into the dining room so that it is not so cramped when we host and when our kids get older. However, having such a small living room is far from ideal. What would you do and can anyone help me maximize the space of the tiny room for a living room?
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redheaded




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Aug 26 2021, 8:30 pm
Bigger dining room

Good luck
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momof2+?




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Aug 26 2021, 8:30 pm
Can’t you switch the functions of the rooms when your kids grow up? How many ppl sit around your dr table most shabbosim? How used is your family room?
Do you use your dr table only for Shabbos?
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Shani88




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Aug 26 2021, 8:53 pm
momof2+? wrote:
Can’t you switch the functions of the rooms when your kids grow up? How many ppl sit around your dr table most shabbosim? How used is your family room?
Do you use your dr table only for Shabbos?


We don’t host that often but we do host and it’s been very tight and uncomfortable since most of our friends have a bunch of young kids themselves. Right now the dining room is fine when it’s just our family. Family room is definitely used daily but the kids mainly play in the basement play room.
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agreer




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Aug 26 2021, 9:36 pm
I know so many families who switched rooms. If you have a basement, what's holding you back from switching to the living room for eating Shabbos meals?
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byisrael




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Aug 27 2021, 2:13 am
Are the adjacent to each other?
If they are I would open up the wall and set up furniture in a way that if you are hosting and need to open the tables up you can take from the living room space but otherwise have defined living room and dining room areas.
If not adjacent definitely bigger dining - if most of the playing happens in the basement.
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zaq




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Aug 27 2021, 5:44 am
momof2+? wrote:
Can’t you switch the functions of the rooms when your kids grow up??


We know people who did this. It works fine.
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shmosmom




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Aug 27 2021, 5:44 am
I had one room that I made into a dining room instead of a living room because "where would we eat shabbos, I can use the other tiny bedroom as a living room, etc." Now the tiny bedroom has a little bundle of joy sleeping there, and I have no living room. Wish I would've made the dining room into a living room instead. May still do it, I just have expensive dining room furniture that I'm not sure what to do with.
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cholentfan1




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Aug 27 2021, 5:46 am
byisrael wrote:
Are the adjacent to each other?
If they are I would open up the wall and set up furniture in a way that if you are hosting and need to open the tables up you can take from the living room space but otherwise have defined living room and dining room areas.
If not adjacent definitely bigger dining - if most of the playing happens in the basement.


I came to say the same thing. If the rooms are next to each other, I would open it up to make a much larger space.
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BatyaEsther




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Aug 27 2021, 5:55 am
Do you have a family room or basement?
Do you use your living room?
We never use the living room, but we also have a family room.
Things can always be changed. What are your family’s needs at this time?
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Rubber Ducky




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Aug 27 2021, 6:02 am
Switching the living room and dining room is very common here in Baltimore, I see it all the time — I'm a kitchen designer and space planner.

Or if they are contiguous you can combine them.
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Chayalle




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Aug 27 2021, 6:17 am
Before I moved, I had a large living room/dining room. It was really one large L-shaped room. I put the table at the base of the L, and had couch at the foot, but I knew others in my neighborhood with same layout who did the opposite.

Now I have a large living room and family room (also L-shaped), but my dining room is not so big (and it's on the other side of the entranceway, not adjoining). Sometime in the future when my budget allows, I will either put flooring into my living room/family room (it's carpeted now) so that it can be used for dining as needed....or I will extend my dining room by finishing half the garage.

I found it interesting that so many people said bigger dining room. I happen to love my living space. when the agent showed us the house, she told us to make the living room into dining room, but I don't think I will do that on a regular basis. I love having where to sit with company, with ample room for the kids to play, etc....it's so relaxing.
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Amarante




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Aug 27 2021, 7:03 am
I wouldn't do it in your circumstances since you don't entertain often. I would want a home that is comfortable for the life I actually live most of the time.

Why not get a gate leg table so that you can set it up as a large dining table in the living room when you need a large dining table. We had one of those when I was growing up because my mother wanted the actual dining room to function as the informal family room as she wanted a formal dining room. Our table had leaves as well which could make it quite large. When not in use, it functioned as an end table to one of the comfortable chairs. Very Happy

This is a picture of the most traditional looking ones but they come in different styles. Alternatively find a way to extend your current table when feeding a lot of people. Many people with relatively small dining tables so that since with open floor plans it is easy to have a smallish table but then tend it into part of the contiguous living room space.

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rae




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Aug 27 2021, 7:10 am
I would turn the room into a dining room and add a couch or 2 side chairs by the wall. I happen to like cozy living rooms so that would be my preference.
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Shani88




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 29 2021, 8:35 pm
The rooms are not adjacent, I wish they were! We have no way to extend dining room in the smaller room which is right next to the kitchen. We keep most toys in basement but of course the kids only want to play near me so there’s toys upstairs too. We are trying the switch right now and the large dining room looks very funny with such a tiny dining room table (we’d have to get a bigger set). I put a little kids table and some toys in there and the kids have been coloring/playing a lot in there and since we moved out the rug it’s actually nice that I don’t mind them doing more crafts, play dough, kinetic sand in that room. We have to decide soon because if changing it there’s a chandelier that needs to be moved by an electrician from the small to the big room.
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