Buying A Home
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What to do with formal dining room?

We are building a new house.  We love everything about it, except that it comes with a formal dining room.  We would like to use the space in another way, but aren't quite sure what to do.  (there's a space for a table by the kitchen)  Just looking for some ideas!  

BTW, we already have a home office room. 

Re: What to do with formal dining room?

  • If it were me, I would put in a huge butlers pantry. Im a pastry chef and I would love to have a huge walk in closet/pantry that has a sink for food prep and organzation of all my dry goods. Also a great place to store appliances that I use but don't want sitting out. For instance, I have a mini pie maker, cotton candy machine and a couple kitchen aid mixers and attachments. I don't want to just stuff them into a cupboard and that way all my others pots and pans can be properly organized and stored in the kitchen area.

    Otherwise knock the wall out and make the kitchen bigger.

    I personally hate formal dinning rooms for our family, we would not use it and I plan to transform any house we buy with the above plan.

    Good luck

  • I presume the formal DR is in the front of the house, so PP's suggestion isn't practical.

    Library?  Music room?  Playroom?  Formal LR?

  • We had ours turned in to a formal living room.  I have 3 kids and wanted a room at the front of the house that was always clutter free and quiet where adult can sit and talk while the kids cause some ruckus in the family room.  Our builder also suggested making it a 5th bedroom, den, office, or play room.
  • :( I just have to say I saw your post and was jealous. I WANT a formal dining room, but a lot of the homes we look at our 1950's and they don't ahve formal dining areas (which surprises me) I always like a formal dining room because its nice to have a room to sit in and eat, sunday dinners, holidays, brunches etc where you don't see hte mess and clutter in the kitchen.

    I grew up eating in our formal dining room every sunday.

    I understand if that isn't the type of family you are, but if in the future you think you might want to host holidays, events, etc...I beg you to reconsider :)

    in hte meantime, turn it into a play room, or a "reading room"

    I used to babysit for a woman in college who had the cutest room it had two large wingback chairs and a wall full of book shelves. She would host book club once a month and all the ladies would meet in there.

    she used it as her "oasis" and closed it in with french doors. she'd curl up with a good book in that room and I always thought it was so nice and cozy

  • May I suggest whatever you do, don't do something that can't be changed up to a formal dining, you never know when you would want to sell your house, and although a lot of poeple don't look for formal living rooms, a lot of poeple lookd for formal dining rooms, for special holiday dinners, etc.
  • I'd suggest leaving it alone for now. Move into your house and see what naturally evolves in there/what you feel you need that space for (a casual nook/reading space, a formal living room, a dedicated playroom for the kids, etc etc). I don't think it would be smart to completely remove the possibility of using it as a formal dining room in the future, since some buyers look for that and/or you might find you need that kind of space as your family grows.
    Life is good today.
  • A sitting room might be a good idea! We turned an extra room we had into a living space and put up really cool wall art kits and made it a cozy space to hang. The focal point of the room is peel and stick wall art; which is very easy to apply and is removable if we ever decide to change the purpose of the room.
  • I'd love to have an extra room! I second not drastically altering it structurally, unless you plan to be in the home for a LONG time. You could add French doors or pocket doors (I think French are cuter) and turn it into a guest bedroom. In this way it could still be used as a formal dining room down the road, but would afford privacy for as long as it's a guest room. You could also make it a craft room if you're into that, or a wet bar/adult hangout area.
    imageimage
  • Didn't read the other responses- but please do consider carefully before eliminating the dining room all together if you plan to re-sell anytime soon.  I remember looking at homes last year and one in particular was on the market 365+ days.  Realtor feedback was everyone complained about the lack of a formal dining room.

    I suppose it depends on your area but some folks are going to want this if only occasionally for holidays and family get togethers.

    Beautiful baby girl born at 34 weeks due to vasa previa.   Finally home after 15 day NICU stay!
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