Do you have a dining room? Do you use it?

[BoogleMcGroogle]

We've just ( very excitingly) has an offer accepted on a house we love. It's a small farmhouse/ large cottage. Victorian with a modern but sympathetic extension. At the moment there's a kitchen (big enough for a farmhouse style table which is where we'd eat day to day), large living room and snug. There's also a gorgeous dual aspect room with an open fire which is currently a formal dining room ( with lovely antique table and chairs).

I'm just wondering whether it's worth keeping it as a dining room or whether it would be better turned into a library/ study ( there's currently a small study upstairs). While I absolutely love the idea of big family meals around the dining table, it also seems mad to have a room only used for its intended purpose a few times a year. We love entertaining but not really the sort of entertaining that involves sitting around a formal table.

I'd be grateful for your dining room thoughts, views and experiences.

Mine is currently my home office as I am working from home and also houses the treadmill. As a dining room it was only used a few times a year. Its nice to have the extra room though.

No. We use our second reception as a playroom/casual lounge. And also my office at the moment.

We move the dining table into that room at Christmas though when we usually have grandparents over.

Currently home office central and housing all the garden stuff that’s been brought in out of the rain. It’s used for its intended purpose about once a week, otherwise we eat in the kitchen. I love it for the special occasions it allows to happen and I wouldn’t be without it.

Ours has been transformed into a classroom for my kids to study . It’s been invaluable during the lockdown. They can leave their books and go back to them when they want without needing to tidy everything away.

Dining room has a TV on the wall and a big sofa. It was previously more of a play room when ds wasn't old enough to go off upstairs alone. Was so glad it make it toy free!!
Used evey night for family meal.
Kitchen also has a smaller table in. Added together in the dining room for Xmas to fit everyone round!!

We use our dining room table to eat every day. I like to eat all meals at the table. I don't like tables in kitchens and we don't have room for one anyway.

We are just in the process of buying a house that has a kitchen/ diner and separate dining room (separate living room and study also). We've decided to use it as a second living room with shelving for storage and a sofa bed for guests to stay (as all the bedrooms will be used). The only time we would use it as a dining room would be Christmas, the kitchen diner is big enough for dining with guests (probably get an extendable table so it doesn't always take up so much space though as there's only 4 of us usually).

I figure it would be more useful to have a second living room, I'd like to get a family console in there. I thought it could be a separate break out space for the kids and for when they have friends over. If the kids were younger it probably would have served as a play room.

I'd make that a snug!

Yes, for all meals.
My only requirement when house hunting was that there had to be a separate dining-room.

Ours was an office/music room for many years. Then housed FiL after his stroke. Now we are retired it's a second lounge for our grown up kids to hang if they want a bit of space from us old duffers or have friends round.

Contains telly, consoles, sofabed, bookcases and very small desk.

We have a big and pleasant dining area in our kitchen that we use for every meal.

It’s currently a classroom and I’d be stuffed without it!!

Ours has a dining table but mainly used for homework and now home schooling. It also has the piano and most of our books.

Mine is now a study with a wall of bookshelves and the old dining table re-purposed as a desk. I keep it pretty spartan so it's quite easy to convert back to a dining room if needed for special occasions.

I've just sold a traditional 1920s semi which had two reception rooms and a kitchen, which we extended. It was very big, and I had a huge dining table in the middle. Although at first it was great having everyone in the kitchen, when I did Christmas or had more than 4 for dinner everyone got in my way. I wish I'd designed it so the table was away from the cooking area. We never used the second reception room which did have a table and sofa in, it became the dog's bedroom.

The house I'm buying allows me to do that but still remains open plan, and it was very high on my list of must haves.

Okay, so the general consensus seems to be either to repurpose or go for multiple uses. I'm now thinking it could also house the piano and bassoon, doubling up as a little music practice room.

Also, what sort of dining suite do you have. New? Antique? Fixed or extendable? If we are keeping the room, I'm inclining towards something more traditional, which isn't really our usual style (current house is seventies and quite scandi).

We use the dining room every day for evening meal or when we have friends or family around for meals. We tend to eat at the kitchen table for breakfast and lunch.

We have a separate dining room which we only use ag Christmas or when we have friends over for meals or staying for the weekend. The rest of the time we eat at the kitchen table which can seat 4. During lockdown the dining table has mainly been used for jigsaws and Scrabble and the patio door in there has been used as a 'greenhouse' for growing sunflowers and peppers. We have another sitting room which used to be a playroom when the DCs were small which DH has been using as his office on his WFH days. I love having a separate dining room so that guests don't have to look at the mess in the kitchen when I'm cooking/serving up - although they usually start off in there for drinks at the beginning of an evening.

Mine is in my conservatory. We are getting the ceiling done so it will be warmer all year round.
But I love sitting in there first thing for breakfast or lunch with my husband at weekends for lunch.

Strangely when we actually had a dining room ( just taken down some walls so it’s one big kitchen now ) I never used it. But since I moved it I use it all the time.

I think if it’s not something u use all the time u really have to make the effort to make some use out of it. Otherwise make it into something u will use.

Not today. The table is covered in my sewing.

I don't even have a table! Come to think of it, I don't have any chairs either, just a small sofa.

We have a lounge, leading into playroom (with double doors to separate them if needed). We eat in the kitchen which is quite big and also have a separate study with the desktop pc, books etc.

We're quite an informal family and although we do sit round the table together quite often to eat meals, we wouldn't use a dining room.

We use our dining room every day but if I had a dining kitchen then I wouldn't have a separate dining room, I don't see the point.

Music practice room sounds lovely, maybe also a bookcase and a couple of sofas, like a second living room. It's nice to have space for the family to spread out

Our dining room is used for general 'stuff' most of the year and cleared out at Christmas so we can eat there.

We use it alot but rarely eating. It's the table for a jigsaw, or wrapping a birthday gift, or storing a bag for the charity shop, or a quiet room for a conference call, etc.

Wouldn't be without it. If it was a playroom/snug/family room I'd feel I needed to keep it looking presentable, but as a dining- room-cum-junk-room I happily close the door on the clutter.

Personally I'd not have it as an extra dining room if you have a farmhouse style table in the kitchen. I'd just it as a "snug" with a seond TV, or desk area, sewing area, but not a dining room.