Should we knock through between our living and dining rooms?

[fizzyelderflower]

We live in a fairly standard layout 30's house. At some point someone has opened up the kitchen to the dining room so we now have a really good size kitchen/diner.

We also have a nice front living room which is a nice grown up space. It all works most of the time except when we have people over. We have 3 dcs and if we have even a couple of adults either room seems really overcrowded. If we have a few friends it can feel really claustrophobic.

I think it would be a good idea to knock a large opening in the wall separating the two and have some nice concertina doors put in so we can have it open but also keep the cosy feel if we want.

Anyone done similar and love it or hate it? DH not convinced at all.

We have a 30s house too and did something similar about 6 months ago, knocking through our sitting and dining rooms. it is fab! It allows light from our south facing dining room into our north facing living room.

If you're going to do it, you might want to decorate in similar tones throughout so that it looks and feels like one room when the doors are open. We used the exact same curtains in both rooms, and ran the carpet the whole way through without a seam so it again feels like one room

Rather than folding doors, we have doors on parliament hinges so they fold back all the way against the wall. that way you don't really notice the doors so much when they're open and the opening doesn't feel like a doorway but makes it feel like one room

The one downside may be that you lose storage space for furniture on 2 walls IYSWIM so you need to decide whether that is a problem or not.

Loss of storage.

You can see the kitchen mess from everywhere - maybe you are tidier than me.

Do you plan to sell it in the next 5 years then don't do it.

You have nowhere to hide from the children downstairs

We have the two rooms knocked through and we really don't like it. It was done by the previous owners. No matter what I do the room has a 'corridor' type of feel to it with furniture against the walls.

Our neighbour's house has the two original rooms and I love it, cosy in winter, easy to heat and there is always a private space to retire to when you want to get away from noise. We want to put the wall back but a further extension at the back of the house would make that room very dark.

We've done it with foldaway doors and love it. Could not imagine living any other way and would definitely do it again. But it is true that we have lost the use of two walls for storage so you may want to consider that if an issue with you.

I'm undecided on the same thing, or rather, DP and I are each decided different ways, and both in need of persuasion that my one opinion is right. I'll watch this thread with interest!

We moved into our 1950's house last year. It had a knocked through living/dining room and a small kitchen.
We had the builders replace the wall between the living and dining rooms and instead knocked through from the kitchen to the dining room. The result is a snug front room where we watch tv etc and a bright and airy kitchen diner where the dc to homework at the dining table whilst I cook, where dh and I chat over coffe and newspapers in the morning and share a bottle of wine in the evening (at the weekends). We use both areas much more than we did when it was one large room.

Meant to add, storage was an issue for us. With our current arrangement we have a row of kitchen cupboards against the wall between dining room / living room and on the other side of that wall, in the living room we have a large wall to wall bookcase. Lots of storage that we could not have had if we had not put the wall back in...

Ours is a 50's house and has intercommunicating reception rooms with horrible glass doors which are probably a health hazard but they do let in light and we tend to close off the front room.

we have an extension which is as at the back of the house but the sound from the tv can be heard in the front room.

I wouldn't knock through especially when you already have an open plan kitchen diner as there is nowhere for you to go to have some peace from the children or if they want to watch tv or you do and they need to do homework etc.

Thanks for all the interesting responses and it's given me loads to think about but I don't think it's made things any clearer so am now totally

A few details which might affect it. We've got 3 dcs under 5 (so homework not an issue and the only time I get to escape them is when they're asleep anyway ) It would also be good to see them when they're watching TV and the living room is the only space that has floor space for them to play but I tend to be in the kitchen/dining room a lot.

We do want to sell/rent it in 3 years or so and we're in an area that would appeal equally to sharers and families. So separate rooms good for sharers who could use it as a bedroom.

The kitchen is in the original position so you wouldn't really be able to see it from the living room.

The loss of storage is a good point, we currently don't have anything on either wall but I wouldn't want to do away with the whole wall and would rather just have a 'gap' in the middle so space either side to put furniture against We'd keep the original two doors into both rooms from the hall.

I could add that we are only thinking of getting a door between sitting room and dining room; our kitchen is separate. For me, having kitchen/dining/sitting room all in one would put me off buying a house, and I'd hate cooking steam, smells etc. to circulate throughout the whole ground floor.

Under fives quickly grow into over fives. I think you really need two rooms downstairs if you can - much more flexible space. One big room is a bit of a pain IMO

Us too secondcoming and I think the only long term solution is to move rather than work too hard to make a small house work better for us.

It looks like DH was right (!) and we should keep the rooms separate.

I have this sliding door system between my playroom & lounge. The doors are just normal doors - so the same as the rest of the house - fitted into the system. It is great because in the day it is pretty open, the kids play in the playroom but don't feel closed away - so they, and all their stuff, mainly stays in there - and then at night I can just shut it off.

Much prefer it over normal double doors as you don't need the floor space for the doors to open into, they just disappear into the wall.

Just reread - didn't realise that you would be knocking through so there is only one big room. I was thinking of ours where it was sitting/dining room we knocked through and kitchen/diner is separate. The dining room wasn;t getting used - opening it up means it is more used. I'm not sure I would knock through so that I effectively had only one room effectively IYSWIM. We like being able to shut the door on the chaos of the kitchen/diner and retreating into our calmer sitting/diner.

We have this with double doors (previous owners) and I like(d) it. But have now just extended dining room and kitchen at the back and I can hear how bloody loud the radio in the kitchen bit is now. Sooo, we are thinking of putting a wall back up between dining and living bit at some stage.

I agree with whoever said that under fives will soon be over fives. It won't be long before your eldest is 7 or 8 and brings a friend home from school. Trust me, you will want a separate room when they are playing on the wii or watching cbeebies or getting every toy known to man out ...

Could you move the telly and 'living' stuff into your current diner part of the kitchen-diner? I've got 2yos and glass partition between dining room and kitchen so I can see them, and they like playing there - living room is for sofa and tv only.

I think its a question of space. In our old house, the lounge and dining room were knocked through and separated by folding doors which we pretty much kept open. We then knocked through between the kitchen and the dining room and so effectively had one great big space. We had 2 DCs of 3 and under and it worked perfectly, they had the run of the house, I could be faffing in the kitchen and could see them playing etc.

Now moved into a house where all 3 rooms are separate, now have 3 DCs of 6 and under and it drives me mad. The idea was to have a "child free" zone in the lounge, so the dining room is supposed to be a play room and we have a small table in the kitchen, but like you say, when we have visitors or the children have friends to stay, there is nowhere that is big enough. In fact, the lounge is the biggest room so we use that mostly when there are all 5 of us at home for toys / reading/ watching TV.

If I could keep one room that the children could have when they're teenagers then fab, but the issue is space and I need it now! We can't afford to do anything to it but I would knock down all the walls if I could!

Also you are going to put in doors, right? So will maintain the flexibility of having a separate room if needed ...

Mandy that's exatly what I'm thinking and would love DCs to have the run of the house. It isnt a huge house and the toys are already in the dining room but there's no floor space for them to get toys out and play games. We tend to have lots of visitors and I don't want to have to go out with them every time they visit.

I'm not sure how long we'll be able to last in it anyway so don't want to devalue it but also want to live happily and comfortably for the time that we're here.

Yes stillstanding the idea behind the doors was that we can have the rooms separate (and we'll probably close them every evening as we like our cosy living room) but that when we need to we have the run of the floor space downstairs. We'd run the same flooring through so when it as open it would feel unified.

still no clearer and it seems the MN jury is divided!

You won't devalue it -it;s not that hard to put walls back up.

Smiling as i read this - currently moved out of our home as the builders are in, knocking down wall between kitchen/dining room, and bricking up between living and dining room. So we'll end up with what you've got now! Looking forward to being able to have a cosier TV room, and a separate space where kids can make messy crerative stuff on the table while I cook and chat to them. They are 4 and a half, and 16 months. I did ummm and err for a long time about whether to block up the wall between the two living spaces (that were knocked in to one previously,) but we've done it now. We do have a consevatory off the new dining room, but temperatures mean that it is useable for half the year. I can't wait for the new kitchen to go in.
I am hoping now that when it's all done I don't want to knock a hole to put doors in the diving wall...

We live in a 1930's semi, and last year we reinstated the wall between our living and dining room. Best thing we ever did. We now have 2 reception rooms, which we use equally, and in the winter the living room is a lovely cosy space.

We are moving into house with living & dining room knocked through. Builder is bricking it up again for us. He said 10 years ago he was going round knocking through & now he's going back to the same houses bricking them up again!