What would you do with my dining area?

[filigree2015]

So I have an open plan living/dining room, with the kitchen leading off the dining area. The open plan area is about 24 feet long and 15 feet wide. It's roughly split in half, so the dining area is about 12 by 15 but minus a slimmish staircase for access.

We've just put a table in our kitchen, which seats four (could do six at a push) and extends to seat six (eight at a big push). When extended, the table is too big for the space really, so we wouldn't leave it open like that. We (DH and I) now use this table for every meal and also if we have a couple of guests over. We don't tend to have more than four people over for dinner at any one time.

The dining area currently has a table that seats six - it's in quite poor condition and not to our tastes so we want to get rid at some point. We could replace it with a table of a similar size - perhaps one that extends to seat eight or ten. However... we'd like to try for a DC at some point soon. If we get rid of the table and don't replace it, this area could be a space for baby things/a playpen etc. Having a (relatively!) ordered house is really important to me, so I want to make sure we've got places for stuff IYSWIM. Getting a smaller table seems a bit pointless as we'd just be replicating what we already have in the kitchen.

DH thinks the area will look odd if we have no table - after all there is no DC here or on the way yet! Which makes me think, is there something else we could use the area for in the absence of DCs? How important is it to have a space for brand new DCs? I'm interested to know what people think, especially as I don't know whether I'm overthinking the whole toys/play area thing...

If possible, I would separate your dining room from your living room and integrate it with your kitchen so you have two living areas rather than one big one with an ill-defined, not-sure-what-it's-for bit at the back and a kitchen that isn't quite big enough. If you decide to have children, having an informal kitchen/living/dining area where it doesn't matter if things are a bit untidy, plus a naice area for grown ups will be a godsend. It will also be very useful when they are older and you can have a telly in each living area and escape sodding CBeebies occasionally.

I am aware that I am looking at this solely through the prism of parenthood but it seems a bit pointless to reorder your home and then find it doesn't work that well with children if you are definitely planning to have some.

Thank you! I should have said though that it isn't really feasible to open up the kitchen. The main waste pipe runs down by the kitchen door, and even if we rerouted it we'd lose the separate utility room / loo. So have to make the most of what we've got! We are lucky enough to have a separate 'grown up' living room as well, but that's on the floor above (townhouse...).

If you already have a separate reception room (and depending how much money you wish to spend), I might be tempted to move the kitchen into the bigger room and use the kitchen as an office or even guest bedroom if it has a loo and a utility room that could possibly expand into a shower room.

That is a big enough dining area for a table and toy storage. We have DCs and have both a dining table and a kitchen table. Both are used every day, kitchen table for food prep and eating, dining table for homework and craft. It is a luxury not to have to pack everything away for every meal.

We have a lounge diner too so it's a very long thin room, that can't be split because of the location of the fireplace. We keep the dining table there mainly because I don't like rooms of these dimensions styled as just a lounge, I just don't think it works very well. We chose a dining table that has mega-extension so it goes from about 150cm to seating about 12 people. It takes minimal room day to day, even more so if you push it up against a wall, but can be extended when needed. I also looked into getting stackable dining chairs or getting a catering style table that could be stored in a cupboard and brought out for guests, but in the end we just bought an oak set with the most extension we could find, and not too many chairs.

Lala interestingly your second scenario is what some neighbours have done. We did think about it, but it would have been so expensive when compared with just replacing the existing kitchen, and we'd have had to save for a lot longer. We put in a new kitchen earlier this year.

Forest thank you - I like the sound of the table with a mega-extension! Care to share where you got it? We intend to buy a huge rug when we 'do up' that area, so we can mark the living space better.

Ours is a Mark Harris one. Ikea Bjursta also has good extension. I found some nice cross leg tables with long extensions too - quite near the top if you google 'cross leg table' but they were a bit out of our price range when you add on the extension pieces (which need to be stored separately.)

With your separate grown up living area I think you'll have loads of space. You could do the living area of the living/dining area as a playroom with a sofa, and keep the dining area for dining. We have it the other way round - grown up living room and dining room combined, plus separate playroom. Though our living room is not that grown up really, DC are very welcome and bring toys in all the time. But I think having a playroom and kitchen on different floors would be v annoying in a townhouse, so you're right to keep toys and kitchen on the same floor.