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Property/DIY

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Original poster

Moving dining table to front room when dressing up home for viewings

27 replies

Lokki · 28/01/2018 22:59

We have a fairly large living room (3.5m X 7.5m). Currently we have half of the living room as living area with 2 Sofas and TV. The other half has the dining table and a sideboard. We have a seperate dining room which we use as gym/office room/all other purpose room. We are going to sell our house. My question is should we move the dining table and side board to the official dining room or leave it in the living room please let me know what you think.

OP posts:

Mosaic123 · 29/01/2018 01:23

I think you should leave it where it is. Not so many people need a separate dining room but lots want a second lounge or study.

Floralnomad · 29/01/2018 01:54

Provided it doesn’t make the lounge look squeezed for space I’d leave it , thus letting viewers see that they could use the other room for a dining room or do as you have done .

Skittle22 · 29/01/2018 02:01

What would you do with the space left from the dining furniture? I'd leave it

NurseryFightClub · 29/01/2018 06:52

I'd move it, a dining room is a nice luxury, and it sounds like the current room doesn't have a defined purpose

JT05 · 29/01/2018 07:10

I’d move it. We like a dining room and have always used one, I think it makes a house seem more spacious.
Re arrange the lounge so that has an airy spacious feel, as well.

WaterBuffaloDancing · 29/01/2018 08:00

I'd leave it where it is and use the particulars to say dining/study giving people the option of the dining lounge or the other room for the dining table.

You see this often with bungalows with dining room/bedroom 3 etc.

Original poster

Lokki · 29/01/2018 08:41

Thanks a lot for all the replies.This is my very first thread in mumsnet where I got replies. I only posted one before and didn't get any replies. So I really appreciate all the replies. The current setting in the living room does it look clutter or cramped as it is a spacious room. My DH thinks we should leave it as it is and give the option to the buyers to decide what to do with the dining room. I on the other hand have been watching too much location, location programs and thinks that each room should be decorated to its purpose and not hope buyers will imagine the purpose of each room. So I thought I will ask from mumsnet. To give bit of a background, our house is a 4 double bedroom house with kitchen, dining room, living room, downstairs toilet and garage in the ground floor. In the first floor we have 4 double bedrooms with en-suite to the master bedroom and the main bathroom.

OP posts:

Original poster

Lokki · 29/01/2018 08:43

Sorry correction to above: The curt settling in the living room DOESN'T make it look cramped or cluttered as it is a spacious room.

OP posts:

CMOTDibbler · 29/01/2018 08:47

Def move the dining table so that you have two lovely spacious rooms with no clutter, and each room has a defined purpose. In peoples minds, an office is a tiny room, wheras a beautiful dining room can be thought as of as a playroom, office, games room.
Don't expect anyone to use imagination!

Do you have double beds in all the bedrooms? You need to show them as large as they are, even if the bed seen in there is a dressed double height aerobed, or cardboard boxes underneath

Original poster

Lokki · 29/01/2018 08:48

Skittle22: I thought I will put 2 armchairs and 2 side tables with a nice rug in the space left from the dining table. Then the living room will have 2 separate sitting areas. The current setting with 2 sofas and a tv and the space left by dining room furnished as above.

OP posts:

sixteenapples · 29/01/2018 08:50

If the purpose of the "dining room" can be made clear, (as a nice study/home office for example) then that will be fine. If it is just a junk room then buyers may not really see it.

Do you have a nice desk and some stylish book cases? Does it feel calm and have a sense of space? Also where would you put all the office stuff if you put the dining table in there?

You are right though - either a proper dining room or a proper office - not a nothing room.

Original poster

Lokki · 29/01/2018 08:51

CMOTDibbler: I have double beds in 3 rooms but have a single bed in my daughter's room.

OP posts:

sixteenapples · 29/01/2018 08:52

CMOTDibbler = hope no-one then sits on the bed!!

I agree though - sensible advice about showing the space off

Original poster

Lokki · 29/01/2018 08:57

At the moment we have a filing cabinet, a treadmill, weight bench, chest of drawers and some wall storage to store toys in our should be dining (front room)

OP posts:

whiskyowl · 29/01/2018 08:59

It depends. Can you rearrange the furniture from other rooms to make a lovely lounge and a lovely dining room, separately?

I think if you possibly can, "staging" your house for sale is a really good idea. Even if you don't personally use the space that way, thinking about how you would present it to a magazine can be helpful (depersonalising, removing clutter, emphasizing the virtues of the space). It sounds like the kind of house where buyers won't want to have to make any effort to "see beyond" anything.

Original poster

Lokki · 29/01/2018 09:20

Given the layout of our house we can't arrange the furniture in our house to have a separate dining and lounge if we don't use the front room. Our house have a very straightforward layout. On the other hand if we move the dining table to front room then we don't have an office room without converting one of the bedrooms to the office room. Not sure if it will add value though. Does it matter if it has an office room?

OP posts:

SkyIsTooHigh · 29/01/2018 09:41

I have an irrational dislike of long thin rooms, plainly designed as lounge diners, turned into corridors by putting sofas all down them. Keep the table where it is. The separate room would scream "playroom" to me, which would be a huge selling point. If you could clear it out so it looks uncluttered and screams "playroom" even more then do that.

Original poster

Lokki · 29/01/2018 10:15

SkyIsTooHigh: Spot on! it was used as my daughter's playroom when she is a baby.

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wowfudge · 29/01/2018 10:19

Do you have a garage? If so, put the gym equipment in there and tidy the office area and toy storage so the dining furniture fits in sensibly. Rooms which lack a clear purpose confuse a lot of buyers. There's also the risk that it looks as though you lack proper storage.

I don't understand why kids can't have their toys in their own rooms tbh. Uncluttered adult living space is a more appealing use of space.

Original poster

Lokki · 29/01/2018 10:26

Yes we do have a garage. Do you mean to say make the front room an office/playroom and put the gym stuff in the garage please. Also to leave the dining table in the lounge?

OP posts:

wowfudge · 29/01/2018 11:20

No. Shift the gym equipment to the garage. Make the multi purpose room the dining room for selling purposes and have a tidied away office area - a desk in a dining room is fine if tidy - and if you have toy storage furniture make sure that's all tidy too.

I think gym equipment alongside any other use of a room always looks odd and messy - unless it's a separate room or area of a large bedroom.

SkyIsTooHigh · 29/01/2018 11:37

Gym in the garage is an excellent idea.

Our playroom - now music room - will one day be second tv room is the reason we bought this house. The vendors had it as a mix of toys with an office desk, which wasn't text book in terms of giving it a clear purpose, I admit. But it meant that the house had 2 clear living spaces which worked for us.

BubblesBuddy · 29/01/2018 13:32

I do not think many buyers expect a separate dining room to be used as that these days. We have put a dining table in our very big lounge and because it is adjacent to the open plan kitchen space, it works well. It is convenient. Lots of peope can see how they will use a fairly standard 4 bed house layout and will want this room as a dining room or an office or even a another TV room - whatever suits their life. They will not worry about your use of it.

We have a table in our very large lounge. It is semi open pan with the kitchen area and works well for us. What was the dining room is the study. We also have another large family room, but as you do not have the luxury of that, I would make the non defined room a home office with loads of storage for toys. You can then clear them away eaily for viewings. Large toys to go out in the garage temporarily. The agent will know the dining room could be a dining room again if the buyer wishes.

The main thing is to sell the space, have it tidy and defined as to how you live. So gym stuff definitely out of the way. Toys put away and a neat home office set up.

Original poster

Lokki · 29/01/2018 14:08

Thanks a lot for all suggestions . I always thought that if we say that it is an office room or a study the buyers may think that it is a small room? The room is 2.5m x 3.8m.

OP posts:

MessySurfaces · 29/01/2018 14:39

Yes, I was going to say that Re room size- wherever you put the dining table it will highlight how spacious that room is- so if you leave it where it is it will show how generous the size of your living room is!
Can you somehow make it clear that the Office/playroom is big enough for a comfortable dining room? Clever placement of rug where a table works go?? Toy storage that looks like a sideboard??? I'm reaching...

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