OT Formal dining?

cazzy

Little Steven said:

My dining room was next to the kitchen. After the fire we had a big kitchen and no dining room.

[IMG]

Your kitchen is freaking beautiful Steven!  I would cook more than I do now in that kitchen.

Question though, where are all the step stools hiding?  

Eggcelsior

@cazzy, agreed. Those counters seem awfully high.

jonnymack

The house we live in now has a small "informal" dining room which we utilize for family meals. Our last house had a formal dining room which we used about once a year. It's pretty much a waste to me but I know that the wife will want one whenever we do finally build a house so that pretty much means we'll have one.

Eggcelsior

jonnymack said:

The house we live in now has a small "informal" dining room which we utilize for family meals. Our last house had a formal dining room which we used about once a year. It's pretty much a waste to me but I know that the wife will want one whenever we do finally build a house so that pretty much means we'll have one.

This is funny to me because we have a formal and informal too. We just happen to use the formal a lot more(1/month) when we have family over. Otherwise, we would use the informal space but my wife and I wind up standing and eating so we are within arm's reach of the kids. They eat a Little Tikes table and mealtime mostly involves us sternly asking them to not paint the walls with food or rub it into each other's hair. At least the table in the informal area stays clean. 

jonnymack

@Eggcelsior is your formal closer to the kitchen than the informal? Sometimes I think that is what dictates what you use, though it sounds as if the Little Tikes table is the decider for you guys. And don't worry, it sounds like your dinner time and our dinner time is the same filled with "sternly asked" questions.

Eggcelsior

jonnymack said:

@Eggcelsior is your formal closer to the kitchen than the informal? Sometimes I think that is what dictates what you use, though it sounds as if the Little Tikes table is the decider for you guys. And don't worry, it sounds like your dinner time and our dinner time is the same filled with "sternly asked" questions.

The kitchen is bordered by both. The informal area is a 10' foot extension past the kitchen so it's separated by a peninsula. The DR is at the opposite end through a doorway. We are in the process of opening up the doorway into a cased opening to allow more light into the DR. The back of the kitchen is a wall and the opposite to that is open to the family room. We'd eat at the informal table but the problem is that it's counter height and our girls are quite active. They like to "push off" and rock the chairs so we fear they are going to go over when we're not looking.

pgprescott

saluki2007 said:

Oh, the wife is doing a good job of that.  Luckily we haven't hit any snags and are still within budget.

Here is an updated picture from the outside:


Here is a view from the kitchen looking into the breakfast/living room:


And here is from the breakfast area looking towards the living room/front entrance:

Very nice indeed. Is the siding a natural material or a man made composite? Just wondering, cause they are doing so much these days with Hardi board and such. Looks great!

saluki2007

@pgprescott What is up there right now is James Hardie 7 ¼” horizontal fiber cement siding .  The rest of the house will be covered with Cast Fit Stone Veneer by Boral.  When looking at both products you wouldn't know they were not the real deal.

pgprescott

saluki2007 said:

@pgprescott What is up there right now is James Hardie 7 ¼” horizontal fiber cement siding .  The rest of the house will be covered with Cast Fit Stone Veneer by Boral.  When looking at both products you wouldn't know they were not the real deal.

For sure. I'm A big fan of the Hardie board. More stable product than the real stuff. You will be real happy.

JC5404L

... our living and dining rooms have felt ropes on them blocking access to both me and the dog...   Yes, we have both and paid dearly to furnish them, I just worship them from afar...

It's OK though - I can always cruise over to the hangar - the ultimate man cave!

JC
Atlanta, GA

UncleFred

JC5404L said:

... our living and dining rooms have felt ropes on them blocking access to both me and the dog...   Yes, we have both and paid dearly to furnish them, I just worship them from afar...

But isn't it weird that we spend (a lot) of money to furnish rooms that we rarely, if ever use?

And then there's grass. Not the stuff they sell in Colorado, but the stuff  in the front of my house that I gotta water, fertilize and mow regularly (all that cost money) and never "use" for anything else!  Why?  Actually, if you do the research, lawns were not the "norm" until housing developments like Levittown were built in the early 1950's for G.I. returning from WW II.  ...so they have only been around for 60-70 years.  But ya gotta have 'em! Why?

Thus endith my rant for today...

Little Steven

Eggcelsior said:

@cazzy, agreed. Those counters seem awfully high.

You and caz should be a comedy team. Like Laurel and Hardy or the two Stooges. That was way before the kitchen was finished. We really like it

bud812

UncleFred said:

JC5404L said:

... our living and dining rooms have felt ropes on them blocking access to both me and the dog...   Yes, we have both and paid dearly to furnish them, I just worship them from afar...

But isn't it weird that we spend (a lot) of money to furnish rooms that we rarely, if ever use?

And then there's grass. Not the stuff they sell in Colorado, but the stuff  in the front of my house that I gotta water, fertilize and mow regularly (all that cost money) and never "use" for anything else!  Why?  Actually, if you do the research, lawns were not the "norm" until housing developments like Levittown were built in the early 1950's for G.I. returning from WW II.  ...so they have only been around for 60-70 years.  But ya gotta have 'em! Why?

Thus endith my rant for today...

Where are you finding water down there? We ain't got none up here in the north.

UncleFred

bud812 said:

Where are you finding water down there? We ain't got none up here in the north.

I'm hep.  Just read that the snow pack in the Sierras is 6% of normal for this time of year!  ...gonna be a long, dry, hot summer.

For those of you east of here, our "rainy season" is over.  Normally we will register less than 1/2 inch between now and late October or mid November. Phoenix gets way more than that in the same time period because they get monsoonal moisture that comes up from Mexico and in from Texas. It rarely makes it this far west.

Zmokin

I think we dined in the "dining room" once with another couple as guests.  Normally even with guests, we dine in the "breakfast nook" which is where our main dining room table is and it has two leaves so it expands to seat 8, I think maybe once or twice we have used the formal dining room as overflow.

As far as the formal living room, it has become the room we keep the cage in for our guinea pigs.  It also is generally used when someone wants to read and be away from the TV etc in the Family room which is the room where we spend the vast majority of our "living", as it is adjacent and open to the kitchen.

Everyone knows most small parties end up with everyone or most everyone standing around the kitchen instead of sitting on the couch.

minniemoh

We have begun the process of a new kitchen design. As a result, the formal dining room will become the cooking area of the new kitchen and the old kitchen will become island/seating space, as well as prep space for my egg cooks. This will result in a more open floor plan in our 1983 built home. 

This is still all a real pipe dream at this point but the plan is the first part right?

nolaegghead

Our breakfast area is usually filled with cooking supplies and laundry.  We eat in the living room (slash family room) most of the time.  If we have people over for dinner, which is usually once or twice a week, we eat in the dining room which has a massive table I built from some lumber recycled from a funeral home.  By massive, I mean it weighs around 450 pounds.

UncleFred

nolaegghead said:

...a massive table I built from some lumber recycled from a funeral home.  By massive, I mean it weighs around 450 pounds.

This is what came to mind...

Chubbs

We use our dining room a lot, but we entertain a lot and that is the only table we have that seats 10. That being said, when it is just the three of us (soon to be 4), we eat at the kitchen table.

Now, @RRP, I cannot believe you don't use the fireplace. I live in SC, and I use mine every opportunity I get. Love a good fire while sipping my beverages.

RRP

Chubbs said:

We use our dining room a lot, but we entertain a lot and that is the only table we have that seats 10. That being said, when it is just the three of us (soon to be 4), we eat at the kitchen table.

Now, @RRP, I cannot believe you don't use the fireplace. I live in SC, and I use mine every opportunity I get. Love a good fire while sipping my beverages.

The first 20 or so years here I would build a fire with wood I cut and split myself - I never bought any. Those fires would be in the Fall and some Winter. Then I got tired of the clean out and spent some good buck$ and got a super realistic gas unit that even had flickering embers on the base of the fireplace. I think we have used it 4 or 5 times. It is a natural draw, simple fireplace but when it is burning I can feel the upward draft sucking the furnace heated air right out of the room! We have glass doors to close to slow that down, but I don't care for that look. I know I probably ought to buy an insert, but honestly I don't care for that look either. Oh well...

Eggcelsior

Chubbs said:

We use our dining room a lot, but we entertain a lot and that is the only table we have that seats 10. That being said, when it is just the three of us (soon to be 4), we eat at the kitchen table.

Now, @RRP, I cannot believe you don't use the fireplace. I live in SC, and I use mine every opportunity I get. Love a good fire while sipping my beverages.

@Chubbs, hell yeah. The place my parents bought in Cherry Grove has one, which seemed weird at first for a beach place. However, it is awesome in the fall, winter, and early spring when there is nothing better to do than sip stuff while watching the fire after a cool evening stroll on the beach.