Let’s Discuss ~ Why I don’t miss having a formal dining room

I’ve had quite a few people ask me if our new home (our seventh house) has a formal dining room. Many of you have seen that the dining space I’ve shared here on the blog and on Instagram is attached to our kitchen and visible from our living room in an open concept floor plan. And quite a few people have inquired about why we chose to build a home without a formal dining room and whether or not I’m happy with that decision.

And I think this is such an interesting conversation, so today I’m sharing my why behind that decision as well as my thoughts on open concept floor plans. And I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic as well because I think there are a lot of factors that go into whether or not a formal dining room is desired/needed/used in today’s world. And I know there are some serious feelings about open concept living.

So let’s dive in.

We didn’t have a formal dining room in our sixth house either.

And while when we first bought the house, having come from our fifth house where we did have a formal dining room, I thought I’d miss having one. But as it turned out, I never, not one time in the last four years missed having a traditional separate dining room.

In our sixth house (pictured above), our eat-in kitchen, or stacked kitchen and dining space, whatever you want to call it, was large enough to house a good sized dining table. And with stools at the kitchen island there was rarely an instance where seating was a problem.

We don’t host a ton of large formal dinner parties. And our friends and family get togethers are often more casual gatherings as opposed to sit down dinners.

So maybe it’s just a lifestyle thing?

On top of that, when we were working on the floor plan for our seventh house, our new home, I thought a lot about whether or not we should incorporate a formal dining room. And because I didn’t miss having one in our sixth house and I rarely ever used the dining room in our fifth house, I opted not to include one.

And I’m 100% happy with that decision!

With regard to the floor plan of our new home, I made a lot of mental notes about what I did and didn’t like about all the houses we’ve lived in over the years. And while I was surprised by this, the truth is, I actually really love having an open concept floor plan!

I know that isn’t something everyone enjoys and lots of people prefer to have separate rooms ( I was once one of those people). But the convenience of the open floor plan we had in our last home really sold me. I like cooking in the kitchen and still being with everyone in the living room. And if binge watching Netflix while baking is wrong, I don’t want to be right. 😉

So once I knew for sure that I wanted an open-concept floor plan and I knew I didn’t want a separate formal dining room, I started playing with arrangements and layouts. And I landed on what I think is the best of both worlds for the area that we live.

I opted to have an L-shaped open concept dining, kitchen and living room, where the dining room is visible from the living room but the living room isn’t completely visible from the dining room. Are you confused yet? 😉

I also opted to go with a paneled refrigerator and to house all of our appliances in our walk-in pantry. So while the kitchen is open to the dining space, you don’t see a lot of the “working parts”.

And lastly I decided on a long narrow screen porch (screens still need to be installed) where we could have both an outdoor living and dining space. And instead of doing windows here, I opted for french doors. So we can throw these doors open when we have larger gatherings and everyone can still basically be in the same space.

So in a way I do still have a “formal” dining room as our indoor dining space is a little more polished than our outdoor dining space.

Charleston stays warm almost year round (it’s November and it’s 72 degrees today), so taking advantage of our outdoor space was at the top of my priority list. And when the screens get installed we won’t even have to worry about bugs out here.

I feel like this set up was the right call for the area that we live in and for the way that our family actually lives. We plan on being here for a really long time, so I wanted to create a floor plan with our lifestyle in mind rather than catering to the real estate market. Although I do think having a a screened-in outdoor dining space does help to offset the fact that we don’t have a formal dining room.

When it comes to making home design decisions that are outside the norm I think it’s most important to consider 1. the way you want to use your space 2. the area that you live in and 3. how long you plan to live there.

I’m very happy with my decision to forgo a formal dining room! BUT we don’t do a ton of formal sit down dinners. We live in a warm place where we spend at least 10 months or more enjoying the outdoors. And we plan to live here for hopefully, forever.

What are your thoughts? Is having a formal dining room a must for you? Or would you rather have more space in another area of your home? Let’s discuss!