Too many Rooms?

Is it possible to have too many rooms in a house?

This is the layout of our new house

Dearborn Floor Plan

And as I sit here and think about furniture to be purchased I feel like there are too many rooms.

The nook is big enough for a full size dining table, so do I really need a dining room table?

The family room is where the couch/tv is going to be...so what do I do with the living room?

The loft will be the kids' playroom/hangout room. There will be there toys and tv/couch.

I feel like the first floor will just be couches and dining room tables.

Any creative ideas?

Message edited 5/27/2009 5:14:57 PM.

Re: Too many Rooms?

Wow its a lot of rooms agreed. Well the "Nook" looks HUGE enough to have a dinning room table.

Open floor plan:
Kitchen, Nook = dinning room, family room is kid friendly living/family space, dinning/living room combine to be adult only zone of book cases, reading stations (two - three chairs around tables) reading lamps, artwork, maybe a chase lounge chair think lounge.

Traditional floor plan:
Living room - very formal couch, two side chairs, coffee tables and "formal" bar liquor closet. Dinning room - grand formal dinning room with large table, chairs, buffet or china closet (both if space allows), Family room all kids stuff (toys, storage for toys, tv, video games, large couch that is kid friendly), nook maybe a breakfast bench area or bench and chairs informal eating.

It really depends on your house feel too - some houses scream formal dinning room while others say lazy breakfasts on a bench and festive parties/dinning in the dinning room.

Re: Too many Rooms?

THanks. Your second idea was how they have the models set up.

Re: Too many Rooms?

I don't think there are too many rooms, but that they layout is a bit awkward for decorating and functionality.

For instance... is there a bathroom on the first floor? Also a loft for a playroom sounds great in theory ( I was going to do this) But also think of how messy playrooms can get and you will never be able to close the door to it. If you have the luxury of building, I would find a floor plan that better suits your needs. The house is a great size. I must have looked through thousands until I found my perfect layout and still I had a ton changed.

Re: Too many Rooms?

Re: Too many Rooms?

Here is my suggestion:

1.) Make the loft area more of a small tv space for you and DH to hang out. Maybe have a pull out couch so you have a place for extra guests to stay. I had my playroom on the second floor for a year and it was annoying. The toys always ended up on the first floor. We moved it into what the previous owners used as a tv room (they took away the second garage so that is the size of the room) and it is perfect now. The toys still trickle into the kitchen sometimes but not upstairs. Now, I was able to see the kids if they were upstairs because it as only 6 steps. Your home looks like it is a full flight and I don't think I would be comfortable leaving them upstairs to play while you were doing something downstairs.

2.) Make the family room more of the kids playroom

3.) Make the living/diningroom combo the family room.

The nook is a good size but, depending on how big your family is when they come you may want to think about if that area will seat them all.

Re: Too many Rooms?

Re: Too many Rooms?

I was going to say there aren't ENOUGH rooms!

The loft makes a good multi-purpose "toy" room. Toys for you and DH (computer), and toys for DC. I like having toys in a separate area, even if you can't close the door. We have a toy room on the 2nd floor without a door, but at least there is an area to put everything.

I'm not big on a formal living room, and a family room. For me, the living room is for the family. What I would probably do, is make the Living/Dining room a bigger living room (use the entire area for seating and TV). The Family room would be the formal dining room, and the nook would be the eat-in kitchen area.

Re: Too many Rooms?

So after I posted last night I remembered that one of DS's classmates has a similar layout to yours.

Her house is set up with the following rooms (all the rooms in their house are very large too):
1st floor:
Office, guest b/r, diningroom but they set up it up with pool table since they have 3 kids and the first 2 are boys, formal livingroom (doesn't feel formal though) then the kitchen has nook for a table seated for 6 and plenty of room to walk around it and the the family room and guest bath. The way the kitchen was set up, it had an island that made an L. So if you were standing next to it, the stairs would be to the left of you, the right side of you had the long part of the L then curved going toward the right and that became the "wall " to seperate the kitchen and family room. She had stools set up here and the backsplash was raised too.

2nd floor:
3 bedrooms, full bath and HUGE loft area. Now one side of the soft had the stair railing running the entire length of the room so if you were in the family room or kitchen you could clearly see what they are doing. They put a baby gate at the top of the steps.

They are in contract for selling their house and I thought their might be pictures of it online but their aren't. I know she felt the house was too big. They are relocating to Texas so that is why they are moving.

Re: Too many Rooms?

not too many rooms at all. i like the floor plan. most homes (exception of ranches and capes) have the living/sitting (chairs and couches) and dining (tables and chairs) areas on the 1st floor and bedrooms on the 2nd.

i really like the open kitchen and family room of your floor plan but you could always use the family room area as the dining room and the designated dining/living area as a big family/living room. the EIK area could be used for informal (banquette) seating and the current family room as the more formal eating area. the current living room could be into a big family room with a sectional sof and some comfy club chairs.

however, i would stick with the current designated room usage. can be as formal or as informal as you would like depending on your style.

Re: Too many Rooms?

I don't think there are too many rooms. I personally like the idea of having a separate family room/living room and EIK/dining room.

Do you or DH need an office? You can make the dining/living room area one. You can put a nice desk on one side and then a couch/chair ottoman in the other. Could be a nice place to relax and read a book.

Re: Too many Rooms?

Is it going to be realistic for your kids to keep all of their stuff upstairs?

If they are just hanging out upstiars, then (at this age at least) you have to be too. If you use the family room as a playroom/tv room it might be easier when you are cooking/cleaning, whatever. Or even if you want to keep most of the toys upstairs, you could make it an office for your computer & and a craft/coloring table for the kids.

If you don't want to do that & don't mind having the tv in the LR , I agree with the suggestion to make the family room the dining room & the LR/DR as just a LR.
or, if you don't want an EIK AND a DR, you could have the LR/DR be the LR, the family room be the DR & the nook be the downstairs play area.

Message edited 5/28/2009 2:11:27 PM.

Re: Too many Rooms?

wow thanks everyone


our bedroom is going to have the "retreat" option which will be our office and the loft will be slighty smaller.