Does anyone live in a house that has a parlor? How about a drawing room? Does anyone announce their intentions to ‘join me on the veranda for a mint julep’? Any other arcane rooms with long-forgotten functions?
Looks like dining rooms are quickly becoming the next room to go the way of the parlor.
I’ve never been in someone’s home that had a room referred to as a parlor or drawing room, but I wouldn’t blink an eye if someone talked about their veranda.
I had a friend from Boston who always referred to the living room as the parlor.
What about that old 50s term, “rumpus room”? Is a *rumpus *anything like a ruckus?
Does anyone have a conservatory as part of their house?
My grandparents had a “front room” which I would have called a living room. I don’t recall them having a name for the room between the front room and the kitchen - I’ll have to ask my mom what they called it.
Absolutely. It was next to the billiard room and the ball room. It even had a secret passage that connected it to the lounge.
Thread from 2005.
What is the difference between a salon, parlor, drawing room, sitting room, boudoir?
Indeed. I’ll use the word “veranda”, but we’d be sippin’ on the deck out back.
Our house has a butler’s pantry, but no butler. We plan to rip it out as we “take down the wall between the kitchen and the family room to give us a more open concept”. 
Dumbwaiter?
We call our living room the “library,” because I have one wall completely full of bookshelves and I’m an anglophile. The family room is the “TV room” so why not?
Here’s a puzzle: 18th century house plans sometimes have a basement room called the “powder room.” I’ve never been able to figure out if that’s a place to store gunpowder (in the house? in a damp basement?) or a place people went to have their wigs powdered because it was so messy. It was a large, centrally located room, so definitely none of the modern connotations of toilet-but-no-shower.
‘Parlor’ is synonymous with ‘living room’ in parts of New England. When I was growing up ‘living room’ didn’t make any sense because we weren’t allowed to live in there unless we had company.
I didn’t know veranda was antiquated. It was used on Golden Girls, I just assumed it was a Southern term.
I once spent Christmas in a stately British home that had a cloak room off the main hall. The cloaks (well, jacket in my case) were stashed atop a large glass case containing a stuffed tiger.
That was quite a place.
We have a sun-room filled with plants, our budgie flock, and an African grey parrot. I often refer to the room as the conservatory (just to be a dick).
I was reminded of the guy who squeezes onto a crowded elevator and says, “Ballroom please”. The young lady standing near him apologizes and shifts away.
I don’t remember the Golden Girls using the word ‘veranda’ to refer to their patio. It was always the lanai.
Obligatory movie quote:
Rosita: I was thinking later, you could kiss me on the veranda.
Dusty Bottoms: Lips would be fine.
Don’t cloakrooms often have a toilet at the very back? Did you look?
You may find this and this interesting. Room nomenclature as per design styles of various eras.
P.S> McMansion Hell is a really fun site
In certain countries where they speak the Queen’s English,and there is much rain, conservatories are very common.
There are construction companies which do nothing by build and maintain conservatories.
pics here: https://www.exceed.co.nz/page/conservatory-repairs/
