# What do we do with this room in our new house? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 22, 2010, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-do-with-this-room-in-our-new-house/547542 "2010-07-22T01:36:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-do-with-this-room-in-our-new-house/547542/41 "2010-07-23T19:10:16Z")
I wouldn’t put workout equipment in the first room that you see when you walk in the house. As much as I’d hate it, I’d use it as it was intended, as a third living area, and furnish it accordingly. Make it the one room in your house that is pristine just in case the President shows up at your door. Maybe put a kick-ass aquarium in it to add a little life to it the 360 days of the year you won’t step foot in it. Except to feed the fish, of course. We ended up turning our formal living room into our dining room because I, too, saw no need for several living areas. But you already have a dining room, which is presumably next to the kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-do-with-this-room-in-our-new-house/547542/42 "2010-07-23T19:28:34Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Paint the entire room white, furnish it entirely in white, and say to guests, “This is the White Room.” And just leave it at that. > [@Munch](#): > > Brilliant! Maybe add a white curtain in front of the entryway… _Black_ curtains! “In the white room with black curtains near the station…” ---
**Author:** ![gang\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f07891/32.png) [@gang\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gang_green)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-do-with-this-room-in-our-new-house/547542/43 "2010-07-23T19:59:59Z")
> [@Renee](#): > > Pool table. Pish tosh. Pool. A nice little indoor, heated pool. Or perhaps a very large jacuzzi. No worries about the room being underused, then. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2010, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-do-with-this-room-in-our-new-house/547542/44 "2010-07-23T20:44:33Z")
> [@Rebo](#): > > _Black_ curtains! > > “In the white room with black curtains near the station…” Perfect! ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-do-with-this-room-in-our-new-house/547542/45 "2010-07-24T00:44:23Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > DB - am I right in thinking the opening to this room isn’t just a door, but rather a large threshold of some kind? Possibly with no doors at all? Correct, which is why we don’t want whatever’s in there to be an eyesore. ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2010, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-do-with-this-room-in-our-new-house/547542/46 "2010-07-24T01:15:42Z")
Put a white elephant in it. And a P76. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-do-with-this-room-in-our-new-house/547542/47 "2010-07-28T00:58:38Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Paint the entire room white, furnish it entirely in white, and say to guests, “This is the White Room.” And just leave it at that. Your age is showing… “White Room”, Cream, _ **1968** _ ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-do-with-this-room-in-our-new-house/547542/48 "2010-07-28T01:02:36Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > As much as I’d hate it, I’d use it as it was intended, as a third living area, and furnish it accordingly. Make it the one room in your house that is pristine just in case the President shows up at your door. Maybe put a kick-ass aquarium in it to add a little life to it the 360 days of the year you won’t step foot in it. I don’t understand this reluctance to _use_ a formal living room or front parlor. You only have guests five times in a year? ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-do-with-this-room-in-our-new-house/547542/49 "2010-08-04T11:23:22Z")
[QUOTE=spark240;12734518I don’t understand this reluctance to _use_ a formal living room or front parlor. You only have guests five times in a year?[/QUOTE] It’s the formality of it that is off putting. We’re very casual people. I have guests over about once every 3 weeks. In the winter, we usually gravitate to our kitchen, which is set up with bar stools so that guests can sit while I cook. Then we either play cards in the sit-in kitchen or head to the living room to watch football/tennis/baseball and/or build a fire and chat. With other friends, we play trivia games, etc. In the summer we gravitate to the back deck. So, given our lifestyle (and most people’s, I’d imagine), that formal room is ununsed real estate. Drain Bead’s situation is even worse because she has several family rooms to choose from, all of which sound more inviting than a room with a grand piano and wingback chairs. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-do-with-this-room-in-our-new-house/547542/50 "2010-08-04T12:27:10Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > > [@PunditLisa](#): > > > > As much as I’d hate it, I’d use it as it was intended, as a third living area, and furnish it accordingly. Make it the one room in your house that is pristine just in case the President shows up at your door. Maybe put a kick-ass aquarium in it to add a little life to it the 360 days of the year you won’t step foot in it. > > I don’t understand this reluctance to _use_ a formal living room or front parlor. You only have guests five times in a year? We have other spaces that are used - most of our guests aren’t in for “formal conversation.” Don’t need it too often. Ours is very small - it fits an old upright piano, couch, chair and coffee table - all snugly - small on purpose because it isn’t used much. The coffee table comes out and a Christmas tree goes in over Christmas. It is really nice though to have a room on the main floor I can read in without a TV, where the kids can play piano, where its relatively clean (or can get clean quickly) for guests. My cousin did use hers as a playroom until her kids were all older, when she did buy “proper” furniture for it. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-do-with-this-room-in-our-new-house/547542/51 "2010-08-04T12:30:07Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Paint the entire room white, furnish it entirely in white, and say to guests, “This is the White Room.” And just leave it at that. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! _twitch twitch_ You’ve just given me flashbacks to every rental apartment I saw in Switzerland, those people are so concerned with making décor neutral they make it nonexistant. _twitch twitch_ May I suggest calling it “the hard-boiled egg room”? That’s what I called my Swiss apartment, the hard-boiled egg (well, el huevo duro). Who says a “big days” dining room has to be formal? The biggest rooms in most Spanish homes are dining rooms (may be dual use living/dining); the family may usually eat in the kitchen, but it’s good to have a table large enough to seat the equivalent of a Thanksgiving dinner. My mother’s own big table was intended for a cellar: it’s about one handspan thick (wish I had pics), with two legs that are exactly as thick. We’ve used it to build puzzles, it’s a good place for my brother to drop his laptop when he brings it in to do Mom’s taxes… that same bro’s dining room includes among its decorations a framed painted feather I brought him from Costa Rica, a copy of Arwen’s sword… both the bros and the maternal unit’s dining rooms have a bookcase and two spaces: the dining area and sofas/armchairs set around a coffee table. All three dining rooms have hosted wargames and RPGs. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-do-with-this-room-in-our-new-house/547542/52 "2010-08-04T12:30:11Z")
We use our “dining room” as the office, with his and hers desks, not used solely for working, but it is where our computers are. It means we can use our computers without having to go off to a more distant room. We are then just a few feet away from the kitchen. The office runs straight through to what would normally be the formal living room, with no doors. We use the formal living room as a living room, but not so formal. With it being attached to the office, it gets a lot of use. If we want to read something, whether work related or not, we use the living room area. It has no TV in it and the chair & couch are better suited for reading than the ones in the family room. In fact, I think I will step away from my desk now and read the newspaper in my chair in the adjacent living room. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-do-with-this-room-in-our-new-house/547542.md?page=2)