Step foot in the living room and die!!!!

[lisajl]

originally posted by Dan Murphy

We live in our house, all of it. Sit where you want, snack if you want. If you make a big mess, clean up after yourself. And if it is that off limits, I'd move that TV where people are allowed. Remember, when you're dead, they won't care which way the nap lies.


__________________


Dan, I like that last line! How true.

OP...our house is only 1400 sq ft. There is Dh, myself, an 18 year old DD, 10 y.o.DS, 7 y.o. DS, a dog, three cats, fostering 5 kittens and 1 pet rat.
Please...I would love a room to myself, but not a room I couldn't live or eat in.
Besides, what will your kids remember about that room when your gone?
Think about it.

Lisajl

 

[Dan Murphy]

Originally posted by dg39
......NO ONE is allowed in my living room. There's all those other rooms for everyone to go in, so there's no reason for them to step foot in the living room. No tv in that room anyway. I don't even like anyone to walk in there. When my mother comes over she calls it the museum, look but don't touch....

What is, or what will that room be used for??

 

[Aimeedyan]

I see the point in having a room that stays uncluttered, in case company stops by (in other words, a room that is presentable at the drop of a hat!), but I don't understand never touching it...

Growing up, we had a formal living and dining room in which we were allowed in it, but we couldn't PLAY in it and trash it. We were welcome to sit and read a book, talk, study, etc. But there was no TV in it.

I think it's crazy to have such an expensive TV in a room in which people aren't allowed to sit and watch it. And what harm can popcorn really do? It's not like its something a dust buster and vacuum can't pick up... it'd be different if they were eating banana splits on your new furniture, but it's just popcorn.

We plan, hopefully, to have a home big enough to have a formal living and dining room one day, but children will be more than welcome to use it for quiet activities - and it WONT have a TV in it.

 

[mudnuri]

NO ONE is allowed in my living room. There's all those other rooms for everyone to go in, so there's no reason for them to step foot in the living room. No tv in that room anyway. I don't even like anyone to walk in there. When my mother comes over she calls it the museum, look but don't touch. So I understand what the OP is talking about. Even the dining room is off limits, unless its a holiday or company's over. Then after dinner everyone either goes into the game room or basement.

You should see about getting a credit on your property taxes since nobody goes in there

Watching Nemo with your father and a bowl of popcorn will be more important (maybe even a real "special moment") to your DD than having a fancy room with a fancy TV that you can only look at from a distance.

OMG did you hit the nail on the head!

Oh I forgot I need to confess.....I do have a room thats "offlimits" thats our office. DD's have their own computer in the playroom, and theres nothing else in here that they might want/need...and too many important things that are not best if in the hands of a 6/7 & 8 year old!

we have a 3 bedroom ranch, 1 bath, kitchen and living room upstairs- then a 1/2 finished basement....thats it! With Dh, DD's DDog and DCat....nothing cept the office is outta bounds..

I really think those with these "special" rooms need to get over the "special room"...but thats JMHO.....

Brandy

 

[RNMOM]

I started out trying to get my kids to not eat on my new furniture in the living room but now that they are older, it's okay. That's one nice thing about leather sofa's.

My goal is to build a new home with all kinds of environmentally friendly features and one big greatroom. One big table to eat on, one big t.v. to watch and a big fireplace to share while doing the above. I feel the separate family room, dining and living rooms are such a waste of space. I also want a nice long hall to walk down to a private master suite. Lots of privacy if I want it. I am not the formal type and neither are my friends and family.

You are getting a lot of flack here. I feel I must say you are certainly free to run your house and family as you feel. We shouldn't be too hard but when you ask what others think/do, you are gonna hear it here. Hope you are not taking too hard a bashing.

 

[disykat]

Way too much flack IMO. Get a grip, get over it, crazy, extreme, show off.... Wow, people are getting really mean here. Why not just tell what you do and why, without the name calling?

 

[WishingOnAStar]

I can relate - we don't use our living room except when company comes over. No tv in there. Now, occasionally the kids will go in there to read. I can't stand when there are footprints on the carpet in there and need to vacuum immediately! When you come in the front door, you see that room and I like it to be presentable.

Funny thing about the furniture in there - my parents bought new living room furniture in 1985 for their living room which we were never allowed in. When they moved south in 1991 as dh and I bought our first house, they gave it to us. We put it in our living room that we never used. We moved to a bigger house 2 years ago and took it with us- why not? it's in great shape! The big family joke is that that furniture is 20 years old and only been use a handful of times. We always say that our oldest daughter will get it when she buys her first house.

We only use our formal dining room when company is over, too, because our kitchen is huge and there's no need for the 5 of us to use the dining room.

Our family room is where everyone is free to relax, put their feet up, eat popcorn, etc. (although I prefer the kids don't bring their drinks in there). With a finished basement, etc, they don't need to play in my living room.

 

[JVL1018]

Our house is for living in-though anything messy eaten by the kids MUST be eaten in the kitchen..or in the playroom. And the only thing they are allowed to drink in the LR are juiceboxes or water. Mom and Dad can eat or drink anything we want in there.
Popcorn in the living room? Of course, any non staining food is okay!
A couple of weeks ago I had two 4 year olds and three almost 3 year olds all happily eating popcorn and watching a movie in my living room...then the kids put their bags down and started jumping on an aerobed-there was popcorn EVERYWHERE!!!!
When they were done hopping(they were not jumping while eating btw LOL) I got out the vacuum and 5 minutes later my living room was fine.

 

[gymnasticsmom68]

If you feel like having a room that's off limits, have at it. But I'd suggest putting the nicest TV in the house (which I'm assuming is why they were watching it) in a room where your FAMILY can use it. I'm really curious why you would have an expensive TV like that where nobody is allowed. Is it so when company comes over you can point out the awesome plasma TV you have? That makes no sense whatsoever, sorry. I spent a fortune on my TV but you can bet I'm going to get my money's worth by watching it, not just hanging it for people to look at if they drop by. Frankly if I was your husband I would have laughed and just kept on watching, unless of course he doesn't work and loafs around all day and you've been working your fingers to the bones to pay for all the show offy stuff on your own.

 

[Amirah95]

No shoes in my house either and everyone enters through the side and back doors only. I wouldn't say it's crazy to want to keep certain rooms in your home immaculate, maybe a little obsessive compulsive. Everybody has their thing or two and two of mine is the living and dining rooms. I know how much time and money I put into those rooms and I don't want anyone to ruin it with food, crumbs, stains and dirt. We have a large family room and a finished furnished basement where everybody can go to watch TV, play games, or whatever. Food stays in the kitchen and is to be eaten in the kitchen. If we have a cookout then on the back porch or the deck.

Before our DD was born we lived in apartments (14 years) so we didn't have a family room. When we bought our first house that's when I transformed and now that we have purchased the home we want I've become a little more stricter about those areas of the house.

My DH understands completely because his mom is the same way and he was just wanted to see what I'd do if we caught them in there . I flipped out of course. It's too late now, I won't change. I can't see myslf cleaning my living room, dining room and every other room in the house simultaneously every week. As a working mom, I don't have time like that.

Oh and about the TV, it was a gift from my DH to me. The wall TV was expensive and that's why it's in the living room. It's only a TV, no biggie. We have a 60 inch in the family room so that's good enough for them to watch Nemo on.

 

[Tink&SquirtsMom]

Well right now our living room has no furniture in it. Hey we are new to the house and never had a living room before. So we have no issue one way or the other here. Once it is decorated it will be used alot. I imagine using this room for our family game nights, reading, visiting, when company comes over, etc, and picture the kids studying in the attached formal dining room. It will also be the room where we have our Christmas tree, so I know the kids will be in there alot at least in December. I expect it to be presentable whenever company stops by, but then I expect my entire house (even my closet which no one dropping by would ever see) to be that way. I have to have every part of my home neat and organized, not just what people will see). I guess thats my compulsion and some people could call me extreme. Although vacumming so as not to see any footprints is IMHO going a bit to far. My MIL does that. They have a $100,000 living room (not exaggerating) and no one is allowed in it, she would seriously have a heart attack. It's in a very open and common part of the house and hard for the kids to see the boundaries (at 4 dd now understands, but not ds who is 2). And MIL wonders why we always hesitate to bring the kids to her house. I would never want a house where guests (especially family) felt uncomfortale or unwelcome in parts of it.

 

[MosMom]

I've heard of the room thing but a plasma TV for only watching family events on and special occasions?

To each their own!

For the record...our entire house is very well lived in...that way it all wears evenly.

 

[LisaSt]

Nope we use the living room for tv all the time and we eat in there to in front of the TV. I Fyou don't want anyone to use it move the plasma TV to the family room instead then it won't get used at all.

 

[DisMN]

Originally posted by MosMom


For the record...our entire house is very well lived in...that way it all wears evenly.

That way it all wears evenly!!!
LOVE that and I guess that's our house too! LOL

 

[Scullyrules1013]

Haha, yeah!

When I was little our living room was off-limits; we had the untouchable furniture and everything. There was actually one armchair we jokingly named "God's Chair" because apparently no one was good enough to sit in that chair except the big guy himself. I never thought it was a big deal...I mean except for the loss of space that could be used for office/den/family room areas, it wasn't a problem to just go in the other rooms or whatever. Of course there was nothing in there we wanted to get to; just furniture & some decorative items & the piano (which at that point I had to be forced to play anyway). We never got in trouble for just walking through the living room; we worked on casino rules- you can't stand still or sit down if you're underage.

Now people are allowed to sit on the furniture and for one party we even (gasp!) brought food in there temporarily. I have to say though, the impression as the untouchable furniture lasted, because it's very rare for our family to use that room if guests aren't over, even though it's no longer prohibited. Interesting discussion here...


Scully

 

[LisaZoe]

OK, I'll confess that I too have a front room and dining room that are not in regular use. When I bought my home I'd been living in a very small one bedroom apartment so even without those 2 rooms, my house has more living space then before. I really liked the idea of having rooms that were quick to tidy if guests came by unexpectedly. Also, the furniture I bought has offwhite upholstery and I have dark furred cats that have always had "free reign" of our home so I decided it would be easiest to keep them out from the start as soon as we moved into this house.

Now that I have DD, we go in there to listen to music and dance but still spend 95% of the time in other areas of the house or in the backyard. The TV is in our family room and we spend time in there. I have a slip cover for the sofa (old anyway) and the other furniture is older than me so new signs of wear don't show up on them.

I do allow people to eat in there and I don't stress too much about it - no more than I would if they were eating in any other room of the house that wasn't in a position leaning over the kitchen sink so any drips would be harmless I don't think of it as wasted space just space that is used less than others. I don't spend much time in our garage either but I don't think anyone would comment about it being wasted space or think I'm being extreme or obsessive.

When my DD gets older, the rules will most likely relax. For now, though, I'm comfortable keeping those rooms restricted to surpervised use. It's my home, my furniture and my decision. I don't criticize others for decisions they make in how to use or not use things in their home, why shouldn't I be able to expect the same in return?

 

[hentob]

When I see my husband watching a movie and eating popcorn with our children, my first instinct is to hunker down and join them!

I shudder at the thought of my children having a memory of me kicking them and their father out of a room because they weren't special enough to sit in it or the event wasn't important enough to use the good television.

 

[Lucky4me]

someone close to me *coughcoughmysisterPollycoughcough* has a formal living and dining room that are off limits. No one goes in there, ever. Not even for entertaining. Well, maybe one time at Christmas. Everything is white. I don't think they should be using it necessarily because they really don't need it. The rest of the house is huge. I just think it's a waste of square footage. She could have doubled the space in her family room/ kitchen combo and skipped the lr/dr. But I guess then it would have been like living in an airplane hanger.

I am sitting in my formal living room as we speak. (formal, ha ha) This room is in the center of the house. Everyone walks through here to get upstairs. Everyone sits in here and talks to whoever is on the computer. At first I thought it was tacky to have my computer in here. Now I don't care. Strange as it sounds it's kept us closer as a family. I'll move it somewhere private when all the kids are up and out.

I guess it all boils down to, to each their own!

 

[Mamu]

I also live in my home, no rooms are off-limit.

I do not have a TV in the living room so no one cares to enter. Except holidays and special occasions when its chow time. My LR is also my Dining Room.

I collect old things most end up in this room. Decoration Style is Eclectic Clutter.

 

[momof2inPA]

Originally posted by Amirah95
And before anyone asks why we have a TV in the living room, it's a special Plasma tv that hangs on the wall like a picture to watch our wedding and special family moments on when family and friends come over.

Friends and family don't really like to watch others' home movies. They're just being polite. Nemo is a much better use of the tv.