The Living Room in A New House on a New Landscape

I figure the first real room to visit as a guest is some sort of living area. In my old house, that was called the living room, and while it had an entrance of its own (the front door) it was rarely ever used.

Some houses have formal living rooms. Some have family rooms, which ours later did. If you own a house built a century or so ago, then you might have a parlor. I find the formal rooms meant to be a “sitting room” of sorts when company arrived for a visit to be a bit too stuffy for our contemporary lives. I have been to homes who actually barricaded this room with gates to keep out pets and small children for fear they would destroy the expensive furniture, or decorations of the room.

The living room does tell a story about the family within the house. Pictures of the immediate and extended family are usually featured there. I find it is usually a room decorated modestly, and soothingly. Parlors or formal rooms usually have a loud color or busy wall treatments which make my eyes feel trippy. I like the calm of solid colors, neutrals or earth tones. I like furniture that is more comfortable than statement making, but is also suitable for company. I do not like futons. Recently, I quit with coffee tables, too. I found that coffee table invited more junk to accumulate, and gave me more things I had to dust and keep organized. Out the door it went.

I like living rooms that can also be family rooms. In my childhood home, the family room became a comfy room, but with a no food and drink rule. Generally speaking, my mother frowned on eating in the living room, and rarely permitted it. She also didn’t allow eating/drinking in her vehicle. Since we built the addition to our home, it was decided that section had wall to wall carpeting, and brand new family room furniture. Today, a good percentage of that furniture is in my adult home. My mother had great taste in couches and chairs, and even though they are 30 years old, they are in fantastic condition, and are still in good solid repair. Much of that is due to her firm rule about edibles.

These rooms often have a large TV set, bookshelves, and perhaps a few items collected or decorative to sit on end tables such as glassware or candles. I find the greatest generation (my grandparents peers) tended to have cut glass candy dishes with a lid. I find it amusing later generations do not bother with this.

Today’s general living spaces are more about having a comfortable place to relax and unwind, rather than entertaining company. The evenings and weekends are a time to catch up on television, reading, or dreaded cleaning for most working class Americans. Too much time is spent at work, online, and answering emails and texts all hours of the day and night.

I fear we overdose on people with social networking these days.