In days when I still considered myself a child, dining rooms were simply indispensable. They were just as important as living room, or say, a bedroom.
Lifestyle changes, a shift in designing priorities and population-induced housing pressure has changed all this. Today, dining room can easily be dispensed with. An article on the website Freshome talks about the trend.
Different time schedules to meet
Not only have we become busier, we also have different time schedules to meet and deadlines to run against. This makes it well nigh impossible to eat together during lunches and dinners.
Of course, the first casualty of this hectic life had to be the dining space. Moreover, a trend has emerged which shows the growing popularity of kitchen.
Kitchens have become the focal point
Once, purists would have puckered their brows at the very idea but today we like to recreate, listen to music, watch television and catch up on our daily lives in the kitchen itself.
Add to this tally one more activity- We like to eat in our kitchens too; just another reason why we can afford to have a redundant dining room. After all, dining room tables and chairs have found a suitable replacement in kitchen islands and stools.
Converting dining rooms into ancillary units
Giving in to the needs of the time, we have started creating ancillary units out of our dining area. Today, they are being remodelled at a never-before rate into libraries, studios, playrooms, and mini-gyms, among other things.
Open floor plans
The article also focuses on our penchant towards open floor plans. Investors, too, are enticed with the idea and this makes homeowners bring down many of their walls.
At times, they carry the idea too far and demolish even the load bearing walls; All this so that they can monitor their children playing at a distance or embracing the living area right from their bedroom.
This has made even the staunch loyalists of dining rooms look beyond their traditional setting. They are happy to have a separate dining space but are willing to forego a full-fledged room for dining.
Housing pressure
The discussion leaves something to be desired unless we take up the important issues of population and changing family dynamics. Today, house spaces are shrinking and this necessitates multipurpose areas in our homes.
When kitchens and dining spaces can be effectively combined, some of us contest the utility of an extra dining room.
Shifting family dynamics
Elders are opting to live with their children. Young guns geared up on saving money for their first home are choosing to live with their parents for extended time.
In such a scenario, living room space directly comes under pressure and it precludes any chances of a separate dining room
You can read the original article here.
I think NSW residents are still lucky. You ask me how? Well! NSW has long stuck to its love for McMansions. Our average home size is 3 times that of houses in Great Britain. This still gives us the luxury of throwing in extra dining space.
The middle road for me
Having said this, changing times, as is beautifully illustrated by the article, has all but negated the existence of the dining room. In my opinion, the debate will run for ever.
There will be those dining room enthusiasts who cannot give up on their childhood memories of family dinners in a cosy ambience. Similarly, there will be those only too eager to call off the whole idea as a show of unnecessary pomp.
I think I will go for the middle road. Let open floor plans have their day out in the sun. Let us give up on dining rooms but have those separate dining spaces nonetheless.
What is your opinion? Keep them coming. Do you still have a dining room?
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