Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Dualing Parlors

These first six pics are of my dining room or as it's also known, "one of those rooms I never use"!

I think most rooms should serve dual purposes.  My house is arranged so that many of the rooms can function as different spaces.  Example being - this dining room is one of two front parlors.  Throughout the history of the house each of the parlors has served as dining rooms, living areas, bedrooms or offices. 

During the addition/remodel we added several new rooms on the second floor.  Mostly baths, but one of the rooms was a dual purpose space.  On the architect’s plan he listed it as the second floor ‘lounge’. He was very gay.  C uses it as his office.  It could easily be a bedroom. 

Bottom line is that we have the good fortune of having more space than we use.  Considering we live in bumF*&$, we don't do as much entertaining as we probably would if we were back in the city; so the dining room gets used at Thanksgiving, Christmas and maybe a time or two throughout the year. 

I've always been on a quest to dual purpose the dining room to increase its usage.  Every time I've tried I've never pulled it off to my satisfaction.  If I used it as my office it would be too messy and as a focal room that would make me crazy.  There's no reason to make it into a bedroom.  I have those upstairs and until I'm too old to climb the stairs that works just fine.  I've tried it as a formal den, but the room is on the front of the house and for some reason I like to do my couch potato activities in the rear of the house.  Maybe I should shut up and be satisfied with it as is.  At least it's easy to keep clean and looks pretty. 





But, I'm always thinking about ways to use it more.  Here's a few of my latest inspirations.

Gil Shafer



photo credit Fernando Bengoechea

photo credit Francois Halard

photo credit Grey Crawford


Mica Ertegun

photo credit Michael Partenio

photo credit Pieter Estersohn

photo credit Roger Davies

photo credit Tria Giovan

photo credit William Waldron

photo credit William Waldron






4 comments:

  1. I'm a huge fan of library/ dining rooms. Also, so pretty!

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  2. i'm so glad i turned my computer on this afternoon to see pictures of your beautiful home. i LOVE this room. what a true luxury to have a room like this. xo

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  3. The Gil Shafer room, well the whole house rings all my bells. In his This Old House video with Norm, Gil says it's a small house so he has to put books every where, even on the dining room table. I say, "That's the spirit!"

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  4. i love this! you should line all the walls with built in books - it would be a great study. i wish i could do that in my dining room.

    ReplyDelete

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