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Page 26 of 4953% complete2 min read

The Living, Family, and Entertainment Area

Who are you actually trying to entertain?

Just your family? Children and grandchildren? Business guests? Fifty people at a party? Almost nobody?

That answer should determine the living and entertainment spaces.

At one stage of life, a large entertainment house may make perfect sense. At another stage, it may be a complete waste of money.

Do not build rooms because luxury houses are supposedly required to have them.

Formal living room. Family room. Movie theater. Game room. Billiard room. Formal dining room. Second sitting room. Upstairs lounge.

How many will you actually use?

Sometimes one exceptional family room and one flexible secondary space are better than five mediocre specialized rooms.

Combine functions when appropriate. Kitchen, dining, family room, patio, and pool can form one interconnected social zone.

Think about furniture before finalizing walls. Use real sofa dimensions, television placement, circulation, and seating.

Be honest about the television. Architects sometimes act like televisions do not exist. Most families use them, so provide a sensible location.

Then connect the living space to outdoor areas. A covered patio can effectively extend a modest interior room into a much larger entertainment zone.

If you are building to sell, go back to your avatar. A house designed for a large international family with staff may function almost like a hotel. That may be correct in one market and absurd in another.

Design for use, not labels.

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