My house was built in 1972. It has a formal living room that we never use and a dining room that we use two days a year. If I built another house I would never have eithe rof these in the floor plan. I would have a media room though with a 50+ inch TV and surround sound.
I also would have a three car garage.
We have a formal dining room that has never been used except to store things off and on and we have been here 10+ years. The nice living room adjacent to it is used to host the Christmas tree and sometimes me doing a little photography. It is a waste of space.
I think the new homes that still had the formal rooms after that were probably larger than the typical 1,800 square foot, three bedroom homes in my area.
Our house was built in 1978 and we too have a formal living room and dining room that was never used, so.......I turned it into a media room and game room for the kids. Have all leather furniture and a large tv, DVD player, etc in there. In the dining room I put a game table complete with poker chips, etc.
Now the kids never bother us when they are here and the rooms get plenty of use.
In the summer we do outdoor movies (have a 12 ft X 7 ft screen) and the older kids still wind up in the media/game room playing poker. Lol
absolutely. That is exactly the changes I would make in my house if I could.