[quote=bearishgurl]
One-story houses built before 1970 typically did not have family rooms, so the living room WAS the family room. They were not built with a separate front entry, either. The front door went right into the living room (with perhaps a small “room divider” installed there). Families didn’t know about or care back then about having a living room AND family room. Many of these houses now have a “family room” added onto the rear of the house.
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This is very true. I’d go further and say that many 2 story houses only had 1 living space. Our house (2 story, circa 1963) has a very small family room – most folks with our model have either pushed out the wall – or added a bigger family room off the back. (We just “live” in our living room.) We rented a smaller house in UC before buying this house – no family room… just the main living space that flowed to the dining room and kitchen.
I’ve never fully understood the reason for having both living and family room. Our family room is set up with an oversize kitchen table (it’s right off the kitchen), used for family meals, homework, art projects, etc… Maybe our family isn’t modern enough. I know briansd would call our house non-functional or obsolete, but it works for us.
