More than half a century ago, the formal living room was a staple in the American home. The room was reserved for entertaining guests, and many people considered it to be one of the most important features in a home.
Fast forward to 2016 and you'll find that the formal living room no longer has a place of importance in the home. In fact, a floor plan that includes a formal living room can actually be a turn-off for today's buyers.
Entertainment today primarily evolves around eating and watching TV. As a result, the prime entertaining space in today's home resolves around the kitchen and great room. This is why we've seen such a tremendous demand for an open layout, which essentially offers a large open space for the kitchen, informal dining area, and family room.
Since the formal living room is typically only used a few times a year in most homes, today's homeowners don't want to spend the money furnishing this space. Instead, they'd rather forego it altogether and allocate the square footage to creating a large open layout.
According to a recent survey conducted by the National Association of Homebuilders, respondents expect formal living rooms to vanish altogether and instead have the home's primary entertaining space take place in the open family room, kitchen, and casual dining area. On a side note, something else that this survey indicated was that mudrooms and formal dining rooms would also eventually find their way out of new home plans.
This dramatic change is an indication the majority of today's homeowners are seeking homes with clean lines and modern floor plans. At the rate we're going, we can expect that the formal living room will become obsolete by 2020.
Fortunately, if you choose to go the custom home building route, you have the ability decide whether or not you want to include a formal living room in your home. We certainly have clients that still value this space, and we can be sure to design and build this classic entertaining space into your home.
When you go through the custom home building process, we can help you design and build your dream home from scratch. To learn more about the latest custom home building design trends or how to get the process of building your dream home started, please contact us at Empire Custom Builders. We offer 3 generations of home building experience in Central Florida and have successfully completed over 500 projects.