The question we’re asking today is: How do we make great living and dining rooms in our new or renovated home?

We spend a huge amount of our time in our homes in our main living and dining rooms. In fact, these spaces, along with our kitchen, get prime use in our homes. So, getting it right in these rooms can and will have a significant impact on how our home feels and functions overall.

In this episode, I share some amazing research that will help you understand where to place the lion’s share of your effort, energy and budget in your renovation or new home. It’s a game-changer.

I also share detail about how to achieve the four “F’s” in your main living and dining space. We’ll uncover how to tailor this learning to your own design, so you can create a great living and dining space in your home.

There’s 3 key mistakes I see many homeowners make when creating their living and dining rooms.

I’ll go through these in detail so you can avoid them in your design. What are they? You’ll need to listen (!) … but avoiding these mistakes will help you …

Mistake #1       Avoiding this will help you enhance the relaxation of your living space

Mistake #2       Knowing this one will mean you don’t create a modern problem in how you use this room

Mistake #3       Not doing this is a sure-fire way to build in flexibility and comfort into your main living room

I also provide 3 design tips to help you get it right in these spaces.

I go through them in detail, how to execute them, and give you some action steps.

Design tip #1   Tells you where to locate your living space in your home

Design tip #2   Gives you tips about what you should be doing early on in the design process

Design tip #3   Outlines how to arrange the room so you see certain elements first

(There’s also key tips about your dining room – and how to avoid a big mistake many homeowners make in where they position it in their reno or new home design).

Listen to the podcast now. You’ll be on the way to getting it right in your design for your main living and dining space.

How do families actually live in their homes?

In the podcast, I mention some research done in the USA which examined how 32 families lived in their homes during their waking hours. You can read more about this research by heading here to LifeEdited.

This is the image of Family 11’s home, which shows movement and location of each family member at 10 minute intervals. As I mention in the podcast, this was monitored over 2 weekday afternoons and evenings. All activity is intensified around only 40% of the overall area of this floor plan … mainly in the kitchen, family and meals area. These are our living / dining and kitchen areas in contemporary Australian homes. It shows just how pivotal these spaces are in helping our home work overall.

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Remember if you want to learn more about how to design your home, I’ve created a special (and free!) e-guide for you. It’s called “How to Design a Home: 5 Simple Steps to Getting it Right”. Just click on the image below to get your copy.