[James Romeyn]

I'm re-labeling my circuit breaker ID for clarity, but also desire not to offend any Utah electrician that may view it later. 

Clarify any difference you may perceive between "Living Room" and "Great Room".

In the SF Bay Area and San Francisco in particular (where a friend bought a 2br condo near Fisherman's Wharf Zillow valued at $1.2M at its peak) "Living Room" was much more commonly heard than "Great Room", at least till I left early 2007 for No. Utah.  I spent a lot of time with full time professional home builders, adding credence to my understanding.  (Admittedly, all such builders were born and raised in SF a long time ago, likely seldom the current case.) 

I know I'm dunce, but in No. Utah it took me a few minutes to figure out we call "Living Room" what the electrician labeled "Great Room".  IIRC, in the SF Bay Area "Great Room" was more synonymous with "Family Room", which I naturally converted to our "media room" (I usually call it the "sound room" by habit of pre-HT/pre-front projector with perforated screen era...a silent film was never viewed here three years since the front projector installed, IOW there's sound whether listening to music or watching a movie). 

This is so trivial I can't believe I typed it...and yet, as my dear departed Aunt Celia would often say, "And there you are".  My anal retentive best to all.         

[mcgsxr]

Well, I cannot comment on what things are like in Utah or SF, but up here outside Toronto, I would say that a great room is usually associated with a huge space attached directly to your entry - whereas a living room would be a separate space.

Both are for entertaining.

So, above the 49th parallel, a foyer of some significance is often called a great room.

I don't have one!

[Phil A]

I have a great room in my house.  In a tradional center hall colonial 2-story house (at least in the East Coast area) one often has a formal living room (which is usually a decent sized room) that many seem to use for show vs. use (or at least tons of use).  In addition to the living room it has a family room which typically has connections for your TV and is used as an every day room.  In my house, I have no living room.  Instead I have an office (not a huge room (perhaps average size or a bit less) and a grand room (which is a large room).  I've had living rooms in prior houses in addition to a family room.  Personally, the way the living room was used in my two prior homes was a waste.  Relatively expensive nice looking furniture which rarely got used (like once every of couple of years). 

The dining room is many houses is used in a similar fashion.  Once or twice a year for a Holiday and the kitchen eating area is what is used every day.  I'm not much of a furniture person if it is something that won't get used.  I've walked into many formal living rooms that barely get used and see $15k+ worth of furniture sitting there.  In my current house I have nothing in the dining room and could care less.  I have a very big kitchen with 6 chairs at the table (and I live alone), two counter stools for the center island and I could easily put in a portable table or tables with additional seating.

[Phil A]

This is the entrance to the grand room from the foyer by the front door:





This is shot from the kitchen table (with my old kitchen TV - replaced the 32 inch with a 42 inch TV) looking towards the grand room:

[James Romeyn]

And so, in only a few short minutes, you have made me feel...vindicated!  Already there appears to be no firm, consistent-across-the-geography significance to the two labels.

Amen. 

I already feel OK to have re-labeled the "Great Room" as our "Living Room".  The former term had virtually no real meaning or significance to me, while the later term jumps out like a frog from under my dress (if I had one, which I don't).

Phil, your "grand room" is one indeed!  The Theil 3.7s fit perfectly with the rest of the aesthetic.  Is the furnishing/design your handiwork? 

[Æ]

Where is the "family" room?

[rpf]

My understanding of a "great room" is of a large room that is open to another room or rooms (eg. kitchen, dining area). It is certainly a term, that like many others in real estate, is subject to varying definitions according to regional, cultural and marketing conditions.

[decal]

James, you must really be bored!!!!!!

[James Romeyn]

Decal, after reading your quote, I remembered this one, which you might enjoy:

"Take my advice...I don't."

[Phil A]

Phil, your "grand room" is one indeed!  The Theil 3.7s fit perfectly with the rest of the aesthetic.  Is the furnishing/design your handiwork?

James - thanks - the design of the room and much (but not all) of the decor is mine.  The couch and loveseat are probably just about 20 years old (but they are great quality and don't see tons of use) and some of the decor items are as well.  The room is 2 stories (19 feet tall), about 16x20 feet and opens up into other spaces.  My bedroom is actually on the first floor on the other side of the screen and the bedroom and main systems are somewhat interconnected.  I actually just got new (Palliser) power reclining chairs (pics below) a couple of weeks back and am waiting for a side/storage table (has drawers for extra remotes and spare tubes) for next to the armless recliner (probably next week).  Since the room has windows up high, a huge high window over the front door in the foyer adjoining the grand room, windows in the loft that is somewhat open to the grand room and tons of windows in the kitchen which opens to the grand room it is not possible to watch any TV during the day (even a direct view TV on a sunny day would not be something that would be watchable) and I moved the (8-9 year old Flexsteel) old comfortable chair to the secondary basement system (where I have a projector and screen as well) so I can watch football on weekends.  This is what it looks like at present:

[geezer]

I think realtors and builders decided that "great room" sounded more posh than "living room", and the term helped to mollify buyers who suspected they were spending too much on their property, especially during the real estate boom.

In our (two of us) house we have a 14X22 living room, which we actually live in. It's where we read, watch TV and DVDs, listen to music, and just relax in the evening. It is furnished for comfort, not for show. During the day we spend most of our time in our 16X28 kitchen cum solarium where we take all our meals when we don't have company. Our dining room is used for dining only six or eight times a year. The rest of the time it is used for various jobs, such as taxes, where it's convenient to spread lots of papers, and a laptop, over the dining table.

All the space in our house gets lots of use; maybe we're in a minority in that respect. In any case, if I had to label our rooms, one of them would be called the "living room," and none, the "great room."

[James Romeyn]

I think realtors and builders decided that "great room" sounded more posh than "living room", and the term helped to mollify buyers who suspected they were spending too much on their property, especially during the real estate boom...

That's the best explanation yet!

...All the space in our house gets lots of use; maybe we're in a minority in that respect...

+1

 

...In any case, if I had to label our rooms, one of them would be called the "living room," and none, the "great room."

+1 Fer shure!  What's the "greatest" thing we do in there, ANYway? 

[Bob in St. Louis]

A real man would have the following as labels on his breaker box:

- Kitchen
- Bathroom
- Garage
- Exterior Outlets
- Audio Room I
- Audio Room II
- Audio Room III
- Audio Room IV
- Audio Room V
- Home Theater Room

What's the problem James? 

[James Romeyn]

Bob,
LOVE the "Roman" numerals!   

So classy!

So elegant!

Your sound-room quantity just screams, "I'm single, and I intend to stay that way!" 

[Bob in St. Louis]

Thanks James, I've been married .....umm....... ....... twenty.......one years. yea. that's it.

But thanks on the Roman numerals.
A man's home is his castle, might as well be a Roman one, complete with the numbers. 

Although I helped built this house ten years ago. Had every intention of "mapping" the breaker box, and have yet to do it.
Kudos to you for getting it done.

Bob

[Æ]

LOVE the "Roman" numerals!

You'd be surprised how many people don't know Roman numerals! Seriously.

If
Victor's
X-ray
Looks
Clear
Don't
Medicate

[Bob in St. Louis]

But seriously, I suppose I could attempt to answer your question instead of mucking things up.

From a few quick searches on the net:

LIVING ROOM
- Noun 1. living-room - a room in a private house or establishment where people can sit and talk and relax
front room, living room, sitting room, parlor, parlour


GREAT ROOM
- great room - A large open room in a private residence often featuring a high or vaulted ceiling and used especially for recreation and relaxation

But the best definition I could find is too large to cut and paste, and would be found >> HERE <<.

Bob

EDIT: I was puzzled why you used quote when you refered to my "Roman" numerals, I thought I was dong it wrong. 

[James Romeyn]

On a different but related note...it's all labeled to make sense the next time I need to operate a CB. 

When they built the house I specified no downstairs "kitchenette" (hear we go again, please don't start) at the rear of the sound room.  I'll likely never install the kitchenette but it seemed appropriate to specify utility hookups in the unlikely case we sell; a reasonable feature for potential buyers. 

I might change the kitchenette circuit breaker to service the front projector and electric retracting perforated 92" screen, now sharing the circuit for the 1kW sub amp.   

[James Romeyn]

Re. the "Roman" numeral comment: Sorry, earlier my meaning was wrong and I since fixed it...I asked several persons of Dutch descent the meaning of my name.  It appears to have no meaning except for possibly, Rome-man, or man from Rome, hence my appreciation of your use of Roman numerals.

The Dutch pronunciation is something like ROCH-man, with the "ch" having that kind of soft "chk" sound the Dutch favor.   

[Phil A]

Love the Roman numerals too!!!   I've been putting better labeling on my breaker box as I've done electrical work like replace switches (builder's crap that fell apart in about 10 years) and receptacles (add a few too - I may try to get another one done soon) both in the audio systems and also where they tend to get more use. 

The $0.40 builder's grade receptacles are not the greatest.  I basically had to supervise the people they had doing the wiring (except for the ones that did the breaker box at the end who were real electricians) both with the low voltage stuff (speaker wires, 75 ohm coax and Cat 5 which the electrical contractor did not seem to know much about in 1997) and some of the other extras I put in as they did not know electrical code all that well (if at all).  As it is they must have cut the Cat 5 (somewhere in the attic I'd guess buried under insulation) I had put in from the office on the first floor in front of the house to the loft on the second floor in back of the house.  Luckily I took video of the house going up (where all the pipes were and everything else) and when I finished the basement I ran coax and Cat 5e from the office to 2 spots in the basement (one behind the basement audio/video system and one behind where I was going to put a spare computer in the basement bedroom.  I was able to snake Cat 5e from a closet near the loft down the gas pipe (going to the second zone furnace in the attic) and to where I ran cables behind the basement audio/video system.