How important is it to have a den/rec room in ADDITION to a living room?

I saw an amazing house, and while it has a living room, it is smallish.

However, there is a full finished basement.

I have a DS and plan to only have 1 more baby, if that.

How important is having a den in addition to a living room?

Did anyone NOT get a house with an additional den and regrets it?

Re: How important is it to have a den/rec room in ADDITION to a living room?

i think as long as there is an additional space for the kids to play in its fine, so i would count the basement as that additional space if it is finished.

Re: How important is it to have a den/rec room in ADDITION to a living room?

Re: How important is it to have a den/rec room in ADDITION to a living room?

I would consider a full finished basement as a den...our house now has a tiny den and we hate it, we barely use it, right now we're using it as storage, we're planning on getting a couch and have a tv to hang on the wall to use it as a playroom, but it's tiny, right now DD has taken over our living room and I HATE it...the next house we buy MUST have a large den/basement in addition to the living room

Re: How important is it to have a den/rec room in ADDITION to a living room?

I, too, would consider a finished basement a den. Having an additional room for "hanging out" was important to me. I grew up in a house with only a living room and I hated inviting friends over as my parents were always in the living room and I had no place to hang out.

Re: How important is it to have a den/rec room in ADDITION to a living room?

We have a den and I love it, but I don't think it is a necessity. If fact, we barely use our formal living room, so as long as your den is a comfy size, I don't think another living room is a deal breaker, especially if you have a basement (for toys, etc).

Re: How important is it to have a den/rec room in ADDITION to a living room?

I say go for it. The finished basement can function as a den. You'll need the extra space with the kids

Re: How important is it to have a den/rec room in ADDITION to a living room?

I think a finished basement makes a great playroom.
it really depends on your lifestyle though, I know lots of people that use their "formal" living room in a much more casual way so its almost like they have two dens.
We have a great room on the main floor and a finished "media room" in our basement.

Re: How important is it to have a den/rec room in ADDITION to a living room?

Honestly, we have a den in addition to our livingroom and we hardly use it. We basically use it to hide Ava's toys. She doesn't even play in there. So I vote for not all that important, but I think it depends on how you envision your living room. If you want it to be some museum like room, then yea, you need a den/family room, but if you'll use your living room to hang out, then get some good storage ottomans and you can hide away the kids toys easily.

Re: How important is it to have a den/rec room in ADDITION to a living room?

As long as u have the basement u should be fine/ Just make the basement your tv/playroom for the kids thats what our plan is too.

Re: How important is it to have a den/rec room in ADDITION to a living room?

I agree with others, as long as you have the basement.

We have our livingroom and a den. The den turned into the kids playroom. Then a few months ago the den turned into a storage room and the basement turned into the playroom and I love that the kids toys are down there now. The den was really a converted garage and we are thinking about converting it back.

Re: How important is it to have a den/rec room in ADDITION to a living room?

Re: How important is it to have a den/rec room in ADDITION to a living room?

I didnt think it would be a deal breaker when we were looking for a house but now that DS is older having a seperate Den/Playroom is a must. DS is 6 1/2 when he has his friends over they sometimes play Wii or board games in the Den/Playroom. It works out great I can hang in the kitchen or LR and not be on top of them.

Re: How important is it to have a den/rec room in ADDITION to a living room?

I grew up in a split. We had a living room, a den and a finished basement. The living room was ONLY used for entertaining and parties so it was RARELY used - mainly because that's where my parents kept all of their trinkets and breakables. The den was where we watched TV and we played in the basement.

Our new home has all three, but until we re-do the basement, the den will double as a playroom. I do not anticipate using the living room often at all.

We saw plenty of houses without dens and almost bid on two of them, but when I saw the den in the home we are buying, it made the deal for me.

Re: How important is it to have a den/rec room in ADDITION to a living room?

I love that we have our Family Room on the first level of our Hi-Ranch. Our LR is not that large and we both have large families, so for us we had to have either a full basement or a Den.

Re: How important is it to have a den/rec room in ADDITION to a living room?

Our house is exactly like this, and we figured DS could play in the finished basement until we added on a family room.

Well, this winter we had some serious flooding in the basement, and it is currently unfinished now. We had mold on some sheetrock and had to remove that, trim, and the carpeting. So until we resolve our water issues in the basement, which may take some time, we lost that space. The good part about all of this is it happened now when DS has a yard to play in--otherwise we would both be climbing the walls.

I'm not saying don't do it, but go into this aware that the finished basement may have water issues. Look at the trim carefully and corners for signs of water damage, check for musty odors, and definitely have an inspector take a look.
Though if you can find a house with a family room, that's ideal. The other issue with the basement is that you really can't leave them down there to play alone and do other things like cook dinner when they are very young. With a family room, you probably can if it's close to the kitchen.

Re: How important is it to have a den/rec room in ADDITION to a living room?

My house has a 'den' (initially turned it into an office and now it's just a transition room), a living room and we finished 2/3 of our basement.

Aesthetically, I didn't want my daughter to overrun our LR (& house) with her toys, etc...so it was important to me to have a play area just for her. I couldn't imagine not having her playroom - I think I would feel very overwhelmed with all her things encroaching on my things

Re: How important is it to have a den/rec room in ADDITION to a living room?

Re: How important is it to have a den/rec room in ADDITION to a living room?

Growing up we didn't have a den, just a living room. I basically played in my room. My sister and I didn't have a "play room" we used our bedrooms.

I think it's fine. Our den is exactly that, our den. It won't be turned into a kids room. Neither will our basement. The bedrooms are big enough for them to play there.