As demographics change, these changes are reflected in requested floor plans. New lifestyles are dictating living spaces that are compatible with today's families and individuals.

When Country Home magazine built a show house at the World Financial Center based on an informal reader survey, it had no living room at all. According to the architect, it just did not appear on anybody's wish list. In its place was a double-height medieval 'great hall,' which ran the length of the house with a family room/kitchen and gathering place at the rear. Builders confirm that there is a trend. Customers are telling them that they don't want living rooms. 'My parents never used it and I don't use it,' they say.

When it comes time to renovate, the family room is again the winner. Kermit Baker, an economist at Harvard University's Joint Center For Housing Studies, said, 'It just makes sense that the family room would grow at the expense of the more formal living room. Most of the renovations in the last 10 to 15 years have been generated by baby boomers making more livable space for their growing families. The last thing they need is more formal space. They need space for playing around.'

The living room in America was a 19th-century invention evolving from a parlor reserved for 'at home' receptions, into a large, gracious space meant for the entire family to enjoy. After World War II, parents found they needed to put some distance between themselves and their children, so the rec room was born, tucked away in the basement where play activities didn't interfere with life in the rest of the house. A precedent was established. The family room was fun but the living room, neat and perfect, was serious.

The biggest blow to the living room's sense of purpose came when the family room was combined with the kitchen and named the great room or gathering room by builders. The movement started in the '70s and really took hold in the '80s.

Now, changing lifestyles and technology are bringing about another reconfiguration of living space in homes. According to the 1990 census, half the households in America consist of married couples without children, while one-quarter of the population lives alone. The traditional floor plan has given way to rooms that fit the needs of two-career couples, empty nesters and extended families.

Defenders of the formal living room say that reports of its death are premature. After all, where are you going to entertain the in-laws when they come to visit?

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