The Good Room.

kneemos

Does the "good room"still exist?The room that got used only occasionally for special visitors,or have they been turned into dining rooms that only get used occasionally for special visitors.

I wouldn't think most new builds are big enough for a whole room to be allotted for occasional use.

Noodles81

My parents still have their one. They are 70 mind. Only used at Christmas but it is beautiful.

osarusan

Yes, it's called the sitting room in my parents' case.

Best furniture in the house there, and a cabinet creaking with silver dishes and crystal plates and stuff.

We sit there maybe twice a year.

Dyr

Wherever there are spud gobbling muck savages there will always be a good room. Possibly stocked with christmas editions of the RTE guide and Ireland's own

Charlie19

The Parlour.

Buona Fortuna

We live in my wife's grandparents old place. There was a good room. It was kept for when the priest visited.

He's not likely to visit us, so we turned it into a guest room

The Backwards Man

It's good to have a room

Noodles81

Bambi wrote: »

Wherever there are spud gobbling muck savages there will always be a good room. Possibly stocked with christmas editions of the RTE guide and Ireland's own

3 cheers for the spud gobblers of Ireland!

You won't be getting into our good room Bambi. You can just stay out in the cold, haha!

kneemos

Buona Fortuna wrote: »

We live in my wife's grandparents old place. There was a good room. It was kept for when the priest visited.

He's not likely to visit us, so we turned it into a guest room

Do priests still do visits?

Buona Fortuna

kneemos wrote: »

Do priests still do visits?

I'm not really an expert

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Speaking as an aged spud gobbling muck savage, we did away with the good room many years ago and use it on a daily basis for reading and TV.

I'm not aware of any homes still with the good room but houses built in the countryside in the past 10 years are so big that all seem to have 'reception rooms' that aren't used at all.

Whitewinged

Yes my parents had a good room but it wasn't like a room where you couldn't go into in your shoes or anything. It was just another sitting room where the stereo was so it was more like the party room or if if friends were coming in, you would go in there.

That was in my parents old house which they moved from when I was 22, ten years ago. They don't have a good room in the newer one and I don't in my house but I plan to extend the kitchen and make an extra sitting room if I can in the future eventually, hopefully.

I really miss my parents original house, like the house itself. I passed by it a few months ago and felt a bit of sadness at the thought that I couldn't go into it.

Lights On

I have a room where I keep all my bdsm equipment and have mirrors on the ceiling, guess you could classify it as the good room.

mfceiling

Was up home at my parents house yesterday and today. Mam still has the "good" room. She also has a special lock on it to keep out my kids. I was looking for a parcel that was delivered to me and she says it's in the good room. I says grand I'll get it now. I went in and she followed me in...It's on the table there. I lifted it and within 2 seconds she was "right, out you go, there's nothing else in here that interests you"

I'm 41...

Witchie

We do but it is kinda the study too so is used occasionally for printing or I meet clients there occasionally.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Witchie wrote: »

We do but it is kinda the study too so is used occasionally for printing or I meet clients there occasionally.

I hope you're paying business rates on that room so.

daithi1970

mfceiling wrote: »

Was up home at my parents house yesterday and today. Mam still has the "good" room. She also has a special lock on it to keep out my kids. I was looking for a parcel that was delivered to me and she says it's in the good room. I says grand I'll get it now. I went in and she followed me in...It's on the table there. I lifted it and within 2 seconds she was "right, out you go, there's nothing else in here that interests you"

I'm 41...

might i refer you to post #14? just sayin'..

Eugene Norman

Bjorn Wide Returnee wrote: »

Speaking as an aged spud gobbling muck savage, we did away with the good room many years ago and use it on a daily basis for reading and TV.

I'm not aware of any homes still with the good room but houses built in the countryside in the past 10 years are so big that all seem to have 'reception rooms' that aren't used at all.

A reception room predates the "good room". In big townhouses or country pads visitors were ushered into that room by the staff. ( I'm sure downton abbey has one on the TV show). It was a meeting room for temporary visitors - long term guests had the run of the place. Of course that made sense in big houses. In small houses with 3 up 3 down ( or 2 up 2 down) sacrificing a room, the biggest, for a yearly priest visit is madness.

And Irish people don't really house visit anyway.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Eugene Norman wrote: »

A reception room predates the "good room". In big townhouses or country pads visitors were ushered into that room by the staff. ( I'm sure downton abbey has one on the TV show). It was a meeting room for temporary visitors - long term guests had the run of the place. Of course that made sense in big houses. In small houses with 3 up 3 down ( or 2 up 2 down) sacrificing a room, the biggest, for a yearly priest visit is madness.

And Irish people don't really house visit anyway.

:rolleyes: I was using the term (in inverted commas) as applied by estate agents to describe what you and I call living rooms, sitting rooms etc.

I'm old enough to remember being in the reception room of the big house.

Fox_In_Socks

There was no good room in our family home. Mind you, there was no insulation, no heating other than a fire and no shower until the last 10 years, so I think slowly a good room is being worked up to gradually.

Fleawuss

mfceiling wrote: »

Was up home at my parents house yesterday and today. Mam still has the "good" room. She also has a special lock on it to keep out my kids. I was looking for a parcel that was delivered to me and she says it's in the good room. I says grand I'll get it now. I went in and she followed me in...It's on the table there. I lifted it and within 2 seconds she was "right, out you go, there's nothing else in here that interests you"

I'm 41...

Ha. You're not getting the good china! :pac:

timthumbni

Up here in Norn Iron we had a good room called the sitting room. Which was strange considering no one ever seemed to sit in it. Once a year on Xmas night they went into it. The rest of the time it was left for the ghosts and perhaps the crying chair. What a load of ****e.

Now I make a point of using all the rooms in the house. I actually urge my kids to use the sitting room as a lived in room is much better that a sterile unused room.

Sunnyisland

We had a parlour, as the family got older and bigger it was turned into a bedroom , my mothers sister still has her parlour and when you go into it when allowed its like stepping back in time.

Fr_Dougal

kneemos wrote: »

Do priests still do visits?

Yes. Especially if you've been mitching mass.

timthumbni

realies wrote: »

We had a parlour, as the family got older and bigger it was turned into a bedroom , my mothers sister still has her parlour and when you go into it when allowed its like stepping back in time.

Please don't tell me it's got a "crying chair"...... Every house just needs a crying chair, sitting there in the corner, out of place just waiting for a good oul cry.

lanos

Witchie wrote: »

We do but it is kinda the study too so is used occasionally for printing or I meet clients there occasionally.

Clients <snigger>

Graces7

Was just telling family in Canada that my " good room" is all cleared and clean. This house has space and he added a modern extension, complete with en suite and a wide wide window.. So now that is my " good room." Cats and dogs are NOT ALLOWED and the only decent furniture in the house is in there. The beauty is that it has its own front door. So if anyone comes... only visitors so far have been the gardai when there was the vandalism. But it is all ready. Lit up for Christmas. On the other side of the kitchen there is the "spill room" where all my market stock lives in winter. Great house this!

Graces7

Fr_Dougal wrote: »

Yes. Especially if you've been mitching mass.

Been here nearly 4 years and never to Mass in either town and no visit but then I am hard to find and Cathedral person anyways. Odd as Healy Rae was at the gate as soon as I moved in.. but he would never ever get past the gate let alone into the "good room"... I do have standards....;)

lanos

My good room can be used normally except
It has a very expensive light coloured carpet
Therefore
No pets
No kids wearing shoes
No food
No red wine
No guinness
No coca cola
No priests

Plenty of xbox allowed there

kfallon

Parents combined the good room (sitting room) with the Living Room a few years ago.....now we just have the 'good half'

Bjorn Wide Returnee

Bjorn Wide Returnee wrote: »

Speaking as an aged spud gobbling muck savage, we did away with the good room many years ago and use it on a daily basis for reading and TV.

I'm not aware of any homes still with the good room but houses built in the countryside in the past 10 years are so big that all seem to have 'reception rooms' that aren't used at all.

You are right - an open plan kitchen / living / dining and a separate reception that is full furnished but never used.

Captain Flaps

My folks gaff has the 'dining room' which isn't really used for anything apart from when someone's over for dinner, but as there are living rooms on either side of it it's more like a glorified corridor with a bit table pushed back against the wall.

_Brian

We have a living room, large room 15*30 we dine in the end towards the kitchen and then the other side has a stove, TV, laptop, suite of furniture, this room is in constant use for one thing or another.
We do have a separate sitting room. Used some weekends and the kids use it if they want to watch something different on TV. One of the reasons was that the kids would have somewhere with TV, music etc for when they have friends visiting, somewhere to hang out other than their bedroom. It's not intended as a good room but it's not used everyday and I'm sure some people would consider it as as such.

Lia_lia

We never had one. Small house! Many of my friends growing up did though. I never understood it really. They only went in there a few times a year. What a waste of a room!

Eugene Norman

Bjorn Wide Returnee wrote: »

:rolleyes: I was using the term (in inverted commas) as applied by estate agents to describe what you and I call living rooms, sitting rooms etc.

I'm old enough to remember being in the reception room of the big house.

Well if those new houses are big enough they might have reception rooms. There were some monstrosities built during the Celtic tiger days.

The "good room" was a room that took up too much space relative to the rest of the house.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Eugene Norman wrote: »

Well if those new houses are big enough they might have reception rooms. There were some monstrosities built during the Celtic tiger days.

The "good room" was a room that took up too much space relative to the rest of the house.

You've lost me. I don't know what you're arguing about at this stage.

Menas

A buddy of mine's parents used to have a good room. A reception room.
They had the sofa and chairs covered in this custom made plastic protective cover. We were allowed in the room but the plastic thing was never removed from what I remember. I could never get my head around having a lovely suite but not been able to appreciate it because it was covered in plastic. But each to their own I suppose.

Graces7

My happiest rentals have been as my own cottage was; three rooms. In the cottage I owned, the kitchen, a bedroom and I had a basic bathroom and kitchen made of the other bedroom. But I was not marketting then. And do you not find that your " needs" expand when the space does! And it then become impossible to shrink back...Here i have a separate wool room as well.. But I love that I have the "good room". When Social Welfare did an home visit the man wanted to sit at the kitchen table but I INSISTED we use the good room.

Eugene Norman

Bjorn Wide Returnee wrote: »

You've lost me. I don't know what you're arguing about at this stage.

I'm saying those houses may have genuine reception rooms. Fairly simple.

NachoBusiness

Dining room is where the good biscuits used to be hidden.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Eugene Norman wrote: »

I'm saying those houses may have genuine reception rooms. Fairly simple.

But, I told you they don't. I explained that they just have no need for the rooms.

I think we're at cross purposes somewhere.

meeeeh

Habsburg Monarchy was always a bit more broke than Brits plus I come from traditionally fairly rural country. Historically there was a bigger chance of having a room for couple of cows in the house during winter than a good room. After ww2 everyone just aspired to have somewhere to live that wasn't destroyed by war. I think the idea of good room never really developed. I do think though that it's always good to have a good junk room where you can stand at the door and throw stuff in.

We have a guest bedroom that isn't used more than couple of times per year but every other room in the house is used. We intentionally built fewer spacious rooms that are constantly used. The good room would be waste of space for me.

cml387

Before central heating, life tended to be lived in the room with the fire. When we lived in a 2 up/down house in England the "front room" was only used at Christmas, where a second fire might be ceremonially lit for the festive season.

That's where the studio couch was.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

cml387 wrote: »

Before central heating, life tended to be lived in the room with the fire. When we lived in a 2 up/down house in England the "front room" was only used at Christmas, where a second fire might be ceremonially lit for the festive season.

That's where the studio couch was.

I think that's the nub. The good room was rarely used as it wasn't easily heated.

Graces7

The title of this thread got my memories flowing last night..as a child we visited relatives in the back streets of Wigan, Two up two down terraced houses. No bathroom. All the toilets were in a central courtyard in the back in a row, one for each house and always locked. At the back was the scullery, cold water tap. The coal fire had an oven at the side and that was the cooking facility. By the time we visited, they had added a lean to at the back, with a gas cooker but still just the one tap. And yes, they had the good room, downstairs at the front. An overstuffed three piece suite,with hand embroidered chair backs, china cabinet, window with immaculate white net curtains and geraniums. Never used a far as I remember. There was always a bowl of Quality Street in there at Christmas so I sneaked in often and can remember the damp chill smell of it. The living room was the kitchen; same as here. It meant a lot having that good room though. Mine does too... had not realised it was a throw back to childhood!

harry Bailey esq

kneemos wrote: »

Do priests still do visits?

You've got your very own,dedicated thread for questions like that.I digress,the priest stopped visiting when the last of my brothers hit puberty.
Edit.The next door neighbours had a 'good room' they called it the parlour.