Is the Formal Living Room Passé?

When we built our home, one of the things I was most thrilled about was having a formal living, in addition to, a family room. I had a loveseat and chair set that worked well in the living room, and bought three small elegant looking tables. To give it a more formal feel than the rest of the house, the builder add two floor to ceiling pillars--which you can see in the picture above (sorry, best shot of those is this Christmas photo).

Before the girls came along, the living room was fairly unused and easy to maintain. We would use it for entertaining a few times a year (though most people congregated in the kitchen). Putting our main Christmas tree in that room also meant anyone walking in the front door would have a festive view. I felt, however, that the space was underutilized and began thinking of converting it to a reading room. So, I bought some bookshelves, put the loveseat into the family room along with our sofa, and took a comfy chair from the family room and put it in the living room (now called the reading room.)

Problem. Between the dark walls and the front porch blocking light from getting in, it wasn't the best room for reading.

Then the Lil Diva was born and it soon became known as the play room--or more appropriately, an unsightly room filled with toys and other childhood things. See below.

Don't ask. It's just much easier to let the Lil Diva do her own thing.

Daughter #2 comes along. Add more toys and childhood things.

Even before she could read the Lil Princess loved books. 

At some point, I grew weary of having a messy room being what our visitors saw when they first walked in, so I moved the majority of the toys and two bookcases upstairs. That left two comfy chairs, one bookcase, one toybox and three elegant tables.

What do we use the room for now? Not much. We had added French doors a few years ago because the doorway was framed for them when the house was built. They look nice, but the room isn't any more formal than it used to be. The girls put their backpacks on the chairs when they are in school. Other than that, the only use the room gets is as an easy walkway from the family room to the front door or upstairs.

Many of our neighbors have converted their formal living rooms into offices or other usable spaces. My hubby and I each have an office now that our son moved out and got married, so I don't need to use it for that. I'm still searching for ideas.

What do you think--are formal living rooms passé? Do you have a formal living room? Do you use it or have you converted it to something else? If your house doesn't have one, would you like to have one?