It is 9:30. It is 25*F outside. These two facts put me in a miserable mood. But no need to take that out on you, Dear Readers! I must have been in a similar mood about six years ago and I see I took it out on some internet idiot.

I know my feelings on dining rooms are well known, but I thought I expressed them fairly well here. What do you think?

The Room in which We Dine

Published on January 26, 2016 

An article by Jennifer Graham at Acculturated made the rounds over the weekend. Titled, “Why Millennial Home Buyers Want Play Rooms Not Dining Rooms,” the article looks at the “decline of old-fashioned adulthood.” It was an interesting article with the obligatory stupid troll who said,

What a load of crap. The concept of a “dining room” did not even exist for 99% of humanity until the late 19th Century. For most of human history people lived in 1-room shelters, if they were lucky enough to have that.

Now, I have sworn off the habit of commenting online. But you see what’s wrong here, right? If I’m not mistaken it’s the genetic fallacy: the value of X is based on the history or origin of X. Just because 99% of humans didn’t have a dining room means you shouldn’t have one either.

So I said,

And speaking of crap, as in a place to do so without freezing your tushy off, neither did bathrooms, hot water heaters, furnaces, K-cup coffee and many other things I’ll bet you have in your crappy little apartment.

Dining rooms represent the height of civilization. They are spaces where friends and families linger long after they’ve finished eating. To have this sort of leisure at the end of the day– in your own home– is the very essence of what humans have worked and sacrificed for for thousands of years.

If you don’t understand that, I feel sorry for you.

Anyway… . As we all know, crappy old stuff is good. Rooms in which families and friends dine are among the best of the best crappy old stuff. I appreciate that kids put a real chink in having a nice dining room where one can display one’s shiny things. I understand circumstances may be such that you cannot have a dining room at this time. But making a home with a dining room is a worthy goal for a young family.

And to that end, I give you several inviting dining areas– spaces “outfit with all the accouterments that make [them] warm and inviting environment[s] conducive to good discussion and good digestion.”

More below. You don’t want to miss them!

Dining room photos from Better Homes and Gardens Decorating Book (1975)