Making dining room into part of living room
 

I would like to change my dining room in my open floor plan to be part of the living room.

Has anyone ever done this?

Any suggestions including pictures would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you

Great question, hope you get some good responses with photos!

What model/floor plan do you have?

Gardenia model. Expanded

My wife and I have had two houses here in The Villages; a Sunflower and a Lily. Both have areas designed to be dining rooms. In both cases, we chose not to put in a dining room table and chairs and instead put in living room-type furniture (couch, tub chair, recliner, end table). People who have visited generally seem delighted by the idea and wonder why they didn't do the same thing as they say they rarely use the dining room table. Or else they are just being polite and wonder what kind of nutcases we are.

In the current house (the Lily), we have a rectangular dining table that seats 6 in the "dining nook" area between the kitchen and the lanai, a circular dining table that seats 4 in the enclosed lanai, a circular table that seats 4 in the birdcage and 4 "captains" chair at the bar in the kitchen. By my count, we can seat 18 for dining. Why would we need another table in the area originally designated to be a dining room?

We have a casual-look (weathered gray) dining room table for six in the dining nook of our Lantana. We use that for almost all meals. Instead of putting a second table and chairs in the breakfast nook off the kitchen, we put a loveseat and side table there and removed the chandelier.
We don’t sit on the loveseat often, but it leaves a nice open space and clear path to the lanai.
We have a table for four on the lanai and four stools at the kitchen bar. Altogether, we have plenty of seating for us and guests without having a second indoor table.
I have seen homes for sale online with two armchairs and a side table in dining and breakfast nooks. Looks like a nice place to sit and read or talk.

That one is easy, we do it all the time. Just sit in your favorite chair in your living room while watching TV and put your dinner plate on your lap, and now your living room is also your dinning room.