Welcome to the hall of dead spaces. Buyers don't seem to want them anymore.

For me as a child in the 1990s, Home Alone was pure fantasy. Not only did Kevin McCallister, played by Macaulay Culkin, live every child's dream by being left to his own devices while his parents traveled to Europe (before the days of smartphones, of course), but the boy also partied in a mansion: racing through endless hallways, sliding down grand staircases, and romping around in stately living and dining rooms.

Smartphones aside, the film is dated for other reasons: Today's Kevin would probably order his pizza via Uber Eats in a compact, four-story new build with a furnished basement and an au pair apartment in the attic. Spacious common areas – kitchen, living room, year-round porch – would have replaced those hallways long ago.

Don't take my word for it. According to a July 2024 U.S. Residential Architecture and Design Survey, hallways and the like are “not functional,” according to the survey. Why? According to the National Association of Home Builders' 2024 Eye on Housing survey, buyers want smaller homes than they did 20 years ago. In 2003, the typical home buyer preferred 2,260 square feet of finished space. In 2023, that number had dropped to 2,067 square feet.

Today, “people are trying to make the most of every square foot of living space. Basements that were once used for storage are being converted into media rooms, exercise rooms and guest bedrooms. The attic becomes a home office or playroom for kids,” says Lauren Zirilli, an interior designer and real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Realty in Westwood.

With that in mind, let's head to our virtual multipurpose kitchen/great room/office/home bar to toast to these outdated spaces.

Dining rooms

These relics were once the center of Rockwellian holiday gatherings and real dinner parties, but during the COVID pandemic they became permanently obsolete, turning into de facto offices, dens and restrooms.

“They became storage spaces. People were piling things on the tables,” said Michelle Lee Parenteau, who runs the interior design firm Michelle Lee Designs in Johnston, Rhode Island.

Parenteau said current clients are expanding their kitchens with 10- to 12-foot kitchen islands made of Cambria quartz or blue Bahia, designed for both family dining and entertaining guests.

“Homes are becoming more casual and less formal,” she said. “But I did a dining room in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, with grasscloth wallpaper to give it a more casual feel rather than upscale and pretentious.”

Screened porches

Charming, perhaps. Functional? Not really. Today, says Parenteau, year-round spaces with underfloor heating and mini-split air conditioning systems, often connected to the living room, are all the rage.

“Porches are becoming year-round porches for people who want to maximize their living space and have larger families,” she said.

cellar

Remember creepy basements that stored musty family photos, old wedding dresses and God knows what else? Those have been replaced with finished basements, Zirilli said – and the storage has moved into a separate carriage house, for those who can afford it.

“Storage spaces are disappearing. People are building outbuildings on their property. It used to be the old carriage house, but now it's used as storage for all sorts of things,” Zirilli said. “I'm visiting a lot of new construction right now where every single inch of the house is finished. People are storing all sorts of things in the basement, including playrooms, gyms, yoga rooms, pet rooms and pet washing stations.”

Attics

The same applies to attics that are now used as bedrooms.

“Bedrooms add value,” says Zirilli. Think about it. What sounds more appealing in a real estate ad: a loft for your Christmas decorations or an au pair apartment?

Doorbells

Thanks to Ring cameras, “people no longer need doorbells. They are completely unnecessary,” Zirilli said.

Stately colonial homes with four or five boudoirs? Unnecessary these days, says Allison Blank, a real estate agent at Compass in Chestnut Hill.

“Most people don't have three to five kids anymore, so we often see one of those rooms become the office and the other room becomes the kids' hangout or the gym. That's where your Peloton goes.”

For those whose children have left home and who want to sell their house, here is an idea: “I would probably [bedrooms] with a desk to show that it can be a home office, and then maybe also with a little table with crayons and four little chairs around it to show that this is additional living space, with a door – and a door can change with life, can't it?” she said.

Formal entertaining spaces

Living rooms and sitting areas are outdated, open concepts are in. So instead of hallways and walls marking the flow of a home, floor plans require different “moments” of furnishing, says Zirilli.

“People have large, open-concept spaces where the furniture defines the space,” she said. Perhaps one area is dedicated to a fireplace, TV and cozy sofa; another area might have a bar, kitchen island and stools.

Of course, the lack of walls creates problems for artwork and televisions, Zirilli said.

“I just saw something that caught my interest: TVs on a rolling easel for open spaces where there's not really a lot of wall space. People lug them around. They put them in front of their bed or roll them into the bathroom,” she said.

Actually home alone.

You can reach Kara Baskin at [email protected]Follow her @kcbaskin.