In my years growing up at home, the dining room held my father's huge drawing table. I loved that he'd work in plain view, right smack dab in the middle of the house. When he wasn't home we could use it for homework or our own artwork, whoever got there first. This room was also where the early radio and later the Hi-Fi set stood. By the time I was in high school he had me building stereo components from kits on that work surface. Now there's a large antique walnut dining table in the middle of the room and a beautiful cabinet with a long piano hinge built into the corner. It swings out for access to all the wiring and has switches to route the sound to various speakers throughout the house. He can even control them with a remote from his seat at the table, by the back door, clear at the end of the kitchen.