One custom in New England and eastern Canada now happily
obsolete was the front room used only for weddings and funerals. As an extreme esample, I had a couple neighbors from Prince Edward Island who returned there when the husvand retired. I visited them there, and was entertained in their front room. When I got back to MA, and mentioned it
it to my ward secretary, who was from PEI, her jaw dropped, and she exclaimed: "I've known her twenty years and have never been invited into her front room!"