How much of the house was off limits?
My parent's were Generation Jones (Late Boomers '55-'64), and they had us fairly young. They spent a considerable effort making it look like we had more money than we did, as most of it went to the house and raising us kids.
We had 4 entire rooms that were off limits and made up half of our suburban house (3 at the first one in the city).
The "Formal" living room (originally built to be an office) fake velvet couch, doilies, crystal dishes, ticking clock, always spotless and where we had neighbors and first time visitors sit.
Living room, nice new couch, gas fireplace, out of tune piano... only for family gatherings, tragic news, and holidays
Dining room, floral wall paper, china cabinet, only used for homework, puzzles, and holiday meals.
Guest bedroom, only for relatives and guests and storing parents' extra clothes.
We ate all meals at the tiny kitchen table and then hung out in the one room upstairs above the garage with the old saggy couches, our one decent TV, VCR, and the family PC. Toys stayed in the basement, bedrooms were only big enough for sleeping, dressing, and reading.
It was all to create an illusion of order among the chaos of raising kids... and many of my friend's houses had the same setup.
Were your parent's the same? Are you too?
Edit 1: "Rich kid". We were not rich. We lived in a nice area, but my parents spent very little that wasn't the house, a decent used car, clothes, or education. Our vacations were all planned around staying at a relative's house, no cruises, exotic destinations, or Disney World. When we did buy something new, like a camera, computer, or TV we used it until it broke or we found something better used.
The living room was a 1/3 of the first floor, and the "formal living room" was just a small room off the front entrance that kept people from seeing the rest of the house. The dining room, laundry, and kitchen made up the other half. Upstairs was the three bedrooms and the TV room above the garage.
Picture the Simpsons house in your mind, except the TV room was above the garage.