5 IDEAS: 5 Secrets to Decorating your Family Room Like a Pro
People give a lot of thought to the mechanics of how they layout a kitchen, almost like it's a small military operation, but what about the Family Room? I would argue that the Family Room is often more of a complex space, with more varied activities happening (often at once) than almost any other room in the house. So here are some design tips to allow you to create a Family Room like a pro.
1. Start with a Good Plan
As the saying goes, unless you have a destination in mind, how do you know when you arrive? Making a great room is exactly the same idea, you first need to create a list of activities that you want to accommodate. These could include TV watching (for how many and at what time of day), family game night and even alone time reading a book. For every family it will be slightly different, but it’s crucial that you start here.
Once you have your list it’s time to look at your floor plan and start to lay things out. Begin with some of the basics that the room sdictates, for instance in most rooms the TV wall is pretty clear where it needs to be, start with that, then build back from the most common way you use the room to the least used activity, this will give you a good foundation on which to build.
DESIGNER TIP: When laying out your furniture plan create lifesize cutouts of the pieces you plan to use and move them around the space. It might surprise you the difference between a floor plan and the real space.
2. Comfort trumps all
More than almost any other room in your home, the Family Room is the place where you want furniture that is comfortable to use and this should trump almost any decision. Now, I am not saying that means you need to put grandpa’s burnt orange velvet recliner in there, but you should bear in mind that this is the place you will be spending a lot of time so make sure you have that in mind.
DESIGNER TIP: While I am a fan of online shopping, this is not the place for it. Before buying any seating for this room, try it out, this way you will avoid expensive mistakes.
3. Make sure it’s Durable
If you can think of an activity it is probably going to happen in the Family Room, whether it is eating, drinking, painting, potentially even wrestling! So let this be a warning to you, that when you select furniture for this room bear this in mind. Surfaces should be easy to keep clean and maintain (wood or stone is a great place to start), fabrics should not show dirt and also stay away from delicate fabrics that stain, like silk and go with harder wearing cotton blends or even leather.
DESIGNER TIP: Like anything else durability relies on maintenance, Even the most hard wearing fabric will start to break down if you ignore it, Factor into your routine regular maintenance and a deep cleaning twice a year and you will see the return on investing in good choices.
4. Consider the pets
No matter what pets you have, they need to be considered in the equation. Where it’s dogs, cats, a bird or even a goldfish, they each require careful consideration when you are creating this room. For instance the issue of bathroom accidents, clawing or in the case of a bird seed dropping out of the cage onto the floor, each of these requires its own unique design solution.
DESIGNER TIP: When choosing fabric, you should consider those by Crypton Home that is treated to resist dirt , moisture and almost anything else a pet (or child) can throw at it. In the absence of that Outdoor Fabrics are a great choice.
5. Allow for Change
The only thing that will be constant over time in your home will be change. So you should build in a certain degree of flexibility. A good example of this is the family TV, if you had built a cabinet for you huge rear projection TV a few years ago, you would now be faced with a major remodel to take on. So keep in mind that especially technology is a moving target. Try and limit the amount of things totally customized to a particular type or model of TV or speaker etc.
The same can be said for accomodations for kids. The spatial needs of a toddler is totally different from that of a preteen or even a teenager, so when buying furniture for them, keep in mind it only needs to work for a certain window of time.
DESIGNER TIP: Embrace change in your room, knowing that change is inevitable will help you make smart buying decisions, things like a sofa will be something you always need, so it should dominate the budget, a low play table for junior is a temporary solution, sof off to Ikea for that!