Credit to Desenio
What is the difference between living room and family room? Before I moved to America I lived in England for 20 years and the difference between the name been used in both countries are intriguing to me since I was born in Taiwan with very limited living space and we only have one room for the family activities. Although both countries have living rooms and larger homes sometimes even have both — and it all comes down to how you use the space.
Living rooms acted out as formal display spaces for welcoming guests and for gathering; and not so child friendly. Some homes living room that gets only occasional use with ordinary social activities take place in a smaller room like family room or recreation room. The family room usually has a television and with furniture that could actually be used by children and can withstand the stains and mess.
Making family rooms multifunctional is essential for house design. They need to accommodate for gathering, socializing, play, relax, snuggle and movie night fun. These activities require a comfortable and casual ambiance but that doesn't mean they can not be stylish.
Tips For Designing a Family Room Space That is Stylish & Comfortable
We have come up with tips will help you create family room that is functional and can take a beating but still stylish and classsy.
1. Save or not save that is a question
Does your family room accumulate stuff that is family hand me downs or second hand old college furniture? This is a common thing for most start up family that includes myself. I moved to US with just two suitcases and slowly collected many pass me down donation that makes my room looking full and colorful yet no theme or style of my own.
The pass down furniture can be sentimental weather it is a well made cupboard, chair or table stand. The key is to keep the matching set and ditch the tattered furniture and furnishings that is miss matching. We want to create coherence, attractive and durable design that can flow from one room to another.
Children do destroy things quickly, however, keep reminding them and setting the rules of what is allowed and what is forbidden and eventually they will learn and accept your house rule and respect for their surroundings.
It all comes down to personal choices and how far you can afford to let go of the old and start anew.
Credit to Shutterfly Community
2. Design around your life style
Start with a pen and paper list down your family's life style, what is the family room used for? Who does what where? What color and style do you like? This will help you select the furniture and furnishing that suit your need and allow everyone to be themselves and enjoy the space.
3. Durability and comfort always over style
When redecorating family room, you'll be faced with many choices: glass vs. wood table, or blinds vs. curtains. When it comes to sofa materials, the biggest debate is always between fabric vs. leather.
"Comfort, utility and versatility drive future sourcing trends" and the design choices is also included. Aesthetics will fall into place. One thing to less your heart bleed is to ensure the couches or chairs can withheld daily use of wear and tear and comfortable enough for everyone to sit or lie down / even jump on when it's been trashed.
Metro sofa from Room & Board
4. Multipurpose and versatility is the key
Contemporary living is about efficacy and usefulness and so does our family room's function need to be upgrade to our need. Central to our daily activities, family rooms must accomplish a lot in limited space and one of their tasks is to provide storage for all the stuff- toys, games, books, craft supplies and more.
Look for furnitures that has multifunction such as storage ottomans that can store blankets, throws, and extra pillows near the sofa and also can place a tray on top for holding drinks when needed; cabinets that can be end tables, couches with reclining function or turning a cloakroom into a built-in wall unit is the storage star for a small family room and so on.
5. Optimize Shelving
You can find affordable decorative bins and baskets in dollar tree, 99 cents, 5 Below or Daiso stores to group toys, games, crafts supply, books…etc. Ikea’s open selfing is my favorite to store things with cute design containers without lids for items that are used often and kids can pull it out easily. Choose a simple color scheme that goes with its surrounding and it will create a sophisticated and cohesive look.
Playroom Storage Ideas Decorating Built-ins by Sand & Sisal
6. Disguise Storage
I know it’s a pain to swap seasonal decoration and infrequently used items but this is unavoidable if you want to have a neat and organized room. Store them near the ceiling or hide under a coffee table to maximize storage space. Invest Baseboard Cord Channel, Command Clear Round Cord Clips with Clear Strips or Spiral Cable Wrap Tubing to organize electronic devises cords and wires.
Hide away unsightly essentials on your bookshelves by keeping your most decorative items on display and hide the not so attractive items you don’t want anyone else to see behind with storage baskets.
If you’re using shelves to store kids toys and games, no matter how neatly you try to arrange them on the shelves they still seem to look like a mess. Covering up things that don’t look organized behind a beautiful curtain is a great solution for all those hard to keep tidy items.
We hide our wall mounted TV cords and router with spiral tubing behind the TV with wall mounted shelf as extra support but apparently you can also hide the ugly cords going from your TV and other electric devices to the outlet with a shower rod cover from the hardware store. A cost effective way to solve the problem.
Credit to Mantel Mount
7. Find a Home for Everything
The words my kids hear me saying often is “ Put the toys back to it’s treasure box”. Do add organizers or boxes to the top of the console table or shelf to create a handy place for writing utensils, daily mail or phone. Place bigger baskets under the console table for kid’s personal school items for easy to find. The key is creating a home for even the smallest thing that can accumulate into big bundle and of course do clear out the old and unused stuff you have not used over a year. You probably will not need them if you have not touched them since!
8. Pair Neutral with Fun Color
A neutral base can accommodate anything and it gets evolved over time with the different stages of your life. However, it’s a good idea to pick few fun or bright colors to liven up the space by pairing them with seasonal decoration or fun print for a pop of surprise. Try take a color or two from your favorite color palette and building your sanctuary from there.
Credit to Shutterfly Community
With so many different choices, it may be overwhelming to find the right fit for your home. At WK Home, we are here to supply you with an accent piece meant to not only look great in your space but to last as well. Shop online or chat with us on our website who can help you decide what’s right for you.
Looking forward in seeing you!
WK HOME