One of the most used rooms in a home is the family room. It is where you unwind at the end of the day, where the family gets together, and the room that really gets used as a multi-purpose room! These reasons are why, if you’re perfect house came with the downside of a smaller family room, you may need a little help taking advantage of your smaller space. We are here to help! Here are a few tips to keep in mind to ease your design struggles and then we will show you how we took on our own small family room challenge!
Utilize the longest wall
Walls are used to anchor a room and often times, without thought, are used to anchor the TV on because that’s just where the outlet is. Without thinking, people will often see the longest wall in a room with an outlet centered on the wall and assume this is where the builder intended the TV placement. If you can avoid this, PLEASE DO. That long wall is the perfect perfect perfect spot for your sofa!
Windows aren’t just for a view
Sure, if you have a gorgeous view and 90% of the time take advantage of that view, you can center a room on a view. For smaller rooms, these windows are crucial for light and the view is an added bonus. Remember that you can put seating in front of a window! It’s a stylish way to monopolize the space you already have.
Think about the depth, not just length
With a natural itch to anchor furniture to a wall, people will worry about lengths of their furniture. Wondering if their sofa will be too big, maybe they should buy a new one, or maybe they should switch to a loveseat….etc. An important, and often forgotten detail is the depth. That sofa may just LOOK too big because it’s a 40″ deep sofa; but, switching to a less deep sofa could give the appearance of more space without sacrificing the amount of people that it can accommodate.
Now, with these three steps, take a look at this recent project we did with a very small family room and how we maximized the space!
This is the main level of a home we recently staged and the family room flowed immediately from foyer to kitchen with very little wall space to work with. But, that didn’t stop us from making the most of it!
We put these two low-back chairs in front of the window to add some much need conversational seating. With the low backs they also do a great job at letting the most light in. Another sofa or loveseat, would lean too heavy and block a lot of light. Chairs or a bench are definitely the way to go for this space!
We used the longest wall to anchor the sofa and end tables. And let me tell you that we used every inch we could! We used an open coffee table to give the illusion of more floor space. It would also make a wonderful table to put ottomans under (for additional seating for game night) or storage bins (to keep the toys hidden).
Lastly, directly across from the TV we used this nice sized console table to mount the TV. This console table is the perfect depth for the space. It doesn’t protrude into the space and block foot traffic but it is also deep enough to actually store personal items. Again, an open piece of furniture helps to not look heavy in the space.
With these tips, there is no room too small or awkward that you won’t be able to tackle now!