When extending the house, it was intended that the downstairs room – now the largest room in the house – would be a family room which we could all use and share every day. Now, it is by far our most-used room, and I can’t imagine being without it now!
I thought I’d share with you some of the main considerations we had when creating our family room, how we have made it perfect for us and our children, and how we hope to use it in future!
1) Go fairly neutral
In comparison with our old front room, the family room is larger and airy, painted in neutral colours with big French doors which bring the light in. It’s lovely to sit in there, even in the winter, with full view of the garden (such as it is at this time of year).
It’s not just a kid’s room so I wanted to stay away from bright colours, wall decals etc – and keep these for their bedrooms! It also means we won’t have to redecorate in a few years as it will see them and us right through; although the lighter walls have needed re-painting in some sections where they’ve become scuffed.
If you want to brighten it up, then wall art is a great compromise. We chose some fun pictures to hang but if we ever decide we don’t like them anymore, they can easily be replaced.
2) Wall mount the TV
If you need to get a new TV make sure it is ‘Smart’ i.e. it connects to the internet for Netflix and Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, iPlayer etc. Most new televisions have this as standard now and you can get some great deals especially if you can wait until the sales or Black Friday.
Wall-mounting your TV is a great way to save on floor space. Instead of settling on a bulky entertainment unit, you can use a TV wall bracket with a swivel. This handy installation keeps the TV from being knocked over or smeared with small fingerprints, and it also gives you enough room to make another addition to your family room like a desk, low bookcase, or additional toy storage (see below) without getting rid of the television.
We didn’t have a TV in the family room for a long time but if you do, then the best solution for both safety and space saving is to wall mount it.
3) Storage
It’s not easy to work or relax with stuff everywhere.
I regularly think about decluttering and over the years we have managed to get rid of some things, like approximately one metric tonne of oversized, garish plastic Lego but they make way for more and more!
As much as I hate the clutter, the children love playing, so it looks likely that it’ll be staying a while and the best thing we can do is make it easy to tidy away.
We have a whole wall of bargain Kallax storage units from Ikea and have more on order – a fab tip is to create visual clues on each box so that children know what goes in each box, which I kept saying I’d do and still haven’t gotten around to.
This was our family room back in 2018:
And here it is now, three years later (on a good day!):
Obviously shelves upon shelves is fine you have a lot of space, but if you don’t, you might have to be a bit cannier. There are some brilliant storage solutions over on Pinterest – I love the Ikea bench hacks and have a fairly unremarkable version in my porch.
As the children get older and have fewer toys, we can ditch the cheap fabric boxes and create bookshelves, or even get rid of the units altogether to make way for sofas.
4) Pick your flooring carefully
My husband wanted carpet; I thought he was absolutely mad.
From Play Doh to glitter, from bolognese to milk, from well, vomit to poo and of course aaaaaall the crumbs there are going to be a LOT of substances spilled and otherwise deposited on this floor so it’s very important for it to be sweepable and wipe clean.
I find tile too cold and clinical, and lino is really for the bathroom, so it was down to laminate or hardwood floors. We went for engineered oak which should be tough wearing as well as easy to clean. Slightly cheaper but also tough-wearing and easy to clean is laminate or vinyl flooring.
We have washable, child-friendly play mats which go down in the day if something might be messy, and can be rolled up in the evening. We also have a large piece of vinyl left over from the bathroom floor which we unroll for messier activities!
We also have a rug (pictured above) and the best purchase of all; a robot vacuum cleaner!
5) Make sure there is somewhere to sit!
Ideally you want to be able to sit somewhere other than the floor to watch them play!
Our family room is big and spans almost the whole width of the house, so is used as a dining room too. We have a dining table in the corner of the room which is great for family meals and means I can work, or sit and have a cup of tea, whilst watching the children play.
An extendable table is something that is definitely on my wishlist, as it would allow the kids more space to play during the day time and give more room to host family dinners.
Not all family rooms would lend themselves to this set up at all but even a small sofa like the one we bought here is brilliant if you can fit it in. A beanbag is also a fab and flexible idea for providing additional, comfy seating.
