How To | Making a Small Family Room Cozy
The family room is one of the most used rooms in the house with the exception of the kitchen. It’s a gathering place, a relaxing space, and entertainment area, and often one of the most seen rooms in your home. You want it to look good, feel good, and hold up to wear and tear. But if you’ve got a small family room, you may be frustrated because it feels cramped or you can fit enough seating in it for the number of people you’d like to accomodate. We get it. Small spaces can be tricky. So today we’re talking about how to furnish and decorate a small family room space.
The first and most obvious thing to do is to scale down your furniture. The thing about small spaces is that the furniture can’t fill them up if you want people to be in the space as well. So evaluate the type of furniture you’re using. Are the pieces streamlined and not overly bulky? Of course you want them to be comfortable but space is everything. So if you need to replace your super fluffy, oversized sofa with something that’s not as fluffy but still comfortable, then that’s what you need to do. A rolled arm on a sofa is basically a whole entire seat on a track arm sofa and that’s valuable property. Consider your chairs too. Some reading or accent chairs can be really deep and the back may even slant taking up additional space. Scale those stylized things down and use the space for more people or more seats instead.
The next thing to think about when assessing your furniture is the number of functions it can have. The less pieces in a small space, the better. So the more each piece of your furniture does for you, the better. Little ottomans are great because they act as a foot rest, an extra seat, and a coffee table depending on how you use them. They’re also light weight and moveable so they’re a great multi-functional piece. Select case goods with lots of hidden storage. Those hidden storage compartments will be a life saver when you’re trying to make the space convenient for friends and also keep it tidy.
When laying out a small space, use your wall space! This can be hard because walls may be taken up by windows or doors, but start with wall space when determining where to put your furniture. You’re not going to be able to float a seating area in the middle of the room anyway, so your walls will dictate a lot about how the room lays out. Be sure to use your corners too! A sectional that turns the corner adds a whole additional seat that two pieces of furniture perpendicular to each other would not.
Be sure to add lots of light so that the room doesn’t feel like a cave. If you have great windows and they’re enough, awesome! If you don’t though, think about adding little wall-mount sconces or skinny and tall floor lamps that won’t take up a lot of surface area. Lighting is important! Don’t overlook it!
Finally, keep it fresh by adding greenery. Greenery always keeps a space cozy and inviting and also helps with air purification. Even the tiniest plant makes an impact!
