It seems like every home has one space that is hard to figure out. Furniture arrangement, accessories, window treatments, lighting – everything seems off kilter and not right. This is the family room space that adjoins the kitchen in our new house.
To understand the relation of the space to the rest of the house – you can see the kitchen through the archway from the living room.
As you enter you get a glimpse of the family room area on the right and of course the sliding doors that lead to the patio and backyard.
It is not a large area at all. It measures 11’9″ x 14′ 6″. So basically in round numbers 12′ x 15′. This is where we like to relax and enjoy our morning coffee, watch tv and in general just hang out. Since it is next to the kitchen, of course it seems like the place where everyone always hangs out.
The wall you see here backs up to the stairs and is the first wall on the right as you enter the space. Now we have a thousand and one projects that we would like to do, so new furniture has not been in the mix. I have really, really wanted a pool and that costs both arms and both legs (exaggeration – sort of), so furniture is not in the budget at all. Everyone has their main wants, and with our hot temps here in the desert, a pool is my #1 want.
I have had our small sofa and my recliner placed on this wall for a while.
Hubby’s recliner and a leather chair have been across from it with the tv on the end wall. I first put the sofa where the tv is but then there wasn’t room for both our chairs on the window wall, so that didn’t work.
Having these two chairs backed up to the open walkway to the patio and backed up to the kitchen just isn’t working. This space just seems to be perfect for a sectional or sofa loveseat arrangement with the tv where I currently have our sofa. The room would be open and we would have plenty of seating for guests. Since that would eliminate our recliners that is not hubby’s favorite idea at all.
So I have moved the furniture again and this time I like it a little better. Our two recliners are not backed up to the kitchen so much, so that is a better fit. I tried the leather recliner next to the sofa so there wouldn’t be all white on one side of the room and all leather on the other side of the room and that didn’t work at all. The leather chair is so big it stuck way out in the walkway. So back to the window wall it went.
It isn’t ideal to have the leather recliner sitting so far into the room, but it has to so it will recline and that is hubby’s favorite chair, so it isn’t leaving any time soon. (gotta keep peace in the family even over style)
I moved the black console table I had on the landing upstairs down here and the size works great to fit between the two leather chairs. Not sure that is the piece I want here, but it works for now.
I moved the sofa a little closer to the window and changed out the end table by my recliner. This allowed my chair to fit a little closer to the wall and angle a little differently so now I can still turn my head and see the kitchen.
This arrangement is still not ideal, but workable for now. I think I need a drape on the big window and the sliding door next to it that leads out to the patio, something simple and hung as high as possible so the room looks taller. This room has an 81/2 foot ceiling, so the feeling of height will also give the illusion of space. I don’t think I will put any drapes on the two smaller windows. Some kind of gallery would be nice around the tv, just not sure what. Oh and the ceiling fan. People it will be 110 – 120 soon, so a fan is way more important than a pretty light.
Now I am all ears, working with what I have, what would you do to this space. I have had the furniture on every wall in the space, this is the only way it works, so how do I make this look better?
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