How To Upgrade Your Living Room Into a Family-Friendly Space

Living rooms are the center hubs of homes. They’re spaces for your household and guests to gather, create, and relax. Since living rooms are places that greet and hosts visitors, many people style their living spaces with extra flair. However, creating a luxurious space doesn’t always pair well with kids and a full household. With families, living spaces endure a lot of wear and tear, and they require added durability, functionality, and safety features. Here are some tips on upgrading your living room into a family-friendly space.

Create a Mini Play Nook

Children’s attention spans and imaginations require a little extra love and nurturing. Family households often accumulate a range of toys and entertainment sources for the kids. Creating a mini play nook within your living room can provide a designated space to contain the toys and a common area for your kids and their playdates to enjoy. Plus, it will transform your living room into a multi-inclusive room that caters to adults and children alike.

Install Durable Design Features

Family homes endure a lot of consistent wear, from increased foot traffic to toys scraping across every surface. There are many reasons why hardwood makes the best flooring for family rooms, but its durability takes the lead. Installing durable design features will increase the longevity of your living space, minimizing future maintenance costs. Other durable design features to consider upgrading to include wear-proof couch coverings, rugs, and coffee tables.

Secure Tall and Heavy Objects

Kids like to push and climb various obstacles within their reach. Securing tall and heavy objects susceptible to tipping over ensures a safer, family-friendlier space. Make sure to properly secure bookshelves, TVs, and any low shelves to the wall to keep them from falling and hurting any adventurous little ones.

Switch to Family-Sized Furnishings

Switching your furniture for family-sized furnishings creates room for each member and provides plenty of accommodations for your family and guests. Sectional couches offer plenty of seating options, and large, round coffee tables provide extra surface space for drinks and TV dinners. And large TV screens ensure that everyone gets a clear view of the movie.

Transforming your living room into a family-friendly space with a couple of upgrades prepares your home for a transformed life with kids. As your family grows, late-night binge-watching transitions into family game nights, and how you use each room within the home will change drastically. To create fond family memories and a safe, nurturing space within your home, upgrade your living room into the perfect family-friendly hangout.

Creating a Cozy Family Room Where the Whole Family Wants to Their Spend Time

When thinking about family time, what comes to mind? In addition to fun activities, you probably also want a comfortable space to spend time together in the evenings and on weekends. This is why the family room has become such an important part of the home, often divided from the more formal living room. You can set your family room up with the basics, like a television, game system, and a couch, but that might not be enough to make it truly comfortable for the whole family. Here are some elements that play a role in how cozy and comfortable your family room is.

Color Scheme

A key factor in making the family room more cozy is making sure that the color scheme is inviting and pleasant. It’s amazing how influential a fresh new color is on a person’s mood. When you’re choosing the room’s color scheme, there’s no one right color or tone to focus on. 

Each color has its own function. For example, colors like red and yellow are considered happy and invigorating colors while pink and green are mood boosters. Allow the family to choose which colors would be best to apply. Keep in mind that a little color boost goes a long way, so if painting your walls a vibrant color seems daunting, you always opt for splashes of color throughout the room instead.

Seating

Of course, if you want to watch movies, play games, or simply spend time together in the same room, everyone needs somewhere to sit. Try adding a few different seating options throughout the room, and make sure there’s plenty of space for everyone. After all, no one wants to be constantly squished together on the sofa or wants to be the one always relegated to a cushion on the ground.

If you have a big family or if your family likes to spread out, you might consider adding a sectional to your family room. Sectionals are pieces of furniture that are usually made of two or three pieces to form an L- or U-shape. They can seat four to six people comfortably as opposed to a couch, which can usually only fit about three people comfortably. Sectionals can also be used to divide up a large room. It creates an intimate sitting space where you and a few family members can chat or watch a movie together while other activities go on in other parts of the room.

Fireplace

If your house has a fireplace installed most likely, it’s in the family room. This is a great place to gather all winter long or even all year long. If your fireplace looks dusty and old, though, it’s not the welcoming centerpiece it’s meant to be. Take some time to clean it up, get it and the chimney inspected, and make sure it’s in good shape. You can also make some cosmetic changes to help it better fit your family and decor.

Pillows

Pillows are an excellent way to knock out two birds with one stone as they provide color and comfort to any room. Add a few to the couches and armchairs, but consider keeping some larger pillows and cushions tucked away, too. You can pull these out late-night movie marathons and other family activities. When you have friends or extended family visiting, plush cushions can make easy extra seating for younger kids.

Getting some quality family time together doesn’t have to be complicated. Take the time to make your family room as cozy and comfortable for your family as possible. Even on a budget, a few simple changes can make your family room somewhere everyone wants to spend time.

Guest Post - 5 Tips for Achieving a Cozy Family Room

The family room is the heart of every home. This is where the real magic of community happens: it’s where you and your loved ones spend time socializing, relaxing and having fun. So, if you want to make this special space even more comfortable and cozy, consider these 5 family room design ideas. They will certainly come in handy as the winter approaches!

Start with color

If you want to create an inviting, friendly and cozy space for your family, opt for soft and warm colors. Earthy tones are especially great in creating that homey feeling, so consider khaki, honey or clay tones. In order to break the monotony, you also need a few pops of bold color! You can paint an accent wall in brighter shades like yellow, pumpkin orange or brick red or find another way to introduce color. For instance, you can opt for eye-catching decoration or an interesting piece of art. These are great ways to spice up the space, because they are affordable and can be easily replaced when you need a quick change.

Shower it in light

There’s no better way to create a peaceful and relaxing atmosphere in a space that with appropriate lighting. So, ditch your old-fashioned boob lights and harsh beams and illuminate your family room with layered lighting. Combine general, overhead lighting with the task and accent lights for the best coverage. This way, you’ll always have just the right amount of light for all your family activities and your space will be showered with soft and pleasant light. No more dark corners and too-bright islands of light! Even though the artificial light is crucial, natural light is still the healthiest way to get some light into your family room. So, make sure to open up those curtains and regularly let the sunshine in.

Cozy it up!

Do your family members like to gather in the living room, watch a movie while curled up under a blanket? If yes, then you definitely have to boost comfort to make these moments even cozier for everyone! The best way to achieve that homey, casual vibe is with plenty of informal seating. Soft furniture with practical pillows will simply invite everyone to just flop on the couch and chill as a family.

Also, get a few throws for accent and extra warmth in the winter. And, don’t forget your floors! For the ultimate cozy atmosphere, you need to provide your toes with plenty of warmth and softness. If you can find a rug that’s soft and cozy, you’ll not only boost warmth in your family room, but also anchor the entire space and significantly improve the overall aesthetics of your room. Plus, your kids will love to roll around and play on their new, soft rug!

Make it organic

A great way to add both interest and freshness to your family room is to employ nature and natural elements. Indoor plants will not only add a touch of style, color and fragrance to your space, but also ensure your air is free of pollutants and even some odors! This is especially important in the winter, when we spend a lot of time indoors and tend to close our windows. So, don’t miss a chance to green up your family room. Also, outdoor elements add great interest to the space. Consider placing an arrangement of branches in a vase or driftwood on a shelf. These details will instantly boost warmth and style of your room, but also connect your family with the outdoors! If you want to go a bit bigger, you can embrace the eco-friendly trend and try some green renovation design ideas for a healthy and environmentally-conscious home.

Personalize your space

Little details are often what makes home…well, a home! So, don’t hesitate to add a few meaningful family items to your décor to add charm and character. Think family photos, vacation souvenirs, favorite books and art pieces. These pieces not only encourage conversation, but also trigger memories and tell a story about your family. So, ditch some of the store-bought decoration and replace it with personal items that will make your family room warm and inviting!

Hopefully, you’ll feel inspired to improve your family room and treat your loved ones to a space that is uniquely yours. Your movie nights, lazy Sunday mornings and family bonding times will be even more fun and relaxing!

Lana Hawkins is a young architect and a home décor blogger on Smooth Decorator. She enjoys writing about interior decoration and landscaping. Lana is interested in sustainability and green building, and that's where she gets most of her inspiration from.