Practical Design of a Family Room

Family Room Interior Design

Family room interior design ties together family entertainment, comfort, and style. Often called a "great room," the ideal family room is a place for all members of the family to relax, watch a movie, read a book, and just enjoy some time together. Such rooms are generally less formal than traditional living rooms. Consider these tips when designing your family room:

Common Family Room Interior Design Elements

A successfully decorated family room needs to incorporate ample seating, entertainment options, and unobtrusive storage.

* Seating - A family room needs seating for the family to enjoy the room's entertainment options and in which to relax. Ideally, the furniture in a family room should be soft and comfortable with separate areas for TV viewing, game playing, and office work (if applicable).
* Entertainment - The family room is the place for that big-screen TV, the Nintendo game console, and the mega-watt stereo system. Guard against designing the entire room around one item, like a flat-screen TV, however. A perfect family room is about enjoying family and friends, not a showcase for a new electronic "toy."
* Storage - In addition to comfortable seating and entertainment options, a family room needs a tasteful and organized place to store books, CDs, DVDs, games, and other entertainment accessories. Built-in bookcases are one option as are entertainment centers with drawer and racks for storage.

Designed for Comfort

A well-designed family room has a comfortable and welcoming feel to it. To achieve this, consider the following design aspects:

* Color - A family room is not the place to try out that bold, "in-your-face" color palette. An ideal family room design is soothing and peaceful, using cool and neutral colors, reserving bright colors for accents.
* Lighting - Lighting in a family room needs to be bright for games and reading as well as low and offset for TV viewing and relaxing. Lights with dimmers are one way to do this, or you can have different types of lighting for each activity.
* Traffic Pattern - A well-designed family room should have a comfortable flow from one area to another. When you enter the room, it should be easy to get to the different seating areas without walking around furniture or squeezing through a tight area. Seating areas may be defined by rugs, by furniture groupings, and/or by color.
* Controls - Another important thing to consider is how to conveniently control the lights, the television, and other entertainment options. Consider placing the light controls and the master console near the main seating area so that you won't have to get up and down constantly when you are enjoying the room.

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