Room Rx: Hip & Comfy Family Room

For quite some time now I have been working on a project that encompasses several rooms on the first floor of a local client's Colonial style home. I've shared a bit about the sunroom and the dining room.

Today I wanted to give you a peek into the plan for the family room of this same home. 

Like all of us, my client was trying to make her 30+ year old home work best for the needs of her family. A traditional center entry style home, the spaces (LR, DR, FR) as they were originally intended were not doing it for her family. Three boys, busy with school, music and various sports as well as a casual lifestyle meant that the formal spaces were not living up to their potential. After several attempts to rearrange the spaces in order to maximize their use and decor, it was time to get some help. 

The original living room had been turned into a dining room and was rarely being used. The dining room had become the cozy music room and the family room was multi tasking as a study space. The plan was to shift the music room into the family room space and include  built-ins for study, move the family room into the living room adding a gas fireplace and wall of cabinets to house the TV and books and finally to move the dining room back to it's original home. Confused?!!! Let's just focus on the room originally intended to be the living room.....

During our initial consult, the vision for the various spaces was shared with me.  The client's plan was well thought out in terms of the function, but required cohesion and a plan in terms of decor. An already established color palette was a starting point, but beyond that we needed inspiration for the interconnected spaces. With hardwood floors throughout (except for the tile in the sunroom), the obvious place to begin was with floor coverings.

After selecting the Dandelion rug from Company C for the sunroom, which reflects the color story,

we chose the Chloe as the foundation for the family room space shown above.

Of course this meant that we also had to select a functional rug for the foyer (the large rug in the photo below) as well as the dining room (the banded sisal which you have seen here).

The next step was a design concept plan for the family room as well as some drawings for the fireplace wall and cabinetry. The priority for this room was comfort and function, so a sectional sofa and plenty of additional seating was in order.  Because the space was large enough to accommodate it, we added a game table and chairs. Fun and approachable was also important so bright, easy care fabrics and clean lined furnishings were incorporated as well.

 Things are moving along in here, the gas fireplace is installed, the built-ins are nearly complete, the furniture and rug are in and we are working on getting the details such as accessories and occasional furniture in place. It will be a few more weeks before this room is finished, but both my client and I are delighted with how it is coming together. Stay tuned....

Does your room need a “prescription” for a change of decor, function or design?  If so please contact me, I would love to help your room feel better with a Design Concept Board or a complete Room Rx.