You may have lived in a small house all your life, quite happily might I add, in a 2 or 3 bedroom home with one lounge room and one dining area. Fast forward to buying your first home and you now have 2 or 3 living rooms and two dining areas, plus 4 bedrooms and a study. Why? You may have worked your A** off and well, deserve it! Or you have 2.5 kids now, or your real estate agent told you it would have a better resale value in the future, or you seriously need this space for your vintage toy collection. Either way, how do you lay out and fill 3 living rooms and two dining rooms without 2 becoming junk rooms and what are they designed for anyway?
The Family Room
Normally, there is a living room right next to the kitchen and this is commonly dubbed the ‘family room’. The family room is great for watching the news from the kitchen whilst making breakfast or settling the children with cartoons whilst you sort out their allergy free packed school lunches. It’s also a space where you might have snacks on the sofa so opt for a flatweave rug. So, whether you have children or not, it is commonly furnished with :
1. Comfy sofas and/or armchairs
2. A coffee table for magazines and newspapers
3. A sideboard, tall cabinet or cabinet for storing games, magazines, travelling finds, blankets, photo albums etc.
4. A small TV and/or entertainment system
5. A toy box (if you have children)
6. Side tables and lamps for night time ambiance
7. A rug, easily cleanable
8. Artwork, family photos
The layout should be inviting and open so if you were to walk past it, there would be a nice open gap between the furniture for you to meander through. The TV is often placed in front of the largest sofa, with another smaller sofa at a 90 degree angle. Either one or two armchairs can also be included if you have a space large enough without closing that inviting gap. In this picture below, there is one armchair off to the side, but let’s face it, no one is going to sit in that one. Be careful of putting chairs in places just to fill up space. You don’t want to yell across the room to the person who also cannot see the TV. It is often a place to wait for dinner to be served or for families to enjoy some time together whilst dinner is being prepared.
The informal lounge
The second living room often becomes an informal lounge, rumpus or TV room.
It is often located near the kitchen and may be adjacent to the family room in some new house designs. This room may be allocated completely to children as a play room or as a separate TV and entertaining play space. Otherwise, it’s a copy of the family room with more stuff if you made your family room quite plain. It is often the place for larger and more luxurious sofa’s with a larger bookcase (if you had a sideboard in the family room) and entertainment gear. This is where night time movies are watched, night time news, book reading and relaxation happens. Maybe a little yoga or Ripped in 30 DVD’s if you have no where else to do this.
The informal lounge as your second living area, is often furnished with the same as the family room. Think deeper sofa’s, more cushions, a plush rug, built -in cabinetry, movie collection, bean bags or floor cushions, movable coffee table and a larger TV. Make sure there are enough charging stations for laptops, ipads etc. The TV or entertainment cabinet is the focus.
The formal lounge
As the third living room in the house and if you have exhausted all other avenues, this room is the creme de la creme room for entertaining guests and normally does not have a TV. This room is often set up with your library collection and a formal furniture layout for adult conversations about the world or let’s be honest, the neighbour next door.
The furniture, albeit more upright sofa’s and armchairs, surround a decorated central coffee table. This room may also contain a bar cart or have a bar cabinet. Think symmetrical styling, two of everything for a balanced, formal look. Your most delicate worldly possessions are displayed here and may include trophies and certificates.
If you see no need for a formal lounge room, this room can be great as a gym, study or a rumpus room, especially if it opens up to the backyard.
The best trick when thinking about how to furnish a room is make the purpose of the room define the furniture placement and type. Follow this principle and you cannot possibly go wrong.
