Big Shoes to Fill
Big family, but small family room? Here's how to get the most out of the most-used room in the house
Image courtesy Angelo Surmelis
If a potted plant is growing over the TV and the armchairs are so close that one is an ottoman, it might be time to rethink the room.
"People are stressed and the last thing they need is to come home and feel that their home is crazy," says ASID designer Carol Friedman, who owns Design Resource in Concord, Mass. "People like minimal, calm, and comfortable spaces; it's nice to have a clean, smart home to come home to."
In a family room, seating is the No. 1 consideration, according to Friedman. And the key to making space while saving seats is to plan ahead with size in mind. "People tend to buy furniture that's just too large," she says. "They don't think about how it will fit in a room, and it arrives and the space is packed." She suggests doing a floor plan before buying anything. Find out the dimensions of the furniture you want, then make paper templates and lay them out in the room. If nothing seems to fit, look for specialty small "studio" furniture, which Friedman says is "less bulky but equally comfortable." Stackable tables can be rearranged according to function and space. And customizing furniture, like building sectional sofa or storage units into a wall, can also save floor space.
Too much furniture becomes clutter, and clutter always shrinks a space, according to Angela Souder, an ASID interior designer who owns AMS Interiors in Huntingdon Valley, Pa. The same rule applies to floor and window coverings. "If you hang heavy, silk-lined swags, bows, panels, sheers and blinds, it's definitely going to give the windows a heavy look," Souder says. Hanging a window treatment close to the ceiling gives the illusion of more volume and space. And she says a solid carpet can also give the illusion of expanded space since the eye follows the carpet's plane continuously, without interruption.
 |
CATEGORIES
CONTACT 
|