To say that I love large windows is an understatement. Had Brent not given me some restrictions, I would probably have a twelve by twenty foot panel of glass in place of a wall in my family room. We had so many conversations during the designing process revolving around windows, I think Brent got rather tired of me. In fact, I must have had him sufficiently worn down enough that during the final site walk with our framer and truss builder, I made a last minute plea to raise the ceiling height in the family room from nine to ten feet. In our practical design, we had opted for nine foot ceilings throughout the home. I knew I couldn’t have a soaring twenty foot ceiling with double stacked windows to heaven, but every inch counts. And this move would give me twelve. Neither the framer nor the truss designer could see a problem with my proposal, and Brent acquiesced. I immediately called the window manufacturer to change the order of the three panes in the family room from six to seven feet. The raised ceiling height also allowed us to add a coffered ceiling that really sets this room apart from the adjacent areas. The result is a perfect flood of natural light mixed with warm and detailed coziness.
Goals for this Room:
- Variety of seating to accommodate up to 8 people
- U-shaped seating arrangement
- All around function: reading, conversation, games, movies, etc.
- Samsung Frame TV to display artwork in addition to movie viewing
- The largest wall of windows I could reasonably fit
Design Concept
Family rooms are probably the most multi-functioning spaces in our homes. This room needed to provide us with a place for visiting with guests, family lounging, reading and conversation, a movie room, and space for the occasional board game or Thomas train track— a favorite with my grandson. Having a tv or media room separate from the main family room would have been favorable, but not possible in my smaller floor plan. This room was designed mostly around the knowledge that it would have to function as both. U-shaped seating is my favorite layout for this as it provides plenty of seating for movie viewing, an open center for other activities, and still feels closely connected for conversation. For variety, I opted for one large squishy couch with lots of pillows and balanced it with a minimal tucked and tidy couch on the side. Two lightweight accent chairs can be moved around according to where they are needed, and a couple of ottomans will round out the whole. Some of our normal activities had to be incorporated into another room. The kids’ gaming consoles for example are set up in the boys’ room that also functions as a second tv room when we all can’t agree on what to watch. And Brent has grand visions of setting up a sports bar and grill on the back deck for football watching parties. Overall, one family room has worked out well for us and feels quite spacious after a year in an apartment with only room for two chairs and a tv.
TV or Art?
Brent and I are both hobby photographers and love to see our work displayed around our home. Planning where to display our photographs, was more challenging than one might think. Given that I put a window everyplace I possibly could, and also the open floor concept not having many walls, we really only had one spot above the fireplace to put either art or a tv. Fortunately, our technological era has a solution. I found this tv called The Frame by Samsung years ago and knew it would be a great addition to our home. It has an art mode built in. You can load personal images onto it and display them with a cool digital matte that is surprisingly realistic. It also has a motion-sensitive feature so the display will turn off when no one is in the room. Art and a tv above the fireplace! Now I can have my proverbial cake and eat it too.
Bookshelves
The bookshelves I struggled with. I LOVE the look. I enjoy having a space to put pretty things on display, but by definition, shouldn’t bookshelves have actual books on them? One of the things hardest for me to part with when we downsized were all my books. I had So. Many. Books. They weren’t beautifully collected into one room like a library, but I had enough I almost could have. The decision had to be made early on to convert my library into a digital one. Even with all the convenience of ebooks and audiobooks, there is something about a physical copy of a book that holds part of my soul. My heart aches a little even still when I think of it. Most of my books were given to friends or donated, but I kept a few of our family favorites. They currently live in the cabinets below with some toys for my grandson. Maybe someday I will have collected more and changed my displays to include books. For now, I am enjoying the space for a few photographs and natural textures.
Fireplace
We skipped the hearth in the interest of floor space, but preserved a simple mantel over the fireplace. The linear style of the firebox allowed us to keep the mantel and the TV a little lower for a more comfortable viewing height. I can’t wait to hang garland and stockings for Christmas.
Things I’m Still Working On:
- Accent chairs – These chairs are actually part of the patio furniture set. They fit well and since it was cold and snowy when we moved it, I made good use of them. Now that’s it’s warmer outside, I need to move these to the deck and replace them.
- Side tables – I’m always looking for a place to set my water or phone.
- Lamps – For evening lighting.
- Dimmer switches – We have several lighting options in this room, on purpose, but the chandelier needs to be knocked down a few lumens.
- Coffee table and ottoman combo – I really love the look of a coffee table, maybe with some art books or other interesting thing on display. However, we really need the function of an ottoman to make the couch more comfortable for movie watching. My plan is to try and come up with a combo of sorts that will accomplish both.
- Larger rug – I’ve committed a design faux pax here. My rug does not reach under the surrounding furniture and it makes the room look smaller and less unified. I’ll eventually layer a larger, more neutral rug under the current one to fix the problem.
There are times I miss not having a dedicated movie room, with a large screen tv and big comfy couches. However, this room is working as it was meant to and accommodates the variety of uses it needs to. We have enjoyed family gatherings, playing on the floor with our grandson, and watching the occasional latest streaming trends. And I enjoy the natural light coming in from all sides daily.
