These Stylish and Functional Family Rooms Make Being Lazy Look Good
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The notion of a family room automatically conjures up feelings of kick-up-your-feet comfort. While your other sofa-centric gathering space may be referred to as the living room, it’s really the family room where most of the living truly takes place—think cozy movie nights, highly competitive rounds of board games, 1,000-piece puzzle endeavors, dance parties, and more.
Although the room’s function is fairly straightforward (see more on that below), its aesthetic potential is quite broad. For example, the family room of a modern farmhouse may incorporate clean-lined leather sofas and an industrial cart-turned-coffee table, while a family room in a cottage may be more likely to include canvas slipcovers and a chippy wood coffee table. The family room is also a great space to incorporate your one-of-a-kind vintage finds, because they’ve already seen decades of wear and tear and can probably handle your most heated game of Scrabble.
In addition to incorporating vintage items, you’ll also want to prioritize durable materials and quality furniture. “A lot of time my clients will say, ‘Well, this is where we will hang out, so I don’t want to spend a lot,’ ’’ say Georgia-based designer Alexa Stevenson. “But if it is a room you are going to use all the time, this is exactly when you should invest.” Alexa loves the worry-free nature of indoor-outdoor performance fabrics, citing Crypton and InsideOut as frequently used favorites. (Sunbrella is another favorite source of designers.) Fabrics featuring prints are another good choice. “A good pattern can hide all kinds of sins,” says Alexa.
What is considered a family room?
A family room is a casual space, often a secondary living space, for congregating in a home. “Family rooms tend to be cozier [in decorating style] and make no apologies for a big television,” says Alexa. It is typically a large, open room—likely positioned right off the kitchen—and may be used for a variety of purposes, such as, yes, watching television, playing games (both analog and video), or entertaining children. The space may also be outfitted with a game and puzzle closet.
What is the difference between a living room and a family room?
Generally speaking, a family room is a more casual hang-out space with a larger television, while the living room is a more formal sitting area that may not have a TV, and may even have a piano. Living rooms are more outward-facing and tend to be positioned closer to the front entry, making it a more formal reception area for guests. The family room, on the otherhand, usually located further back in the house. It may be part of a great room or located off of the kitchen, or it may even be located on another level like the basement.
So what’s a den, then?
So glad you asked! Dens are typically smaller spaces and more private than the family room. When it comes to the home’s footprint, dens also tend to be positioned in more secluded spaces. In recent years, many so-called “dens” have morphed into man caves, home offices, or even libraries.
See below for 33 ways designers and homeowners have dreamt up cozy and comfortable spaces to upgrade family downtime. (Now can someone pass the remote?)
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Embrace Durable Leather
In the family room of Christina Bridger’s Michigan home, a leather couch beautifully stands up to the wear and tear of everyday life. The Gold Medal suede chairs—$55 for the pair—were a lucky discovery in a salvage shop. Vintage books, blankets, and board games round out the room.
Get the Look:
Sofa: Essex by Poly & Bark
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Get Cozy with Color
This family room’s painted fireplace was a happy accident. “Originally, we wanted to restore the brick, but it started bleeding red because of some weird finish applied in years past,” says designer Erica Harrison. “We had no choice but to paint it, which ended up helping tie the whole room together.” Higher-end fabrics from heritage brands help balance the home’s rusticity. Topped with a vintage game, the antique oak trunk provides the perfect patina-rich spot to unapologetically kick up one’s feet.
Get the Look:
Fireplace Paint Color: Philipsburg Blue by Benjamin Moore
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Play with Pattern
Tastemaker and textile designer Bailey McCarthy designed this Texas space to be roomy enough to host a crowd but cozy enough for family game nights around the fire. “I wanted a few big pieces of indestructible furniture that people could pile on, plus some modern elements so it didn’t feel too ‘themey,’” she says. Case in point: Bailey paired the room’s patterned pieces—a buffalo check-covered sofa and wildflower chintz armchair—with a streamlined steel-framed coffee table and graphic longhorn watercolor painting (by Houston artist Mary H. Case) to keep the mix from going too traditional.
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Hang a Vintage Sign
In the family room of a nearly century-old Wisconsin property Pine Cove Cabin, a massive sign, which had previously sat at the end of the driveway, helps corral clutter thanks to the addition of vintage-style hooks. It’s now “the world’s largest coat rack,” says homeowner Megan Marsh.
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Roll Out a Coffee Table
In this laid-back wine country retreat, a factory cart-turned-coffee table can handle plenty of kicked-up cowboy boots. V-groove walls, exposed beams, industrial lighting, and a plush blue sofa collectively reiterate a casual come-as-you-are feel.
Stick to Sisal
For a high-traffic area, you can’t go wrong with a durable sisal rug, as seen in this earth-toned Alabama river house designed by Jennifer Zurik of MZ. Architecture. An assortment of plaids, block prints, ticking stripes, and botanicals adds a mix-match of muddy color and nostalgic patterns against the keeping room’s creamy shiplap walls and other natural textures.
Get the Look:
Wall Paint Color: Off-White by Farrow & Ball
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Create a Secret Nook
Positioned just off the family room and accessed only by a rolling library ladder, this Wisconsin home’s lofted hideaway, known as ‘The Cave,’ is what childhood dreams are made of. A brass ship porthole even offers a bird’s-eye view of the downstairs setting, including a pair of Cesca-style chairs reupholstered with a 1950s Hudson Bay blanket.
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Bring the Outdoor Furniture Indoors
Wet swimsuits? Bring ’em on! For the family room in her coastal Maine cottage, homeowner Mary Barrett scoured secondhand shops for weather-resistant wovens—rattan, wicker, and bamboo—that can take a beating indoors or out. “We live a lot of life in this house,” she says. “No one wants to spend time worrying about the upholstery.” Similarly, indoor/outdoor rugs (seen throughout the home) stand up to flip-flop traffic—and errant ice cream scoops. “Our rugs have passed the family reunion test,” Mary says. “Once they’ve withstood 16 sets of feet, knocked-over wineglasses, and a whole spilled platter of pesto-covered appetizers, you know they can hold up to pretty much anything.”
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Layer on the Neutrals
Yes, you can opt for neutrals in a family room. The trick to keeping it family- and pet-friendly is seeking out nubby linens, performance fabrics, or other durable materials such as canvas or drop cloth. Limewashed walls add warmth and texture to this Texas family room while allowing the rustic architectural accents—namely wooden beams salvaged from deconstructed barns—remain the visual focus. A simple sisal rug lays the foundation for a patterned antique Turkish rug, while a large coffee table hosts a revolving arrangement of antique finds.
Get the Look:
Wall Paint Color: Coconut Milk by Sydney Harbour
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Hang an Indoor Swing
Nothing reinforces a relaxed, we’re-in-the-country feel like a porch swing, and this hanging indoor sofa, seen in the party barn of musician Thomas Rhett and author Lauren Akins, does the trick. The refined silhouette of the swingable sofa adds an extra element of surprise.
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Coat the Room With Color
In this Alabama river house, the color-drenched living space—the walls, mantel, and trim are all painted the same blue-green hue—is as immersive as the home’s waterfront surroundings. A pair of sofas, including a custom curved one covered in greenish-gold performance velvet, is layered with textiles in spice-toned block prints and stripes. A live-edge coffee table adds another organic touch.
Get the Look:
Wall Paint Color: Pigeon by Farrow & Ball
Add Wood for Warmth
Designer Paige Thornton chose a white oak for the floors throughout her Alabama house—a fresh twist on typical dark hardwoods. The coffee table adds warmth without detracting from the striking fireplace facade, which is made from old barnwood. Slipcovered sofas and cowhide and sisal rugs add softness and texture, and verdant pops of green reinforce the natural approach.
Turn a Trunk Into a Coffee Table
After painting over a black fireplace mantel with a fresh coat of white paint, tastemaker Holly Williams brought in a striped sofa, banners salvaged from a church, and a statement-making vintage trunk that cleverly doubles as storage.
Get the Look:
Wall and Mantel Paint Color: Delicate White by Glidden
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Display Something Sentimental
In this shingled coastal California cottage, the vintage print over the mantel, which features both American and British flags, is a nod to homeowner Samantha Walker’s ship-filled family history. Her granddad was in the Royal Navy; she also left England on a ship to emigrate to the United States. A weathered antique butcher-block coffee table establishes the home’s kick-up-your-feet feeling. Washable slipcovers on the deep sofa and swivel chairs minimize wear-and-tear worries. Underfoot, even the thick sisal rug holds up to a parade of bare feet and flip-flops.
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Turn Old Games Into Wall Art
In Katie Barnes’ Missouri lake house, Lakeshore Lodge, vintage game boards, such as pinball, Gravitation, and Chinese Checkers, do double duty as quirky and colorful wall art. The old wood toolbox-turned-coffee table holds even more games for their kids and visiting friends.
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Unify the Space with a Big Rug
“In this family room for a blended family of six, I used a wool blend neutral rug that covers most of the floor—big rugs help unify a room that has more than one zone,” says designer Alexa Stevenson. “We also needed a lot of seating in this not-huge space—and all with a view of the television,” she says. The sofa and the swivel chairs are covered in Crypton fabrics from Kravet and Thibaut, while the spool chairs are a cut velvet pattern that can take a beating.
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Design for the Dogs
If it can withstand wily pups, then it can also handle drippy bathing suits and sandy feet. That was the practical philosophy of tastemaker Phoebe Cole-Smith when she chose textiles—durable Sunbrella and hemp linen fabrics—for her Martha’s Vineyard cottage, where her dogs Glen, a rescue, and Dixie, a Jack Russell terrier, are inevitably the life of the party. The floor features an inexpensive rush rug: basically a seagrass floor covering pieced together via one-foot interwoven squares, which makes swapping out a worse-for-wear section a breeze.
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Make it Personal
“This is the most tranquil room in the house,” says antiques lover Renita Browning, noting the absence of both a television and other technology. However, the family room of her 1904 McKinney, Texas, Craftsman is chock-full of antiques—each of which comes with a story—including a chippy factory-cart coffee table, oversize flour sign, and apothecary cabinet that houses yellowware. Oh, and about those cows: “I was so thrilled to see these at an auction preview, because usually you see concrete deer but not cows. I love all things cow! They weigh a ton and are definitely not going anywhere.”
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Bring the Outside In
In this Alabama home, a neutral palette keeps the focus on the view, while leafy motifs on the throw pillows add some pattern. Also in keeping with the outside-in approach: a duo of duck decoys and a pair of aviary hangings from a French schoolhouse.
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Mix Periods of Furniture
To help this previously gray space feel more warm and welcoming, homeowner Dana Simpson added a fresh coat of paint and smartly hid track lighting on top of the beams. A Stephen Kenn sofa made of repurposed WWII military fabric, vintage steel-welded frames, and leather straps pairs well with the new: a brickmaker table from Hammertown, deep-seated roll-arm chairs, and a landscape by artist Karen LeSage. Dana also replaced the brick fireplace surround with Pietra Cardosa, a blue-gray sandstone.
Get the Look:
Wall & Ceiling Paint Color: Moonlight White by Benjamin Moore
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Incorporate Open Shelving
In their Oklahoma home, Josh and Katie McCullock maximized storage space by installing bookshelves backed with wood, which lends warmth to the open room. Ikea chairs and a leather sofa from make for economical, family-friendly furniture. The energy- efficient wood-burning stove provides heat without any smoke emissions. The stairwell railing is made from wire cattle panels from the farm store.
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Get Seriously Rustic
“We channeled 1980s Ralph Lauren but made it feel current,” says designer Julie Dodson Webster of this ranch house just outside of Fayetteville, Texas, which features liberal doses of red, white, and blue. There’s also ample Western flair courtesy of furniture, art, and accessories from the homeowners’ travels to Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. The log-wrapped room’s pair of gliders were inspired by the classic designs of American furniture designer Thomas Molesworth, known for his Western-style pieces.
Embrace a Pair of Sofas
In this Alabama family room, a pair of black-and-white buffalo check Chesterfields encourages old-school congregating in the form of puzzles and board games and makes better use of the room’s long layout. A star-print lampshade adds a bit of whimsy, as does the large-scale “Allium” art by Susan Hable. Topping the coffee table, the four-sectioned vintage Lollipop-brand crate houses assorted kid musts like crayons, Lego pieces, and dominoes.
Display a Collection
Amateur lakeshore paintings make for a cohesive (and affordable!) collection in the family room of Abigail Alber’s Michigan lake cabin. The floor is laminate to stand up to sandy, wet feet from the beach. Abby pulled in a black plaid rug to ground her other colorful flea market finds, including a pair of floral upholstered chairs.
Get the Look:
Checked Rug: Tattersall by Annie Selke
Bring on the Beams
Salvaged from an old warehouse, scuffed beams bring a lot of warmth and texture to Mandy Reeves’ Tennessee home designed by Julie Couch. Forgiving brown velvet armchairs and doors painted a dark brown-gray hue also help ground the airy space.
Get the Look:
Wall Paint Color: White Dove by Benjamin Moore
Door Paint Color: Gauntlet Gray by Sherwin-Williams
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Hide the Television
To disguise the television in this refined Texas lake home, designer Shannon Bowers cleverly sourced two framed sets of vintage herbaria and asked a cabinetmaker to encase them and hinge the outer edges. Pull open at the middle, and you’re ready for game day or a movie marathon!
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Install a Gallery Wall
With square footage in her New York cottage at a premium, designer Jennifer Vaughn Miller utilizes wall space throughout the home to showcase found favorites, including seascapes, still lifes, and oil portraits. A neutral Belgian linen sofa allows the art above it to shine.
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Incorporate Antiques
Here’s the thing about old stuff: It’s seen it all, which is why it can handle whatever life throws at it. Water rings? Meh. Sticky fingers? Whatever. In this sweeping 25-foot-high New Jersey living space, antique furniture—large-scale leather armchairs, a coffee table on casters—serves up a nice lived-in feel. While the cast-iron pellet stove is actually new, it also warms the space with an authentic look.
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Add a Log Nook
Nothing quite says “let's cozy up around the fire” like a well stocked nook of firewood, as seen in this space designed by Lauren Liess. The whole area also got a good lightening up. “The family room used to have a really dark brick fireplace, so we stuccoed it to make it lighter and more modern but also, in a way, more primitive,” says Lauren, who got the idea from George Washington’s Mount Vernon home, which features a lot of stucco and plaster.
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Swap a Table for an Ottoman
In this cozy coastal space by designer Heather Chadduck Hillegas, a sofa upholstered in a floral fabric pairs well with the large square-shaped ottoman that can easily accommodate puzzles, board games, or, even guests seeking a soft spot to sit. The breezy Lowcountry home also features a host of lightweight accent chairs that can be easily moved around as socializing requires.
Get the Look:
Sofa Fabric: “Coromandel” by Thibaut
Utilize Slipcovers
In author Liz Marie Galvan’s Michigan farmhouse, white furniture is more doable thanks to slipcovers that can be stripped and placed in the washer and dryer. (Strategically placed throws also help minimize wear and tear.) An antique spinning wheel and large pine hutch help break up the white.
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Increase Storage with Lockers
The family room of this Tennessee rancher with vaulted 13-foot ceilings stays comfortably grounded with a thoughtful mix of gray, brown, and oatmeal hues. Properly scaled furniture, including five-foot-tall tufted banquettes, a television-concealing locker-like cabinet, and high-back linen wingback chairs keep the room from feeling cavernous.
Wrap the Room with Paneling
To infuse his Oregon family room with more architectural interest, designer Max Humphrey utilized knotty pine planks from Home Depot. “I didn’t want a stitch of drywall anywhere,” he says. The 8-foot planks were so thin, he didn’t even have to remove door casings. A large modern-lined linen sectional offers a roomy spot for respite.
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