Our family room basically has two real walls.
The front wall has a big opening to the kitchen, and the back wall has our new patio doors across almost the whole thing – which is awesome because of all the natural light it lets in, but it doesn’t allow for furniture to be placed in front of it.
So we had to figure out how to set up our furniture in a room that would see a lot of traffic between the kitchen and the backyard. The middle part of our family room is pretty much a hallway between those two spaces.
1. Start with the biggest furniture piece
We started with the couch – the biggest piece of furniture in the room. We placed it so we could easily watch TV and look out into the backyard.
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2. Avoid a glare on the TV
We set up the TV in the corner that would get the least amount of glare from the sun and put the couch across from it – because every good family room has a place where you can lay around and watch TV without worrying about any glare from the sun!
Hey, priorities.
We’re using an old TV stand for now. We’re planning to either upgrade to a nicer one or mount the TV – but haven’t decided which yet.
3. Furniture doesn’t have to be up against a wall
We set up the two red chairs in an L-shape along the opposite wall. But I didn’t place the back one right up against the back wall.
Instead, I pulled the back one up a bit to allow room behind it to access the back patio door without the chair being in the way – and to keep the chairs closer to the couch for good conversation.
4. Blanket storage
Another perk to not pushing the red chairs into the corner? I have a basket full of blankets behind the back red chair. They’re hidden but still easily accessible, which is perfect, because I’m always freezing!
To be honest, now that we have Oakley, this blanket is pretty much permanently on the floor in front of the couch so she can lay on it – it’s never really put away in the basket anymore.
If you guys follow me on Instagram, you probably saw this picture last week. She’s terrified of lawn mowers, which is why she looks so scared in this picture!
5. Tables
We also made sure we had tables accessible from all seating areas – you need a place to easily put down your glass of wine or beer!
GET THE LOOK:
Since a popular question I get is “Where’d you get that?!,” here are links to the same or similar sources:
- Wall color: Camelback by Sherwin Williams
- Ladder was in our garage when we bought our house. (How lucky is that?!), similar here or here
- Curtains
- See how we made the valances here
- See how we made the matching pillows here
- Curtain rods
- Red chairs
- Lantern
- Rug
- Metal wall decor
- Silver lamps
- End tables
- Coffee table from HomeGoods
- Red pillows
- Brown pillows
- Tan blanket
Do you have an odd shaped family room? How do you set up the furniture?
For more room decorating ideas, check out these posts:
- How to fake a foyer when you don’t have one
- 10 tips to transform your guest room into a relaxing retreat
- How to decorate in a new color scheme without going broke
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Erica says
Great tips! I suck at decorating, but i’m slowly getting the hang of it, thanks to Pinterest and posts like this!
http://www.girlunspotted.com
GreenWithDecor says
Thanks, Erica!
Fresh,Pure,Sweet says
Great advice, I definitely have high traffic rooms!
Emily, http://www.freshpuresweet.com
GreenWithDecor says
Thank you!
Haley says
Your family room does have a great flow to it! We recently rotated our dining room table and love it because now it opens the whole room up.
Have a great week,
Haley
http://haleysvintage.com
GreenWithDecor says
Thanks, Haley! What a great idea!
Rae says
Looks so cozy. 🙂 My mother-in-law is an interior designer and she said most people make the mistake of purchasing furniture that doesn’t mimic the shape of the room they’re decorating (if the room is square, don’t fill it with long rectangular pieces.)
GreenWithDecor says
Thanks, Rae! Great advice!
Sara says
Oh yes I have an odd living room and I struggle with it!!! Yours looks great and love this tips! A big one of mine is that furniture doesn’t have to be against the wall! Makes the room so much cozier.
GreenWithDecor says
It can definitely make a room feel cozier! Thanks, Sara!