Our family room is the bane of my existence. If I had only thought to picture furniture in this room when we were buying the house. My husband and I are not a great pair when it comes to that. We get excited about things and just go for it. He is spontaneous and I am impulsive. That has made for some great experiences in our relationship (6 month engagement!) and also some of our most puzzling.
When he found our house he immediately fell in love. I remember him driving me over to peer in the windows, excitedly listing off all the “pros” of this house: location, big yard, character! I also remember thinking, “We aren’t even looking to move??” It was true, we had only been living in our first “grown-up” house for a year. We loved the house and hadn’t even discussed moving. But his excitement rubbed off on me and a couple weeks later we were all moved in.
I went to decorating and quickly realized that when we saw the house it was staged with really small furniture. As we breezed through picturing family Christmases and first birthday parties we failed to notice that the clever realtor had a staging company use all small scale furniture. Where they had placed a loveseat we were now trying to cram a large sofa. Same story when it came to a tv; where exactly was that supposed to go??
Our family room is a long, narrow room. There is only one solid wall, the rest have either windows, the front door, the staircase, or a door to the hallway. The front door opens directly into this room also so it can be awkward to not have a foyer. I wish back then I had thought to take pictures so you could see the progression of the floor plan. My friends laugh because almost every time they visit the furniture is re-arranged. Its true, I have moved the couch into every conceivable position along with all the other furniture. We have debated built-ins and even doing away with some furniture! We did finally move the tv from over the mantle to mounted on a wall because our necks were suffering from terrible cramps. That has helped but the room is still not right.
My latest theory is that we need to completely do away with one of the doors. This door leads to the hall but there is another door from our kitchen. If we wall in that door it will give us another solid wall in front of which we can place a chair so the seating area looks more balanced and all faces the tv. But I don’t know?! Then the room might seem too closed off and box-y?? Plus my boys could no longer run their nightly laps around the hallway! I would consider just selling all of my furniture and starting all over but short of purchasing miniature furniture I am not sure it would change much. The layout is just awkward!
So a note to all future home buyers, make sure to picture each room with furniture. Consider the furniture you own or plan to buy…will it fit? Will it make sense? Bring a tape measure and take plenty of pictures. Remember the layout of your home needs to match your belongings as well as your lifestyle! Apparently our lifestyle must be awkward, haphazard, and ever-changing. Yep, sounds about right.