How to Decorate a Family Room (The Only Guide You Need)

Are you looking to decorate your family room, but aren't quite sure where to begin?

Decorating a family room can feel like a huge undertaking. After all, this is likely one of the rooms in your house where you spend most of your time. And, when you have people over, this is likely where everyone gathers.

Therefore, you want to figure out a way to create a space that's special to you and your family but also inviting to guests.

How do you do this?

Check out this guide to discover how to decorate a family room.

Select the Right Sofa

Pretty much every designer will tell you that a great family room starts with a great sofa.

More often than not, the sofa serves as the foundation and focal point of the family room. Even if you have great design ideas, your living room won't work if you don't have the right sofa.

While comfort is obviously key when selecting a family room sofa, here are some other things to keep in mind:

Try before you buy: You should test out a sofa before buying it in the same way that you'd test out a mattress
Invest in a good frame
Focus on the fabric: You want to make sure you choose one that suits your lifestyle

You also want to make sure you measure your space so that there's plenty of room for any additional items you want to surround your sofa with. You can check out this furniture warehouse to find the right sofa for your needs.

Use Color to Select the Mood

The mood you create in your family room will be heavily influenced by the colors you choose to decorate with.

Depending on the intensity and the hue, colors can either relax or energize a space. For example, if you choose to decorate your family room with soft blues and whites, then you'll create an environment that's calm, cool, and collected.

To help you decide on what colors you need to use to create a certain mood, we suggest taking a look at the principles of color psychology.

Have a Plan Before You Start Buying

Before you go crazy buying throw pillows, candles, artwork, and other items, it's very important that you have a plan in place for how you want your space to look.

Creating a beautiful family room doesn't necessarily mean throwing together a bunch of your favorite decor pieces in one room. Oftentimes, this will just leave the space looking cluttered and disorganized.

While you don't need to have everything planned out down to the last coffee table book, you should have a general idea of what colors you want to work with, what large furniture pieces you'll be using, and where everything will go.

Interior designers can be pricey, if it's not in your budget we suggest checking out sites like Pinterest to draw inspiration from. If possible, we suggest holding off on buying any decor items until you have all of your furniture in place.

This way, you'll have a better idea of what works and what doesn't.

Prioritize Lighting

When many people think about decorating their family room, lighting isn't always a top consideration.

However, in order to create a welcoming family room, you definitely want to prioritize natural lighting. Take care to arrange your furniture so it's not blocking natural light sources, and invest in window treatments that allow the most natural light into the room.

We also suggest that you invest in some timeless lamps to help punctuate the space.

Choose Area Rugs Carefully

One of the most common mistakes people make when decorating their family room is choosing the wrong area rug.

Like a sofa, an area rug can often serve as an anchor and focal point of your room. Therefore, it's very important to choose wisely.

One of the biggest mistakes people make is choosing an area rug that's too small. If your rug is too small, it can make your room look disjointed.

While a huge rug can be expensive and feel like a big commitment, it's often one of the most important elements of a room. While every room will look a little different, generally speaking, you want to choose a rug that's large enough to fit all of your furniture on.

There should also be about 12 to 24 inches of bare floor between the edge of the rug and the end of the room.

Layer With Different Textures

To make your space look more inviting, we suggest layering your family room with different textures, such as wool, silk, metal, and glass.

One easy way to add more texture to your family room is via accessories and blankets. Here are some simple items you can add to your family room to create more texture:

Wood coasters
Velvet throw pillows
Brass lamps
Metal vases
Chunky wool throw blankets
Brass candle holders

As you can see, there are a lot of simple ways you can add texture to a room.

Don't Forget About Art

Even if you're not an artsy person, art is still an important element of every family room. Also, your art doesn't need to be expensive to create an enticing look. Here are some of the top tips to keep in mind when selecting art for your family room:

Mix old and new
Bigger is usually better
There's more allowance for bold color schemes for art, so don't be afraid to go all out
Purchase art based on undertones rather than style or artist
Introduce new colors in twos or threes

With these tips, you'll be able to create a great art display in your family room.