Our family room is long and rectangular. 14x24, with a brick fireplace at one end (the 24’ end). Our TV is at a diagonal next to the fireplace. The other side of the fireplace has floor-ceiling bookshelves. At the other end of the room, we have two sofas (with recliners), set up for optimal tv watching. Side tables, but no real center table (we got rid of this when the kids were young and haven’t needed it since).
Currently, carpeted but I’d like to replace this. Hardwood in the rest of the house - so go with hardwood? Or LVP?
If we go with hardwood or LVP, we’d need a rug on the floor to anchor the couches/side tables. Could I just do one rug and leave the whole fireplace/tv/bookshelves area as-is with no rug? Or should I get two complementary rugs - one for each end?
Our previous home had a similar sized room but longer - more like 12 or 14 x nearly 30. It was divided into two “living” sections. One section was sort of like a sitting area with two complimentary chairs, small library table in the middle of them, ottomans. That took up about 1/4-1/3 of the entire room space.
The other end was the most used space with a couch, love seat, tv, window seat, coffee table, end table. The loveseat back faced the sitting area above. We had our 9x12 rug in this living space. The sitting area had no rug.
If you’re using the one room as a one functional space, I’d take some painters tape and put it down where your one rug would be and see if it looks weird. Or put down where 2 rugs would be. Give yourself a visual. I think it might look a little odd if it’s one living space with two rugs sort of side by side.
Thanks @abasket. It is one functional space. Sitting area mainly at one end - tv/fireplace/bookshelves on the other side. I was looking at photos on houzz for inspiration and I think we could make this work with just one rug - mainly for the sitting area. Leave the other side as-is. Just suggested to H that we could experiment and move the couches to the configuration I was thinking of and amazingly enough, he agreed without rolling his eyes
Maybe stick with wall to wall carpeting? It can be nice to have a break from the hard surfaces. In our family room (enclosed by hardwood from kitchen and hallways), we replaced the original berber carpet with a softer carpet, neutral color. We did put a nice area rug in front of the couches,.
That definitely is a possibility. The carpet there now is a Berber carpet and in hindsight, a bad choice - both color and material wise.
I do think that if we went with hardwood and a fairly big rug (to cover most of the sitting area), we’d be ok.
I was having trouble visualizing the rug in our current setup. But I was down there looking at it again, after having looked at a few pictures online and had an “Ah ha” moment. I think if I move some of sitting area around a bit , I can make the single rug work.
Our TV is also on a diagonal in the corner. We positioned our couch diagonally facing that TV, and our rug is in the area between the fireplace, TV and couch. Rocking chair on one end, and morris chair on the other. We think it’s comfy.
We have a sofa table behind the sofa for family pictures. On that end of the room on one side is a bookshelf with some of my treasures in it. And on the other side, a cabinet where all my cookbooks etc are inside.
What do you have for paint color in your house? One single color? Or different colors for different rooms? What about hallways?
After I get the family room changed, I’d like to get the whole house painted. So thinking about colors. Currently, our dining room, family room and living room are all painted in different colors. The 1/2 bath on the same floor is yet another color - I chose the colors as we redid each room individually and I don’t think they all mesh well together
We inherited our house freshly painted. Foyer, living room, powder room and downstairs hall are all one color (a warm greige), and the dining room and kitchen are a shade of blue. Second floor hall, and the entire third floor are beige. Primary bedroom and bathroom are the same blue as the kitchen/dining room and the other bedrooms are 1st floor greige. The basement is a navy blue. All the trim in the entire house is white. IMO, it works well and flows.
I think it’s easy to see each room as a “blank canvas” - and then end up with a rainbow house!
I also think it makes a difference depending on the layout of your house - open concept, “closed” concept or even how many levels of home.
Because I like to use color in my furnishings (furniture, rugs, accessories, wall art) we recently painted our new to us home in basically 2 colors, one trim. I could look up the exact paint color names but basically all bedrooms a very light gray w/soft white trim, all living areas, hallways, kitchen (leans open concept) an off white w/soft white trim. The exception is our dining room which is a “closed” room (converted a first floor bedroom that had french doors) and the first room you see when you enter the front door - I wanted it to be a little more fun so we went with Shewin Williams “malted milk”, see below ( IRL it leans a warm cozy muted pink)
As someone who loves color I have not been disappointed in these neutral choices. I can buy a red rug, a blue couch, a green end table - or whatever I LIKE/LOVE and not be restricted by my wall colors. The rooms look warm and cozy but fresh. I’m not matchy/matchy in my decorating - this works for me!
Here are some ideas on how to arrange a long skinny living room; not sure if they work with your situation. I also found that it’s possible to find one rug that fits most of the space, like 12’ x 18’.
Our house is basically white oak floors and white walls. We use furniture and pillows & curtains for color. The kitchen is mint green-not a fav but ok.
We had our house built 22 yrs ago. The family is 21 x 14. I was totally against getting a fireplace. My wife wasn’t sure. It would have most likely gone on the 14 wall and cost like $3K extra. I am glad we didn’t as we have always had the TV on that wall and never had to deal with the diagonal setup.
This has allowed us to get as big of a TV as we want and keep the room in balance. Plus before getting the sectional recently we had many options for couches and chairs.
Fireplaces are nice, but they don’t really do much for heating the house. They really only heat the room it is in.
Flooring change in progress. We might decide to switch things up a bit and move the TV away from the corner it has been. Don’t know for sure yet - will wait to see how things look once we get the furniture moved back.
Hit an impasse while looking for rugs. I think I want a 9x12 or at least an 8x10 rug. Couches are dark brown leather. Floor is an oak finish hardwood. What color rugs? I’ve been looking at light beige/brown, maybe a hint of pale orange. I think I’d like the room to stay “warm” and not go with “cool” colors. Paint will be the next question!
I think you need to think about your color palette as one unit - paint, rugs, accent colors. Trying to do it piece by piece makes it much more challenging.
