4 Uses For Your Formal Living Room
So you have a formal living room, and no one ever steps a toe in it. Rather than waste the square footage in your home, let’s turn the room in a space that has a purpose and gets used. Here are four ideas that I’ve designed for clients over the years - do any of them work for you?
Martini Room
This client was single and had a great room where she did most of her TV watching. She loved to entertain and wanted a more intimate space to hang with her girlfriends. The solution: a living room turned martini room. We placed a low cocktail table with four velvet club chairs around it, added a bar cabinet against one wall and beautiful metallic wallpaper throughout. The result - a space that she was excited to entertain!
Music Room
These clients had children taking piano lessons and they were ready to invest in a baby grand piano. We placed the piano in one corner of the room making it a feature. From there, two separate small seating groups were added that could be utilized as cozy reading nooks or as one general seating area for entertaining, giving added flexibility to the space. They loved that it was both a space for their children to practice piano in that they wanted to sit in as well, and as space that they could entertain in.
Lounge
This client wanted a space for card games to be played, but we didn’t want the space to be a one-trick-pony. We put in a round table that served as a card table, but kicked it off center at an L-shaped banquette. This allowed it to be a place where one can lounge, read, entertain, eat, work - anything. Two wing chairs were opposite the space allowing it to be opened up for additional seating and entertaining as well.
Family Movie Room
This family had a great room off their kitchen where they spent most of their time, and a little used front room. As their kids were getting older, they were hoping for a space for the kids to separate to when they wanted that would also be comfortable for family movie nights. The layout of the great room wasn’t conducive to this, so we set that space up to be the more flexible, adult space and then created a cozy, family friendly room in the formal living room - in effect swapping the two! The children’s study and playroom was opposite the formal living room, so it worked out having their “dedicated” rooms all nearby each other, while mom and dad could be in the kitchen and great room, and have a furniture layout there that provided easy access to the nearby deck.
Do one of these uses work for you and your lifestyle? Or do you need a pro’s help coming up with a different one? We’re here to help! More information about our interior design services is available on our shop page.
