How to Decorate a Great Room

A kitchen that opens to a family room is oftentimes referred to as the great room. A great room is a place where family members can hang out, eat together, watch a movie together, and cook together. Oftentimes it is a challenge to decorate a great room due to the open space. The biggest challenge is how to make the kitchen area flow with the rest of the room.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Design theme or idea
• Paint (semi-gloss and flat)
• Paint brush
• Paint tray
• Blue painter’s tape
• Level
• Furnishings
• Decorating accessories
• Lighting

1. Think of a design theme. Make sure that the theme in your kitchen will complement the theme in your family room. Do not decorate your family room in Victorian style and your kitchen in an ultra-modern style. Since they are open to each other, you should use the same theme in each room.

2. Lay out a plan for your design. You can draw out a plan as to where you will put your furniture. Decide which will be the main focal point of the room. Will it be the fireplace or the television? Once you have made this decision you can now plan on where to put the other furnishings to take advantage of the main focal point.
   
   It is good to do the layout in paper, taking consideration the scales of the furnishings against the dimension of the room. This way you do not have to move around your furnishings too much which can save time and energy.

3. Decide the color you will be using for your great room. You can either use one color for the kitchen and family room or choose complementary colors. Then paint using semi-gloss for the kitchen and flat paint for the family room.

4. After painting, put an area rug in your family room. This will give added protection for your walls or give you extra warmth during colder seasons.

5. Add window coverings. If you want to choose draperies, make sure that they complement the colors of the walls and furnishings. You do not have to match the window treatments in your kitchen and family room. You can pick out colors from the window treatments in your kitchen that you can use in your drapery for your family room.

6. Place your furnishings based on your layout plan. Put the television in a spot where it can be viewed from the kitchen. Put your sofa in front of the television for easy viewing. Then add the coffee table, give enough space in between the sofa and the table (around 18 inches is the average to allow for knee space). Buy furnishings that can withstand use and abuse, since it is a family room, try not to be too formal with your choices. Oftentimes when there are get-togethers people would bring foods in the family room area from the kitchen. Make sure that your floors and furnishings can survive occasional food and beverage spills.

7. Make sure that you do not block the flow of traffic between the kitchen and the family room. The great room should be open and free-flowing allowing easy access for people to use. Place your breakfast table in an area in between the kitchen and family room. The kitchen table should be close to the kitchen for faster serving.

8. Add lighting. Most homes do not come with lights in the family room. You can add a ceiling light to brighten the room aside from the usual table or floor lamps. The table lamps are still best for reading.

9. Add accessories. You can start putting your artwork on the walls. A great room is a perfect place to hang family photos. You can also put picture frames on the sofa and side tables. If you have an armoire or built-in cabinets, display your photos along with your knick-knacks on them. For the kitchen, use picture frames that pertain to food and family gatherings for a more personal touch. Make sure to use frames of similar color or materials used in the family room so that your great room will look more cohesive.

10. Add fresh flowers and live plants. Fresh flowers can give fresh scent that can enliven the room. Putting live plants can also help clean the air in the room. You can still use artificial plants and flowers but keep them to a minimum.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep your kitchen and family room clean at all times.
• Remove appliances on top of your kitchen counters to keep clutter to a minimum. These two rooms, which is one great room, should always look visually appealing so that they are more enjoyable to use.

[favefive]

on 12/2/2007 I agree Christine. I use semi-gloss in ours as well :)

[CleaningLady]

on 12/2/2007 Great ideas! If you have lots of kids like I do I would suggest an egg-shell finish paint in the family room instead of flat. After years of scrubbing food and crayons off of walls you begin to hate flat paint!

[fossilflower]

on 11/19/2007 Thanks for elaborating, I have a new big house, but have felt overwhelmed with decor decisions.