How to Decorate an Informal Family Room

Decorating a family room should be kept informal and comfortable for everyone in the family. In other words, save the elegant things for the formal living room. Follow these easy and inexpensive ideas to decorate your family room to make everyone feel at home.

Things You'll Need

• inspirational pictures
• paint (optional)
• area rug
• personal photos
• decorating accessories

Instructions

How To Decorate An Informal Family Room

1. Look at pictures. Look through home decorating magazines for a picture to use for an inspiration. If you do not want to decorate according a a certain style or theme, use those inspirational pictures to find your choice of colors instead.

2. Paint. Avoid white when painting or buying furniture for the family room. White will get very dirty very fast if you use the room often. If you do not want to paint your walls with a bold color, choose neutral tones that only give a hint of color. Do not hang wallpaper. Wallpaper has patterns which will cause your room to look small and closed in.

3. Cover the floor. There are several options to choose from when it comes to floor covering. The easiest of the options would be a large area rug. When choosing a rug, look for coordinating colors to "pull" from the rug and use for accessories. Rugs put the added touch needed in effort to make the room cozy.

4. Wall decor. Since you are decorating the family room, why not use pictures of your family? Candid photos can be printed in black and white and be blown up into poster size wall art. If you would rather, take your own photos of buildings that feature architectural design, or even photos of the beautiful flowers from your grandmother's garden. With the technology available to you through photo editing programs, any digital picture can become an instant and inexpensive work of art.

5. Accessorize. When you are choosing accessories for your informal family room, choose things that are family friendly and not fragile. If you have a coffee table in the middle of the room, avoid putting breakable or valuable things on display there. Old books make great accessories for family rooms. You can stack them under a small lamp or picture frame or place one or two on a side table. Another great accessory is greenery. A small bush of greenery can be tucked into an empty shelf corner to give it a splash of color.

Tips & Warnings

• If the room that you are using for your family room still has paneled walls, you will have to apply a primer before you paint the walls.