6 Family Room Design Ideas

You’re feeling stumped on how to design your family room. With infinite style options, how can you choose an aesthetic that’s right for you? An easy, sure-to-please solution is to let your passions be your guide. Simply think of the things you love best and let your family room reflect your personal interests.

Create a cozy, luxurious space to snuggle, or surround yourself with beloved art, favorite books, or refreshing plants. Here you’ll find six great design inspirations that invite your personality to guide your design and will leave you with a room you love.

1. Warm and cozy

Create a feeling of warmth and comfort with a fireplace-focused design. The fireplace naturally offers the perfect focal point for your family room and immediately emits an inviting ambience. To really enhance that warm and cozy feeling, accentuate your fireplace with the right decor. 

Just remember that installing a fireplace will often come with a lot of leftover debris. To ensure that the installation job goes smoothly with minimal mess and time, it’s important to consider renting a dumpster. Enquire with a couple of professionals from your area and you’ll learn about the cost to rent a dumpster and the time needed to complete the project successfully. This will mean less stress from tidying up and less headache overall as all of the loose ends will be taken care of for you.

Hang an oversized work of art above the mantel. Or, use layers for a homey, lived-in look: start with a large mirror on the back of the mantel, then add a lovely vase, candles, and a small plant in front of the mirror. Achieve this favorite aesthetic even if your home does not boast a built-in fireplace. Install a realistic electric fireplace and get all the charm.

For luxurious finishing touches, drape soft throw blankets over the arms of the couch, add lamps with dimmer buttons in the corner and on your end table, light some candles, and settle in with a cup of cocoa or a glass of wine.

2. Bookworm

Love to read? Don’t banish your books to forgotten corners to collect dust. Get extra mileage out of your collection and add style and character to your family room by featuring books in your family room design. 

For simple accents, position two or three well-worn titles on your mantel, alongside a draping ivy plant. Before you shop mantels for books, consider the style of your home and the statement you’d like to make with your display. Place a serving tray on the center of your coffee table, with two or three favorite hardbacks and an elegant mini orchid. Show off your classics on floating shelves.

For a bolder aesthetic, go all out with floor-to-ceiling, book-lined built-in shelves. You can punctuate sections of books with stylish decorations such as a small clock or a family photo.

Unleash your creativity. Color coordinate your books if you’d like an added visual element. Or experiment with alternating horizontal stacks of books and vertically placed titles to get a look you love. Design is all about self-expression. 

3. Art collector

Immerse yourself in a room filled with your favorite paintings. 

Use paintings or sculptures to style your mantel. You can hang one large statement piece, or slightly overlap two or three paintings of varying sizes. Other ideas for displaying your favorite creative works include adding them to built-in bookshelves or propping paintings up on floating shelves. 

Hang an oversized painting above your couch. Choose a piece that is at least two-thirds the length of your couch to ensure a balanced feel.

Gallery walls are a trendy option. Display several complementary pieces in matching, uniform frames, or you can go for an eclectic feel by hanging works of art in frames of varying textures and hues. Do mind your spacing – two inches between frames is a general rule of thumb – and be sure to use a level.

4. Adventurer

Show off your sense of adventure and relive your wildest voyages by focusing your design aesthetic on favorite finds from around the world.

In place of paintings, place interesting framed maps on your gallery wall or as a statement piece above the fireplace. Hang gorgeous, painted plates to add flare to your walls.   

Stow extra throw pillows or blankets in woven baskets you purchased at a far-away market. Place the tv remote on a well-traveled tray, and keep coasters from your adventures on the end tables.  

Framed travel photos can be skillfully displayed throughout your bookshelf, and travel guides and photo albums are stylish on the coffee table. Globes look beautiful in the family room and are within reach when you get inspired to dream up future treks.

This family room design aesthetic is guaranteed to keep you surrounded by fond memories. Souvenirs are excellent conversation starters with guests, and reminiscing about exotic escapades as a family may soon be a favorite evening tradition.

5. Gardener

Looking for a space to recharge? Want to cultivate a feeling of exuberance and vitality? Fill your family room with live plants. Indoor plants are a fresh design trend with bonus health benefits. They are mood-boosting, fatigue-fighting, air-purifying bundles of joy. 

Infuse your room with a touch of elegance with a dainty, mini orchid in fuschia, placed on the edge of a floating shelf or on a tray on your coffee table. Or add a stately feel with two sturdy snake plants placed above your fireplace. For more of a boho aesthetic, hang a small, potted pothos plant in a popular macrame plant hanger near a window. 

Ready for a full-on, indoor garden? Pick up a multi-tiered plant stand to house all your favorites. Look for plant varieties that have the same lighting requirements and begin curating your own collection of assorted pots and plants in all shapes and styles. 

If you love the look but fear you don’t have a green thumb, don’t be dismayed! Just start slow. There are gorgeous indoor plants that literally thrive on neglect and prefer to be forgotten! Choose one or two easy indoor plants, and as you build your confidence, gradually expand your plant family.

To get started, take inventory of your natural lighting and how much time you want to devote to plant care. If you are short on light, choose a “low light” plant such as the exceedingly popular ZZ plant. If you have a bright windowsill but are afraid you’ll forget to water, drought-loving succulents are a spunky, ideal starter plant for you.

6. Music maker

Let your music do the talking with a music-inspired design aesthetic. Transform your piano into the focal point of your family room, topping it with a classy vase of fresh, cut flowers or hanging an oversized painting above. Anchor the space with a large area rug. 

If guitars are more your thing, hang them on the wall and let them steal the show. Frame favorite vinyl covers and display them in a grid-style gallery wall. Hang art pieces that coordinate with your favorite music genre, and place hand-carved musician statues atop your end tables or bookshelves. 

Style your sanctuary

With these family room design ideas to inspire you, you’re now ready to turn your family room into a blissful oasis where you can immerse yourself in favorites. Relax by a luxurious fire. Refresh with rejuvenating greenery. Express yourself with favorite books, paintings, or records. Make this space your own.