After the kitchen, the most popular room in most homes is the family room. It can function as a media room, a game room, a music room, a reading room—and often a homework area too. Because this room is so lived in, there are lots of family rooms that could use a serious makeover. But where do you start?

Start by utilizing a design that reflects the interests of the family members. Use photos, children’s artwork, mementos, maps, antiques and art collections to tell your family’s story in this room. Consider having frames that can open to switch out kids’ artwork or to showcase the latest photos from a family trip. Keep it personal, yet practical. Here are tips on how to create a family room that is both functional and attractive:

1. Comfortable seating is essential.
Sofas, sectionals and chairs for a family room should be chosen for reading and viewing comfort. Do you like to nap on the sofa? Be sure it’s wide and deep enough. Chairs and sofas with an outside depth of 38 – 39 inches or more are ideal for both sitting and reclining.

2. Select furniture that’s the right scale for the room.
If your room is oversized or has a cathedral ceiling, you probably need large-scale upholstered furniture that can stand up to the size of the room. Traditional sofas 72 to 78-inches wide will look diminutive in a big room. Look for large-scale sofas at least 88-92 inches wide with depth and height of about 38-39 inches for furniture with presence in a spacious room.

3. Consider sectional seating for design flexibility.
Sectional sofas with a variety of components are a good way to create more spacious seating that can be tailored to the size and shape of the room. If you want to pack more people into a tight space, your best choice is a sectional sofa. The L-shape creates a very strong line and utilizes every square inch, even the corner.

4. Vary the scale and visual weight of the furniture in the room.
For example, have large chairs, medium-size chairs and smaller slipper chairs. Incorporate ottomans and benches. Have firmer chair seats and cushier chair seats. Have a great reading chair or chaise. Be able to reconfigure the furniture and pull in extra seating for big family gatherings and parties. Furniture with a little variety creates a more interesting room than a matching suite that all appears to have come from the same source.

5. Ottomans are critical to reading and viewing comfort.
Ottomans should pull up easily to chairs or sectional components to support your legs. Will they be large enough for a long-legged spouse? Or will two people want to share one ottoman? Shop accordingly. If an ottoman will serve as both footrest and coffee table, consider a large 36" to 48" rectangular or square ottoman to serve all needs.

6. Find a fabric you love to pull out colors for pillows, window treatments, skirted tables and accessories.
If you have little ones, consider a more colorful combo for a family room as brighter colors really speak to kids. Start with the fabric, because there a million shades of paint and you can always find that later.

7. Lots of pillows are great for lounging, movie watching or support while reading.
Have pillows made in a variety of sizes and shapes–lumbar pillows to cradle your back while reading, smaller pillows to tuck under an elbow, larger pillows for napping–and even floor pillows for kids who love to lounge on the carpet.

8. Use window treatments to control glare on a television screen.
Light falling from a window onto a television screen creates sun glare. Window treatments that can be drawn, or shutters or shades that can be closed, will help to control glare and add privacy.

Source: CalicoCorners.com

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Between family, friends and work, life is hectic. If you—like many Americans—are trying to relocate or remodel your current home, the added stress is enough to make anyone throw in the towel. The following tips, provided by the American Homeowners Foundation and the American Homeowners Grassroots Alliance will help you plan and execute your home renovation with ease.

Tip 1. Compare the Cost Of Moving to Remodeling. Moving is expensive, typically involving a 6 percent commission on the sale of your current home, plus another 2-4 percent for closing, moving, and other costs. If you like the present neighborhood then look into what improvements you could make with 8-10 percent of your home’s current value before you decide to move.

Tip 2. Design Ahead. You don’t want to come up with an additional brilliant idea right after the job is complete. You can reduce the risk by doing some advance research. Read up on design, talk to friends with knowledge and experience with the type of remodeling you’re considering, and get suggestions (and references) from architects and remodelers while you’re in the early stages of planning. If you’re changing current floor plans get some graph paper or a floor planning kit and play around. Start a file for literature about components and finishes.

Tip 3. Don’t Over Improve. This may be of less concern if you plan to remain in the home for a long time, but it’s very important if you’re remodeling to sell your home. Some remodeling jobs, such as a prudent overhaul of a very dated bath or kitchen, or the addition of a second bath to a one bath home, can return more than 100 percent of the cost at the sale of the home, and help you sell it faster. However, if you want a different look, you’ll probably not recover the investment in a home that is already significantly more valuable than most of the others in the neighborhood.

Tip 4. Allow Plenty of Time for the Job. Murphy’s law applies to remodeling. If you expert a contractor to compress a six week job into four weeks, you’re asking for trouble. Also, you can save money and probably get the job done faster if you have the ability to schedule it in the off season when contractors have fewer jobs to bid on.

Tip 5. Check the Remodeler’s Credentials – Carefully. Are they licensed and insured for workers compensation, property and personal liability? If in doubt, ask to see their insurance certificate. Do they belong to the National Association of the Remodeling Industry, the National Association of Home Builders Remodelers Council, and/or any of the more specific trade associations in the remodeling sector? That’s a sign of commitment to the trade and to professionalism. Most also offer certification and/or management training and keep their members up to date on the latest products and techniques. Ask for recent references on similar jobs (employee and subcontractor turnover is often fairly high, so recent jobs are a reliable indicator of their current capability). Check their record with the Better Business Bureau while you’re at it.

Courtesy of the American Homeowners Foundation and the American Homeowners Grassroots Alliance, www.AmericanHomeowners

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