Creating and Organizing Family Spaces

Shared family spaces make your house feel like a home. After all, what good is a home where you can’t spend time with the people closest to you in the world? The problem is that all of those people and the things they want to have near them can create some serious organizational challenges.
Luckily creating family spaces that are designed for a purpose can make creating and keeping your space tidy a bit easier.
 
Here are some ideas to help you design family spaces and keep them in tip-top shape even if they get used daily.
 
Family Room
The family room is the perfect place to gather your whole group together for a little bit of quality time. In most family rooms, doing things like watching TV, movies, listening to music or playing games is the number one goal. To do any of those things efficiently with your whole group, there are a few things you need to keep in mind.
 
When setting up a family room, make sure there’s plenty of seating for every member of the household. You’ll want an extra seat or two if you can fit it in, especially if you have kids who often have friends at the house. Extended family members and relatives can also use the space along with you if you provide enough seating.
 
Along with seating, you’ll want to have some sort of storage built into your space. Closets are great, but oversized bookshelves that go all the way to the ceiling work especially well. You can get lots of things on them like board games, DVDs and more without eating up too much of your floor space.
 
Finally, a table for games is a must-have. A large coffee table can work well if you don’t mind sitting cross-legged once in a while!
 
Study/Work Area
Families need a place to tackle important tasks like homework and job-related work for adults. A dedicated home office is great, but if you don’t have a whole room to devote to this cause you can still get by without a problem.
 
Aim to create a study and work area with a table that can easily accommodate two or three people. All you really need is a few comfortable chairs and a sturdy top so homework and other at-home pursuits can be taken care of. Then you can get back to having fun!
 
Art/Utility Room
Art and utility spaces for gift wrapping and the like should be bare bones. Give these spaces a simple workstation, a couple of chairs and some basic shelving – then leave the rest of the space for creative additions.
Consider covering your floors or using inexpensive rugs if you plan to paint or take on any other potentially messy projects in this room.
 
Family spaces make the time you spend at home more enjoyable and rewarding. Make them part of your home environment so you can create memories that will last even after the kids have found their own homes.