Designing a Multi-Functional Living Room with Kids

314

Living with Family
3 br
HDB (Resale)
~1,100 sqft
Scandinavian

Welcome to our Living Room - the heart and soul of our home. This is where our family of four spend the most time at, it is also designed to be multi-functional for the kids to play; adults to relax; and even as a workspace!
Let's start off with our sofa - it sits opposite our TV and naturally is where the adults of the family spend the most time catching up on our Netflix shows. Fun fact, this was the only item we brought over from our first home! Thank goodness the colour and even the orientation of the L shape sofa fits the current home. We are a strong believer of going down to physical showrooms to test out the sofas to ensure it is comfortable even though buying sofas online might be cheaper. The living room is usually where our friends and family would gather when we host gatherings, and to maximise the floor space - we have chosen to do without a coffee table. The kids also get more space to play on a daily basis.
On the right side of our built-in TV console, we have designed a small display shelf where we feature a typewriter handed down from my mother, and even an antique cash register from my grandfather. Breakable display items are kept out of the kids' reach.. for now! We chose to put LED strips behind the open shelves as it acts as a good ambient lighting at night, usually switching it on when we have movie nights.
You'll notice that we chose to design a built-in TV console to maximise storage space. With young children, we would naturally have many toys. And how do we ensure we keep the house neat and tidy you may ask...?
.. designated storage boxes for each category of toys is the answer! The kids are able to sort and keep away their toys when done, and we keep to a daily reset of packing away the toys every night. In-built storage carpentry can tend to look bulky, but with a mix of open shelves and sufficient "white space" it can be avoided.
The kids are able to retrieve their toys easily to play on their mat, together with the other toys which they play with on a frequent basis. As our kids are three years apart, they do have different needs - for example, my elder daughter uses the whiteboard more for schoolwork; while my younger son tends to play more with the Duplo.
One of the most popular spots is the cozy reading corner we have set up for them. The floor recliner is big enough for both of them to share and it is a very sweet sight to watch the two of them reading together!
- #livingroominspiration
Our living room can also function as a craft workspace! The same floor recliner is light and easy to move around, and can also be used in a work set-up.
To ensure our living room is multi-functional and caters to the different needs of our family, we have designed the space to maximise storage space without looking too bulky. This leaves the rest of the living room space flexible to buy loose furniture which we can change up easily to adapt through the different seasons in our lives.