Family Room

This room is for playing, snuggling and relaxing. We keep blankets in the chest and games in the dresser. The only work that happens here regularly is Sunday night laundry movies but there's a good amount of fun mixed in. Once in a while, we'll eat supper while we watch a family movie, wrapping ourselves around each other after the food is cleared. As the kids get older, I hope we continue this to fill their snuggle cups. The yarn letters on the shelf over the TV spell "safe" because I want to remember to make our home a place that's safe to cut loose. One day we'll get around to trimming our entertainment bump-out and add lighting to the top shelf. 

I was determined to fit two areas into our family room. I wanted a game area or table that people could sit at while watching TV. I dreamed of putting my Christmas puzzle together while watching White Christmas and sipping cocoa. The dresser holds puzzles, games and movies. If a room you're trying to decorate has your electrical
access, consider painting it your wall color and distracting from it with art. (See the top left photo.)

































Our family room is in the basement and this is the hallway you go through to get to it. Thanks to an Ikea desk and shelves that fit, I was able to carve out a spot for the computer I use to do graphic design. Inspiration hangs on pant hangers nearby. I can easily switched out the kids' art with new favorites. I was elated when I spray painted the branch because it was so easy and cheap, but the effect is an organic, colorful element. Most projects, like life, turn out to be trickier than you expected, so once in a while, it's refreshing to put a little in and get a lot out. 

Obviously, the family room is where the kids watch movies. During the first few years of the twins' lives, I was depressed and struggled to realize it and then struggled to find medicine that helped. The kids saw an hour of video every day during that time. Once in a while, Brian would convince me over the phone to put an extra one on so I could stop crying and try to recuperate before facing the kids. I'd strap them in highchairs to keep them safe and take my shower or cry or clean. My point is, the kids spend very little time watching these days, but I'd like to offer comfort to people in hard seasons. It doesn't last forever and it's okay if you need a break. It's like using a crutch when your leg is broken -- not ideal but it gets us through and getting through is sometimes remarkable in itself.