During this crazy time, I think we have all come to have a newfound appreciation for spending time with our families and loved ones. Family is so important, so today we wanted to talk about ways to optimize your home for big family gatherings when it comes to design. Take a look!
Large Family Dining Rooms
I think this one is one of the most important ways to create a welcoming environment for your whole family. Family meals are such a special time- even if it's just a Thursday night and not a holiday. When designing your home, make sure there's space for a long dining table with plenty of seating. For our West Village clients, they wanted plenty of space to entertain and host loved ones- so we made sure to incorporate a dining space that could fit up to 14 people. A long family-style table is the perfect way to make use of any narrower rooms in your existing home.
Multiple Living Rooms for Large Family Homes
A standard living room can comfortably seat around 6-8 people depending on the layout. However, with large groups, having multiple living rooms can make a huge difference in the comfort and noise level of the home. When designing your home, you can keep these living spaces close to each other to allow for everyone to feel closer- or you can space them out around the home to diffuse noise and have more intimate interactions. Whatever way you decide to go, just make sure to have plenty of comfy seating in each space!
Activity Rooms
Creating intentional spaces in your home to promote quality time together is so important when designing a large family home. Think about the activities your family likes to do together. Are you a family that likes to play games together? Do you love watching a good movie? Maybe you're more active and like to play sports or swim together. Bring these activities into your home and make them easily accessible to participate in. The above room is full of color and stimulation and encourages creative thinking and imagination for the whole family.
Large Family Home School Room
In these crazy times, many families are now opting for home school or virtual school. We love creating spaces for the kids to be their most productive and have a little feeling of normalcy. Separating an area that is specifically for school can be extremely beneficial, as it gives some structure and routine to a new way of life. For some of our clients, we have been converting spare bedrooms or offices into full school setups, with a projector to display live teaching, desks with all the essentials, and even speakers and video conferencing technology to make the best use of space. To see more ideas on how to optimize an office space for you or the kiddos, check out our blog here!
Outdoor Gardens and Gathering Spaces
Getting fresh air is so important for our mental health, and it also opens up so many opportunities for family connection! Gardens, whether floral or produce, offer learning experiences and collaboration for the whole family, and teach the value of taking care of and nurturing living things. There are tons of activities beyond gardening to do outside as well. As mentioned above, you can create spaces to play sports or outdoor activities! Even just having a large dining space for al fresco dinners is a great option for large families- and gives you much more space to breathe within a large family home.
Large Family Kitchens
Much like gardening, cooking is an excellent opportunity to spend quality time as a family. Having a large kitchen, or even two, offers plenty of space for everyone to be involved. If you have a personal chef or wait staff, having a second kitchen that's closed off is great for prep and to keep things clean in your main area. In the kitchen above, we utilized the open space in the middle to have 2 kitchen islands. Both have great functionality for prep, but also gives space to have one serve as an informal dining bar and the other to serve off of. We also recommend having a large walk-in pantry off the kitchen if space allows storing everything you may need.
Separate Wings for Extended Family and Close Friends
Whether you have a large extended family or just lots of close friends that come to visit often, you may want to consider having a separate wing of the home to allow for some added privacy or just a better disbursement of noise and space. Consider having a few guest bedrooms and bathrooms reserved on one side of the house just for extended family and guests. If space allows, convert that extra bedroom into another seating area or gallery for another gathering space! Having this extra wing can really be a game-changer when it comes to comfort for your family and guests.
That's it for today! Make sure to follow us on Instagram to keep up with our daily happenings and finds. See you next week!
