Welcome to our ‘new’ family room! It has a fresh coat of paint, a hard-working art table and a lot of seating options for the whole family.
In This Post
Shifting Priorities In the Family Room
We’re firm believers in the idea that a home should be a living, breathing thing. In a perfect world, it works for a family at every unique and varied stage of life. Over the last 11 years, the open space above our first floor living room has morphed and changed more than any other space in our home. Think of it as a mirror image of our first floor, with one area for lounging and one area for working, creating, and gathering. It’s an incredible flex space to have in our home, and one that was born from our initial renovation, in which we converted two units into one.
This post is in partnership with Article, a brand we’ve used for years and continue to love. Article offers high-quality furniture at a great price and is designed to last. Article makes it easy to attain a stylish, modern home, and we can’t thank them enough for our years of partnership!
When we first moved in to our house, our idea was to set the space up as a studio/office space. This is where Kim painted pet portraits, and where we ultimately worked on Yellow Brick Home content together. Photo circa 2017
Fast forward a few years to Lucy being born, and a need for open family space took priority over an office space for us. That was a fun stage, filled with cozy evenings coloring at her small desk, stacking blocks and reading books. Photo circa 2021
Now that Lucy is nearly 7, she’s leaning into art and creative endeavors more than she’s playing on the floor, so we’ve made the shift back to a large table that suits our needs now! We’ve had a lot of fun shaping and re-shaping this space, and here’s how it looks today:
We’ve also been hosting more gatherings of Lucy’s friends from school and her various activities, so having an area where the kids can spend time away from adults comes in handy for everyone. Our home is a bit of a reversed floor plan from many in Chicago. Instead of sending the kids down to the basement to play like at many of our friends’ homes, we send them up to the family room.
The Staples
Once we made the decision to move back to a layout with a large table, the pieces fell into place very quickly! We set the foundation of the room with a fresh coat of Benjamin Moore’s Brickyard Clay on the walls and ceiling and we were ready for furniture selections. The Adel dining table from Article is chunky and wipeable and was an easy choice to anchor the room’s new footprint. A pair of black Gusfa dining chairs provide beautiful contrast on the far side of the table and a 48″ leather Maribo storage ottoman provides bench seating for a few kiddos on the other side. All items linked at bottom of post.
We knew we’d need to add a significant amount of storage if we were going to create a space that encourages art and creativity, so we selected the Adel sideboard to ground the area under our 5 pocket wall planter. It’s huge and sturdy and most importantly it has the capacity to swallow up all of the art supplies that had begun to consume our home. But you all know that Kim wasn’t gonna let it become a mess in there! Here’s how we’re keeping things organized.
Credenza Organization
The Adel sideboard is an absolute dream in the space! The rounded lines and integrated circular cabinet pulls soften the feel of the large piece. The generous 7 3/4″ leg height help the substantial sideboard to feel light and airy. The legs also lift the shell of the piece enough to clear even our oversized 6 1/2″ baseboards so it tucks beautifully against the wall. It contains just the right amount of shelf space inside, but we had some organizing tricks up our sleeve to truly maximize storage space.
We chose a few different types of organizers inside the cabinets to keep art supplies at bay and even added a place for completed artwork to stack until it’s ready for framing!
Nearby, the Krossa filing cabinet stores additional desk necessities, and the bottom filing cabinet drawer is currently being used for towels, cleaning spray and rolled up silicone mats (for messier art projects).
Seating + Rug
As much as we love the gorgeous white oak finishes of the table, sideboard and filing cabinet, we needed to add some contrast to generate interest and break up the wood tones a bit. The pair of black Gusfa chairs are sturdy perches for the adult users of the space and offer comfy backrests for those that prefer them.
Sight lines into the room feel expansive due to adding a backless ottoman, which doubles as seating and storage – it is still a play area, after all! We enjoy finding sneaky ways to implement toy storage, and the Maribo ottoman fit the bill.
As you can see above, Kitty is loving the soft and sturdy Murray rug, which is grounded by the Stein rug pad. The rug’s 100% wool construction will keep it looking good for the long haul and we love the cozy warmth that it brings to the space!
A Look Into the Family Lounge
On the other side of the open space things remained largely the same, save for the paint color. We did, however, add a handful of new accents to tie the whole room together. The view from both sides of the room has never been better!
The pair of gridded Carmine pillows anchors the corners of the long sofa and the Laurel blockprint pillow adds colorful interest.
A Space Designed for Creation
We designed this space to inspire creativity in us and in Lucy (and her friends) and we think we succeeded. The day after the furniture was delivered, we hosted a large group of friends from school for a low-key Sunday afternoon hangout and the kids loved spending time in the space! What’s your favorite detail?
Article Furniture + Accessories We Used
Adel dining table | Adel sideboard | Murray rug | Maribo leather storage ottoman | Krossa file cabinet | Reya large planter | Gusfa dining chair | Oslo table lamp | Laurel pillow | Carmine pillow
I love everything about this functional, beautiful space. I also enjoyed looking back at the Woolly Pocket growth and transformation over the last decade! :)
Thanks. Brenda! She has had many transitions, but I think Woolly is at her happiest right now!
Functional and warm, a beautiful refresh! As a parent of a 4 & 5 year old, I enjoy spying some of the same arts & craft supplies that we struggle to wrangle as well (lookin’ at you, pop beads!).
The beads! It’s a real struggle, but we finally have the systems in place.
Gorgeous evolution of form & function. Since I’ve been eyeing the Adel table myself in the round for 4 seat version that’s my favorite new piece, but the Woolly Pocket is a forever favorite. Does it ever make a mess with the soil and water dripping?
Thank you, Tiffanie! The Woolly ONLY makes a mess if we overwater it, ha! It has a great concept in which it wicks water away from the drywall behind it while providing slow release moisture to the plants. As long as you water it slow and steady, it should never drip on you!
Loving your red season! We bought the Woolly Pocket years ago on your recommendation and we are struggling with it in our new home (been here about 2 years!). It gets filtered southern light and it’s filled with pothos and philodendron. Do you mind if I ask if you have any new updated tips (I’ve gone through all your old posts!)? Do you find that you need to water it more often than your potted plants? The one thing I’ve started doing is watering directly above where the root ball might be, and I think it’s helping a bit, but I’m honestly not sure. I’m envious of the luscious plants in this photo! (PS I’m a “long time listener, first time caller”–y’all are the best, thank you for keeping up your blog!)
Hi Cortney! I wouldn’t say we water any more than the rest of the plants. We water pretty consistently once a week. One thing that has been a game changer in our watering routine (for the Woolly AND potted house plants) is using Plant Food from Happy Happy Houseplant. We started using it about 2 years ago, and the plants all over our home went from being maintained to exploding! Can’t recommend it enough: https://happyhappyhouseplant.com/collections/plant-care/products/plant-food-fertilizer
Thank you! Yes, we got this fertilizer based on your recommendation. Good to know you water once a week–we’ve gone back and forth on 7 or 10 days, and I think we might try for more frequent waterings even in winter. I appreciate your response!
I love this transformation so much! Your little girl is growing up and doesn’t need a small kid table anymore – tears! Our home’s dining room table is more of a craft table, so we would be a candidate for a two table house like yours.
We LOVE the second table!