Bringing Back the Living Room

We move a lot. Think 7 times in 14 years. Each move though is a chance to try new things. When we settled on this house, I wanted to make the layout work for us. Jeff and I discussed a number of options and decided this central room would be a living room, without a TV. It has completely changed how things in the house operate. We love it.

As you walk into our house the living room is the first room you see. I wanted it to be something that stayed relatively neat but also something usable. This room also has the advantage of being set apart from the boys’ rooms, so I wanted to be able to entertain here in the evenings.

I didn’t want to buy anything new for this room, so I shopped what we already had. I combined a bunch of seating that had been used in other areas of the house. The area feels comfy and family friendly but also looks nice as people walk into the house.

Here is a photo of the living room from the listing before we purchased the house.

We added in some shelves to the cut-out in the wall, giving us a bit more storage space. (I hope to get some more plants on these shelves soon!)

The bar in the back of the room is the perfect place to store our wine glasses and serving dishes. The family photos are easily put away to set out food or drinks on this table.

Having the kids chairs in here means the boys are in here all the time. The library books live in here and therefore the boys always seem to live in here as well.

I do our read aloud time in this room. We bring in a few toys relevant to what we are reading for everyone to play with while we read. (If you’re looking for motivation to read aloud with your kids check out the Read-Aloud Revival podcast.)

The kids tend to congregate wherever we are, so by putting all the seating in this room it means we mostly hang out in here. The living room lends itself to cozy reading time, so that is what everyone spends time doing here. (Other rooms in the house lend themselves to more active play so this is a nice contrast.)