Cozy, Functional, Small living space for a Big Family

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission from any purchases, at no extra cost to you.

What we had to work with

We got pregnant with kid #5 in mid 2019, we had just moved out of state a few months prior and were living in a small three bedroom apartment that was not going to work for a family of 7. We started looking into buying a home. But we were going on kid #5 and my husband works from home and needs an office that we can also turn into a guest room when family visits. I had multiple realtors laugh at me when I told them what we needed for size and bedrooms. There was nothing pre existing on the market. Our only option was a new construction home. Not. My. Favorite. But it was our only realistic option. So we went for it. We built a 5 bedroom, 3 bathroom, 2500 sq ft home. With a small living space and an even smaller kitchen. But it had the bedroom count we needed and it was in our budget.

Saving the journey for another day

Figuring out how to maximize the living room space has been a 5 year journey. I’ll document that in another post, Today we are just going to appreciate where we are now, and how functional it is and how many people we can sit in here comfortably. That would be 7 comfortably in actual seats. Then we have the bar seating right behind the couch that seats 3, and then the floor and ottoman obviously. That’s a lot of humans!

Float your furniture doesn’t always work

I tried so hard to pull my furniture way from the walls, but we just didn’t have enough space to make it functional. So, I ended up embracing the furniture lined walls, and I am very happy with the end result! I did place spacers between the windows and the cream and gold chairs so they aren’t inhibiting the curtains and getting damaged from the window sills.

Squeezing in function

I tucked a command center into the corner, complete with a charging station. We are a device light family so there’s not much to charge. Basically the teenagers phones charge there. I have tables with space under them for easy toy and blanket storage, and the giant wall of shelves is the piece de resistance. It’s not even full yet, which is what you always want when you are organizing. Space to grow. We also have additional toy storage on the other side of the pantry, where I built shelves and where we have a small footprint swing/climbing apparatus. I’ll share that in another post. Our floor is routinely covered in toys and pillows and blanket forts and all. of. the. things. And then they get tucked back into their proper places and I enjoy my beautiful living room.

Oversized Artwork. That is all.

Just because your space is small does not mean your artwork needs to be small. Bigger artwork actually makes your space feel bigger. So, go big at home. The artwork over our couch is a DIY, as is the one over the fireplace. The Spock print is a poster, in a $20 poster frame from Walmart, and the large prints of my kids in the hallway are in $20 frames from Walmart too. I had the prints made at Staples. I took the pictures myself so there were no copyright issues. Big artwork does not have to be expensive. Art supply and craft stores have large canvases on sale often.

Details that make you smile

Adding in details that make you smile is such an important step of making your space feel like home. And, I have six kids so I cannot have things around the living room that are super important to me. That amber vase, it went right back up to my room after this photo shoot. Would it be nice to have it down here all the time, sure, but I really don’t want it broken, and my six year old sometimes finds things launching out of his hands and into the air unexpectedly.

So, I brought the vase down for the photoshoot, and then replaced it with the large ceramic mushroom afterwards. Because the mushroom is much less precious and I will not be mad if it gets broken. I basically live by the ‘nothing is precious’ mentality in our living space. There are lots of books and plants, and book ends, and thrift store lamps. Things that can get broken and I won’t be mad.

The recipe for a collected space

It’s easiest to achieve this collected look by pickup up things that you truly love over time. That gold and cream blanket on the couch, thrift store 15 years ago, the dark teal pillow cover, I made it, the green one behind it, Pottery Barn splurge a few years ago at Christmas. The floral pillow covers made from vintage fabric curtains from a thrift store. The gold and marble table, Ross about 6 years ago, the wood table, is one of a pair of nightstands I got 16 years ago off of marketplace for $30 each. The triangle table I paid $8 for at a yard sale a few years ago and have partially sanded down from the atrocious textured spray paint job it had been given. She gave me the rest of the can of spray paint when I bought the table, in case it needed touch ups. lol. I cannot tell you how many different thrift store lamps we have owned over the years. Lamps are prime real estate for getting knocked over and broken, I do not buy new lamps, ever. Vary your textures, and colors and pick things you love and you will be able to incorporate them into your home.

Happy collecting and home making!
Melinda

Helpful affiliate links

Similar living room chairs – here
Ottoman – here
Brass candlesticks – here
Battery operated taper candles – here
Aura Frame – here

Other posts you may enjoy

Shave your couch! – here
Small Kitchen, Big Family, Gorgeous Transformation! – here
How to Dust Your Walls – here