Design Stories:

“How do I create a family living room that’s suitable for both adults and children”?

Welcome back to the blog! Today I’m very happy to reveal my new blog series: ‘The Story Behind The Design’.

Over the years, I’ve found that many of my clients face very similar design problems in their homes. Therefore, I thought I’d start to share a few tips and answers to common interior design queries as way to both document my work and also to help out my readers!

The first post in this series is based on a lovely family that I had the privilege to work with recently. They live in a beautiful home out in the Kent countryside and have a very full family life! As well as working from home, the parents are busy caring for their 4 young children and a lively family dog. It’s a house full of love and laughter but one that they haven’t been able to set up as they’d like….yet.

Perhaps you’re in a similar position yourself?

I often find it hard to get the time to work on the interior design of my own home as I also juggle work and a young family. So, when this family reached out for some design help, I was thrilled to be able to support them as I understand the day to day demands of family life well!

Design Brief

The design brief was to create a family living room that was able to cope with the demands of sticky fingers and the odd spilt drink, but that had a sophisticated and elegant feel. The couple like to entertain friends and family – especially during the holidays. They felt that the room lacked personality and didn’t reflect the family’s interests very well in it’s current state. So they were keen to change it! It was also full of furniture from their old home that didn’t work quite so well in their new space.

The Design

I got to work and created a neutral colour palette for the walls, ceiling and flooring. As the family already had wood flooring, we decided to sand and restore what was there, rather than replacing it with something new.

Providing enough seating was top of the couple’s wish list and so I chose a huge, squishy corner sofa from Loaf, which is perfect for family movies nights and Christmas movie watching. The sofa is covered in Loaf’s ‘clever velvet’ which means that it can be easily spot cleaned. A win when you have small children and a dog!

We sourced some occasional seating and cushions from Oka, which provided the sophisticated, formal element to the scheme. We also created some relaxing reading nooks at the end of the room in order to showcase the family’s work history and provide the parents small escape areas to retreat to when the kids are watching children’s tv on the main sofa!

The console table behind the sofa is a considered design solution with two functions. It’s somewhere to place a drink whilst seated but also doubles up as a small eating area for the children on the rare occasions that they are allowed to watch TV as they eat their dinner. The upholstered side tables from Neptune (which can also be wiped clean) not only serve as side tables but are also moveable stools that can seat small children up to the console table if needed.

Styling

The finishing touches were added through some careful styling in the room. The family had artwork from their previous home that they wanted to include in the design and so we placed it above a slimline console table. We then added a contemporary gold and navy lamp, along with some other pieces that the family already owned. This created a gorgeous vignette as you enter the living room.

If you’d like some information about the interior design services that I offer then take a look at my services page to find out more.

Interior design: Claire Parkin

Interior renders: Louie Anne Interior Visuals