How to Create a Family Room Without Any Spending

By definition, a family room is simply a living area that all members of the family use for both recreation as well as relaxation. Generally speaking, a family room is the largest room in the home and is usually a focal point of the house. However, you can turn any room into your family room even if you have no real budget to work with. The living room of a home is the perfect area for a family room, but you aren’t limited to that either. We’ve listed some basic ideas that you can use to help turn the space of your choosing into a family room without any spending at all.

Rearrange Your Furniture

A great first step to redoing any space without spending money is to simply rearrange the things in the room. This is great for a few reasons. First of all, it gives your space a fresh, new look without having to actually add to it by spending money. It helps you to get a fresh start and make things seem brand new. It will add new interest to the room for all the members of the household. A good idea to keep in mind when you are rearranging the furniture in the room is to make sure that it is a connection-friendly space.

Instead of facing every seating area straight at a television, try turning chairs to face a sofa or put two couches opposite of each other. By placing the seating in a way that forces the family to look at each other, you are encouraging interaction, conversation, and connection. Placing a coffee table at the center of all seating is the perfect place to play board games and card games together or to place snacks and drinks to share. None of this is to say that there is anything wrong with television. Your television can be a great place to have a movie night together. However, avoiding the TV as the focal point of the room will encourage less regular use of the television and more conversation and personal connection within your family.

Hang Up Photos

You probably already have some pictures floating around your family room, but they are probably the same photos that have been there for years. Everyone has seen them and become so accustomed to them that they don’t even notice them anymore. Try hanging up some brand-new photos or old photos that haven’t been shared or seen in months or years. This will bring up good memories and spark new conversations as well as continue to draw new interest to your family room.

If you have some old frames lying around, that’s great! However, if you don’t have any frames to use and you’re still trying to stick to that budget of $0, just hang up photos with no frames at all. It is actually a unique trend that’s gaining popularity. Print the photos at home or at a friend’s house if you don’t have a printer yourself and then create a fun new collage on the wall!

Create a Fun Space

What does your family enjoy doing? Whatever it is, bring it into your family room. Are you a family of readers? Store your books in an easy-to-access place in the family room. Create a reading nook by throwing a big pile of pillows in the corner. Is your family made of artsy people? Try having a craft bin with paints and paper and pencils and everything that you love to craft and create with. Maybe you’re a group of gamers and you should keep your game systems in the family room, so you can easily get together to play.

A great choice of a fun activity for almost any family is to have board games or a good deck of cards on hand. Keeping these things in view in the family room is a great way to keep them on your family’s mind and encourage playing together. Things like this are a perfect way to bond and connect together as a family. If you don’t already have these things, try getting together to make your own. You can make playing cards easily by cutting cardstock and drawing on them. Alternatively, you can use popsicle sticks and a marker to draw the numbers or letters of each card on them and play with those instead of normal cards. You can even get really creative and make up your own board games.

Make Every Space a Family Space

It is great to have a special room dedicated to spending time together having fun and relaxing as a family, but the really important thing about trying to make sure your family is close is to simply be together and do fun things as a family wherever you may be. If you have busy schedules as most people do these days, try to dedicate special time to spend together. Stay home together or go out together. Sit around reading together or play games of any kind together. Create together, run outside together, just whatever you do, do it together and your family is sure to stay close and connected.