Hey there! I love decorating our home, I might love decorating too much if you ask Mr. Tip. I know at times it isn’t easy to decorate a room due to obstacles.  Although the thought of decorating our homes should be fun and exciting, sometimes we get a little intimated.  We are always looking for new ways to decorate our homes, in all the inspirational rooms it seems like it’s a perfect room to decorate.  What they don’t show are the obstacles we struggle with in our own homes.  For example, I am going to share the struggles I have when decorating our family room.  When people come into our family room the first thing they say….”I would love to have the size room you have“.  Oh really?!

What they don’t see is all the obstacles I have when trying to decorate the room.

• Large rectangle shaped room

• West facing windows

• Too many doorways

• A fire place and a corner TV on the same wall

• Dark leather furniture

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There’s always a hitch or two when decorating your home, unless you are the person with the perfect space.

Let me share how I overcome the obstacles in our family room.

Large Rectangle Room

The first obstacle would be the size and shape of our room.  Having a large room can be just as hard to decorate as a small room.  Having a large room like ours is great when entertaining, but day to day living it’s too big for one room.  It needs to be warm and cozy.

So how did I take our oversize room to make it warm, cozy and functional?   I divided the room into two separate spaces.  Without using a physical barrier I created a divider with an area rug.

The area rug serve as a visual boundary, placing the furniture around the area rug defines the space.

West Facing Windows

Lighting, or the lack of, you have in your home affects how the room looks throughout the day. So it’s important to take what direction your windows are facing into factor when decorating.  North, South, East or West, to learn more about each direction you can read Kylie M Interiors’ blog post on A SUMMARY of How Exposure & Natural Light Affect Your Room.

In our family room we have two west facing narrow windows on each side of the fireplace.  West facing exposures creates the room in a dull grayish tone in the morning, noon when the sun is at it’s peak it tends to wash out the colors and in the evening it brings a glow into your room with warmer golden tones.

During the summer months we keep the blinds closed to keep the heat of the sun out.  This being done stops the natural light from shining through.  So the room looks dull all times of the day.

To keep the room feeling bright I painted the walls with Greensheen recycled paint, Cream Batch it’s a light and gentle shade.  It’s a perfect shade with west facing window exposure.  It appears neutral in the morning but cast a warm glow as the day goes on.

Too Many Doorways

Placing furniture in a living room that has a doorway at every turn can be a nightmare.  It forces you to get creative on furniture placement.

In our family room we have a large doorway on every wall and one wall with windows and a fireplace.  Not much wall space to place our furniture.

For our family room I focus on the furniture and not wall space.  Bringing everything around the area rug creates a cozy space with plenty room for walkways.

Fireplace and Television on the Same Wall

Having a fireplace and TV in the corner has it’s own challenges.  What piece would be the focal point?

Above our mantel is not suitable to place the TV up on the wall.  Besides that, I don’t think I would like my TV up on the mantel anyway.

Since our television is in the corner near the window I did not want to block the window with a heavy piece of furniture, we purchased a casual console to place the television on instead.

Placing the furniture so it opens up to both the fireplace and television allows the seating area to be organized in front of both without competing with each other.

Dark Furniture

With all the other challenges we have in our room, let’s add dark furniture to the list!  Several years ago Mr. Tip and I purchased our dark leather set.  We actually were looking for dark leather furniture, I can’t tell you why now.  Now as I look at them they seem to make the room dark and heavy.

To make the furniture work for our room, I use lighter hues around the furniture.   Lighter shade of paint on the walls, cream color area rug and curtains softens up the masculine feel in the room.

For those that have obstacles in your home, how do you overcome the obstacles?

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Sources in our family room:  

Stay strong and Blessed ♥