The Family Room Sectional was our best choice yet

In our last house, the living room was open to the kitchen. It was our main hang-out space for hosting parties, hanging out with the kids and watching tv. If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, you’ll likely remember the shingled fireplace and tufted chesterfield sofa that lived in that room.

The new house has a more typical floor plan with a formal living room near the front of the house (see it here) and a good-sized family room off the kitchen.

Having two spaces for gathering was very appealing as we could use the living room for quiet, adult-ish time and the family room for more casual family hanging out. We put the tufted sofa in the living room (see it here) which left us seat-less in the family room.

And that meant a search was on for a good, comfortable, stylish couch was on.

The main criteria were:

SIZE – big enough for all six of us to sit on

STYLE – clean, straight lines

QUALITY – durable frame, hard-wearing upholstery, down-filled cushions

AVAILABILITY – delivery within 4 weeks (we were on a time crunch to get furniture in the room before our family came to stay for Christmas).

Because of the size and slightly strange shape of the room and because we wanted a big, deep, cushy couch, we decided an L-shaped sectional was our best option. After lots of online searching and a few days of furniture store shopping, we ultimately landed on the Lounge II 3 piece sectional from Crate and Barrel.

You guys. I know it is just a couch, but seriously, it is by far the most comfortable couch I’ve ever sat on. Which can be a real problem because all I want to do now is sit on it :)

The size fits perfectly in the odd nook of the family room. We have big plans to elevate the simple style of this room (I’ll share our ideas soon!) but until then, the couch was just what we needed to make it feel cozy and usable. At Christmas, with all our family here, we fit 8 adults without a problem on this big thing. That was exactly what we were hoping for and it made us extra happy with our choice.

Once we pulled the purchase-trigger on the couch, we realized we didn’t have a coffee table. The hope for this room was to be a family-friendly, casual place for hanging out and entertaining so we wanted a coffee table that would not only be the right scale next to the huge sectional, but could also work for extra seating.

After searching and searching, I came across this tufted ottoman bench on sale at Target. The price was great and with two placed side-by-side, it creates a large surface that can also be pulled apart for more seating. The linen color is very close to the color of the couch – not a perfect match, but not too clashy. I’m thinking I’ll reupholster the top of the ottomans at some point just for contrast and maybe in a more durable, darker upholstery fabric since these get lots of wear. I’m thinking a navy herringbone could be pretty.

To save the existing fabric and add more pattern to the room, I draped my favorite wool blanket across the ottomans and topped with an old basket to hold books, remotes, a vase of the prettiest ranunculus and Jenga blocks for impromptu playing. There have been a few times when we needed a hard surface for drinks and snacks, so I just bring in another tray to set those on. For the most part, though, we don’t eat and drink out of the kitchen, so that hasn’t been much of a problem.

We ordered the couch online, but went into a Crate & Barrel store beforehand to see it in person and make sure it was the right choice. I’m so glad we did. We would have ordered the darker gray version, but in person much preferred the light color (ours is the Taft fabric in Cement). And – BONUS! – it is an in-stock fabric so it shipped much faster!

The couch is very deep, which we absolutely love, and throw pillows are almost necessary to keep you sitting upright. Luckily for me, I have a total love affair with pillows and was happy to add a few more to my collection for this room.

Overall, we are so pleased with the choice. It was an investment, for sure, and hopefully a family couch we can keep for years and years.

There will be so many more updates of this room that we’re hoping to get to this Spring. I think it might become my favorite room in the house if all goes as planned. Details to come, of course.

For now, here are all of the sources found in our casual family room setup:

1. sectional | 2. floor lamp | 3. pom pom throw | 4. leather pillow | 5. x pillow | 6. side table | 7. ottoman | 8. check blanket | 9. wood lamp (similar) | 10. basket | 11. faux fur pillow | 12. modern dot pillow | 13. geometric pillow | 14. blue pillow (similar)