5 Ways to Upgrade Your Family Room for Luxury and Comfort

In this post: Are you looking to update the room you spend most of your time in? These family room upgrades will add luxury and comfort to your most used room.⇒

I fall asleep on the couch every night.

No joke.

Our family room is so comfortable that although I’m simply chilling out, or even when I’m finishing my work, I find myself nodding out. Ok, more accurately, flat out sleeping. Y’know, head drooped so low you get lipstick on your own shirt!

But it wasn’t always this way.  In our old house, I never felt entirely relaxed in our family room. It was the largest room in the house and the one with the most promise, but it never quite succeeded in making us feel at home. And I always knew this was my fault. You can decorate a room beautifully, but to really function properly and help you to recharge and refresh, there are very specific things a room should include.

Now, I’m not talking about things like a roof, windows and temperature control. Those are givens and were certainly present in our old den. Nor am I talking about the basic furniture pieces that you might find in an airport lounge or doctor’s waiting room. Those fall into the category of ‘bare minimum’.

Instead I’m referring to things that raise the level of ease and comfort in a room to the height of luxury and privilege. Yet these things don’t have to be lavish, nor do they have to be super expensive. They are simply things you may not have considered that will make your life much more pleasant.

Here are 5 ways to upgrade your family room for luxury and comfort.

1. A large sectional couch

While I care very much about the aesthetics of a space, my purpose here goes way past that and addresses luxury from a functional standpoint. To that end, there’s nothing like sinking into an expansive sectional sofa; the kind you ‘move into’ more than sit down on. 

To be sure, I prefer the look of a single couch and feel certain our family room would look much prettier had we placed 2 sofas facing each other. But I missed that delightful feeling of nestling into the corner of a deep sectional that the entire family could sit on at once. So I decided to let our decorative antiques add the pedigree and I got the sofa that would provide cocoon-like comfort.

2. Gas fireplace

This one I can’t really take the credit for because it came with our house (although I did change the mantel), but oh, what a convenience it is!  I used to look down my nose at the notion of a gas fireplace, thinking they were not as charming as a wood burning model and were not the real thing. And maybe that’s true when it comes to roasting marshmallows, but I realized years ago that it was far easier to toast a marshmallow on the stove than get all involved with lighting the fireplace.

These days I enjoy getting up from the couch, walking over to the switch and flipping on the fire. Boom. Done. 

3. Lots of light

I’m a light hog. I admit it. I’ve had neighbors comment on how many lights we have on in the house at any given time, I never wear sunglasses, and I love to wake up to the sun streaming in. No blackout shades for this girl.

For this reason, I love window coverings that allow as much light in as possible. Half shutters in rooms where we need privacy, and no coverings at all in the rooms where privacy is not an issue.

We also have overhead lights in most of our rooms, even those with chandeliers, and keep lighting controls separate for the various tasks a room needs to accommodate. (More on that in a minute.)

4. State-of-the-art entertainment system

You can absolutely go crazy staying up-to-date with electronics, but suffice it to say, a relatively new system that addresses your favorite pastimes is definitely desirable. For us that means not just televisions, but a quality sound system, all wired together. All the better if you know how to use it! (We’re a bit iffy on that sometimes… ;-)) 

You can often find us with a sporting event on the television, sound off, and music on. For me, that is the epitome of luxury (in large part because I couldn’t care less about the sporting event!) I also love to watch films in our family room because the sound system mimics that of a movie theatre.

The view of the television is not one I often show because, let’s face it, TVs are ugly, but it’s a large part of our home and with the exception of the couch, is the thing in the room that gets the most use. 

5. Smart switches and outlets

The newest update to our family room (and several other rooms in our house) involves the smart switches and outlets that were supplied by my sponsor Legrand. If you want to upgrade your rooms and bring you home into the 21st century, this easy update is for you.

We added products from both of Legrand’s collections, each with advantages that I found downright awesome! In the family room we selected the ‘adorne collection’ for it’s beautiful design and varied options, with modern square buttons and an array of wall plate finishes. We chose light switches with dimmers for enhanced functionality of the space and added a wireless switch to program lights from our phone, even if we’re away. The switches can be touched, tapped or toggled depending on your preference and there are timers and sensors, as well.

*This post was sponsored by Legrand but the opinions and love of the products are genuine and purely my own.

I was even more blown away by the outlet options, something that honestly surprised me, but I had no idea how cool an outlet could be! There’s a plus-size outlet that’s designed to leave enough room for your oversized plugs (I use it for my camera charger, but it’s also great for the blow dryer in the bathroom). There’s a pop-out outlet that pushes out to reveal 4 receptacles, one on each side of the popped-out square. And my favorite options are the dual-USB outlets that include receptacles for USBs.

In addition to the adorne collection, there’s also Legrand’s ‘radiant collection’, and this is the one we used in some of the other rooms in the house, particularly for it’s focus on function. I went a bit crazy with the ultra-fast USB charger outlets, seen above, and added them to the bedrooms and the kitchen, as well.

There’s a lot more to outfitting a room than just furniture and decor, and these less obvious inclusions are what bring luxury and comfort to a space. 

And if it turns out you’re so comfortable that you fall asleep on the couch, at least you can program the lights to go out without getting up from the sectional!

Family Room Upgrade Resource List

To get the look, click on the items below for direct links to the products. Where actual items were no longer available, I’ve provided similar options. 

(This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.)

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