My mind is still occupied with thoughts of our future family room. I’ve been dreaming of colors (which I shared in yesterday’s post), finishes, fixtures, fireplaces, furniture, and so much more. Every time I’ve dreamed about our future family room, I’ve always imagined a plush, comfy sectional in there. And yet, every time I do a floor plan of the room, I include this furniture arrangement.
So in my mind, I see a big sectional. In drawings, I always show two sofas and two chairs.
In the end, I’m not sure which idea will win out. I really want that room to be as cozy and comfortable as possible for Matt and me, since it’s our house, and we’ll be the ones using that room the most. But I also have to keep in mind that we have people in our home once a week, and sometimes twice a week right now, and I’m hoping that we’ll do even more entertaining once the addition is built.
So with that in mind, is a sectional even a good idea? I imagine myself curled up in the corner of a sectional under a cozy blanket on a winter night, a fire in the fireplace, a movie playing on the TV, and a cup of hot chocolate in hand. That sounds amazing. That’s the image in my mind every time I picture our family room with a sectional sofa.
But then I try to imagine our house on a night when we have people over, and it’s hard to imagine that working out well. I love a sectional that has a chaise lounge on the end, like this one…
But then I try to imagine being that person in the group who’s stuck on the chaise lounge section in a group setting. I think it might be awkward. 😀
So unfortunately, I think I definitely have to rule out that style of sectional. Then there’s the kind that wraps around with additional seating like this one…
But I really can’t imagine more than four people sitting comfortably on that sectional. Right? I would imagine that people wouldn’t want to get too close to the corner because they would want to avoid the possibility of their knees touching. So most people would tend to sit towards the ends. I think if more than four people had to squeeze on there, they would start to feel like their personal space was being invaded.
Even something like this seems like it would seat a maximum of five people comfortably.
So I think that’s why I always revert back to two sofas and two chairs when I do drawings of the furniture arrangement. I does give me that symmetry that my brain always seems to prefer and need. But this arrangement also seems like it would seat more people.
Our current sofa can seat up to three people comfortably, without people feeling too crowded. And this sofa is just over 80 inches long.
So if I have two of those plus two chairs, that’s ready-made seating for eight people. Add a few stackable chairs, and I think we can fit 14 comfortably, and more if we push the chairs back to make more room.
That does seem more practical for our purposes, and for our future plans. But I still picture a plush sectional in that room every time I imagine what it will look and feel like when it’s finished. Tell me your thoughts on sectionals. Do you have one? Do you like it? Does it actually limit seating with large groups like I imagine it would?
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.