Before & After: Casual Kid’s Lounge | Play Area

Do you have a quiet space in your home where the family can just relax, kick back, and watch a movie together?  Or, maybe you’d like to have a place where the little kids can just hang out and play a video game without disturbing the adult guests in the Living Room?  Well, that’s exactly the type of space one of our ‘post-Katrina’ residential clients wanted to have in their new custom home.

 

An Informal Kid’s Lounge that’s Comfortable for Adults, too!

It wasn’t until a couple of months after Hurricane Katrina that we met this lovely young couple with two small children.  Before that, the couple had planned to move some existing furniture from their old home into the new space intended for use as a Kid’s Lounge area.  A few small boxes of toys and games had been brought over to the house just days before the storm hit the area.  Unfortunately, ‘Moving Day’ for all of the big stuff happened to fall on the same day that Hurricane Katrina caused a massive evacuation from south Louisiana.  It’s no mystery why the movers didn’t show up to work that day.  Needless to say, that particular existing group of furniture designated for this space never made it into the new house…or any other house for that matter.  So, the space wasn’t quite laid out as they’d planned and was only being used with sparse furnishings and toys.

Kid’s Lounge Seating Area (Before)

 

Kid’s Lounge, Built-in Entertainment Center (Before)

Obviously, the main dilemma for this new space was that there wasn’t any place to sit down or lounge.  So, the first pieces to find were new sofas and chairs (and some hardware for the doors and drawers of the built-in!).  But the space was relatively small for a den or lounge (it was a 9’x12’ bedroom/office size), the new TV was going to be placed in a built-in cabinet in a corner space of the room (where a closet would have been), and there needed to be casual, comfortable seating to accommodate four to six people (at least two adults and four kids).

So, for the main large seating piece, we decided on a sectional-style version of this sofa to maximize seating capacity, and that could also act as a chaise lounge for mom (or dad) to stretch out on.  We chose an indigo-colored denim upholstery fabric for comfort and durability (in case popcorn fell on the seats), added hand-hammered pewter nailheads for a casual effect, and selected a distressed wood finish in a vintage chestnut color on the legs.  Because this particular sectional didn’t have big arms on the ends, the total size fit perfectly in this room, and allowed enough space for a small end table with a lamp in the corner.

Kid's Lounge (After)

Kid’s Lounge Seating Area (After)

For the throw pillows, we opted for a few in various shapes and sizes, some in a celery green color, and others in a fun striped blue and cream pattern.

Kid's Lounge - Custom Pillows for Sectional Sofa

Custom Throw Pillows for Sectional Sofa

For a small armless side chair, we had a slipcover made from a really cute multi-colored fabric that our client found at a local discount store.   A couple of monogrammed bean bag chairs supplemented the main seating, and a vintage round table was placed in a corner of the room with a funky table lamp.  Our client found some cute sports wall art for their little boy, similar to this vintage baseball themed piece.

To complement the informal room, a large soft area rug was needed and we’d found a couple of frieze rugs as options, but our client fell in love with this soft thick cut-pile area shag rug that had big fat nubby strands that she’d found on a great sale that she just couldn’t pass up (unfortunately, she later wished she had gone with one of the frieze area rugs, though, because that shag rug shed incredibly like this one…who knew?!!).

Well, we had some additional ideas for the facing back wall over the sofa, like a large map wall art piece, but a wonderful job promotion with a transfer created another move for this lovely family to different state (maybe the map wall art will work in the new space after all!).

What would you have put on that wall if this were your Kid’s Lounge area?  Is there a space like this in your home?  Do tell, I’d love to hear! – XO, Trisha