How to design a room you can enjoy on your own and with your friends

Our house has to be able to do so many things for us. When we’re tired, it needs to be somewhere we can relax and get re-energized for the following day. When we’re feeling creative, it needs to be somewhere where you have enough room to complete your hobby, whether that be baking a cake or painting a masterpiece on an easel. Often, it’s when we want to invite more people around that our home struggles to adapt the most. If you just have a couple of friends over, you’re often doubling the number of people that are in the house. Invite a few more for a small gathering, and you might find you struggle to fit them all in the same room amongst everything else you’ve bought to make your home more enjoyable for yourself. Luckily, there are ways you can design a room that can cater to your needs when you’re alone and when you want to throw a party. Here are some of the things you should consider when wanting to create a room with many uses.

Get seating that can easily be moved around

One of the most important things when it comes to a party is seating. You don’t want one of your friends to be forced to stand up in the corner all night. Not only will it be exhausting for them, but as they’re at a different height to everyone else, it’ll make it more difficult for them to take part in any of the conversations you have. If you’re relaxing on the sofa, you might be tempted to bring in a dining room chair for them to sit on. The only problem is while a dining room chair is comfortable for the short amount of time you spend sitting on it during dinner, it can get really uncomfortable if you’re forced to sit on it for a longer period of time.

Instead of dragging in a chair from your dining table, why not incorporate some movable furniture into your main room? Bean bag chairs are the ideal way of providing a seat for someone wherever they want to sit. Unlike a bulky chair, it takes just one person a few seconds to move a bean bag chair to anywhere in the room. For example, when you’re without company, you could keep the bean bag chair in the corner and make up a separate space for reading. When you have friends around, you can drag it into your main seating area, ready for that extra person. There are a lot of brands that are now very famous for selling bean bags but don’t be tricked into thinking that fame means they’re the best on your market. Do some research and look for a Lovesac alternative to make sure you’re getting the best deal for your money. Look for a beanbag that is not only comfy but made out of high-quality materials, so you know the bag won’t split. Pick a color that compliments your main room but make sure you choose a shade that is bold enough to stand out and fun enough to look enticing for your friends and family to want to sit on it.

Get the gear to entertain

Once everybody has got a seat, the next big decision is how to entertain them. You might think that chatting away will be enough to fill the hours they’re around, but what do you when the conversation feels flat, or people feel too tired to be able to socialize? One of the most traditional ways to get a party started is to play some music in the background of your friends talking. As soon as you put a playlist on, the whole room feels more energized and ready to have a good time. You might think that playing your Spotify playlist off your phone or laptop will do the job, but will it really be loud enough and the quality good enough for everybody to hear? Instead, consider buying a Bluetooth speaker to amplify your music. The great thing about it being a Bluetooth speaker is that you and your friends can take it in turns to pick what music to play by simply switching between which device is connected to the speaker. If you and your friends aren’t a fan of music, then why not invest in a great cinema set up instead? A projector is a great way of providing a big enough screen for all of your friends to be able to watch a film that doesn’t overpower a room when it’s turned off. Not only could you watch films on this system, but if you’re a fan of gaming, you could also take on your friends on your favorite console game.

Think about the floor

Another important thing to think about when you’re entertaining is the floor. With more feet walking through your house, there’ll be more chance of the floor taking some wear and tear or even getting seriously damaged. If you have a pale carpet and one of your friends accidentally spills a drink like red wine, you could be left with a very obvious stain on your carpet. Instead, if you’re decorating a room from scratch that you know will be used a lot for entertaining, why not install a laminate floor or something else that is easy to wipe clean? That way, if somebody drops some food or tramples some mud onto it, you know that it’ll just take a bit of water and a cloth to wipe that stain right off. The only problem is that these floors can often feel very cold first thing in the morning when you walk into the room with bare feet. If this is the case, consider adding some rugs that you can move out of the way when friends are around or easily replace if someone was to accidentally damage them. This way, you can fully relax knowing your floor is protected yet comfortable no matter what time of day you enter it.