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Designing A Functional Rec Room

When Raymour & Flanigan reached out to me and offered to help us make over a room in our home, we had a big decision to make. (HINT: This was not a “yes” or “no” decision. We were ecstatic to participate.) The question was, WHICH ROOM?

Several rooms in our home could use updating, but we finally decided to use this opportunity to create a functional “rec room” in our basement.

Our kids are 8, 11, and 14. If we are ever going to furnish our basement and make it a comfortable place for them to hang out with their friends, it’s now or never. With my son going into high school, he and his friends are getting bigger and the family room just doesn’t cut it anymore.

Rec Room Makeover with Raymour & Flanigan

Fortunately our basement was already finished, in that it had drywall and carpet and a drop ceiling (thanks to the hard work of my handy hubby a few years ago). But it had no furniture. For years, it was just a big empty room with toys lining the walls (and usually littering the floor… you know how it goes!)

Last summer we did put our old sofa bed down there, when I got a new one for our upstairs living room, but it was old and ugly and sagging in the middle. We really wanted to make the room comfortable and inviting and functional for our kids and their friends.

We first went to our local Raymour & Flanigan store to look around and see our options. We took the kids along because this is their room and we wanted them to have a say in our furniture choices. I had in my head that a leather couch and loveseat would be most practical, but once they discovered the comfort of microfiber, there was no looking back. I could barely get them OFF the couch to leave the store.

trying-out-furniture

Raymour & Flanigan has tons of options, although I definitely wanted a couch that had a sofa bed so that limited our choices somewhat. (We have overnight houseguests fairly often and wanted to have more space to sleep them.) We had a big space to fill, and I had no idea how to configure the room to make it both functional and attractive. I soon found myself overwhelmed so I called in a designer-friend to help. (Gotta love talented friends!!!)

She brought graph paper and mapped out our room, drawing various furniture configurations based on the pieces I was looking at. She immediately honed in on a sectional. According to her, our rec room is the perfect space for a sectional. It provides lots of room for the kids to sprawl out, and it automatically carves out a space in the room for a seating area. I liked the idea because I wouldn’t need an end table to anchor the two pieces, and my goal was to keep the room as safe and kid-friendly as possible.

sectional

We looked at several sectionals and finally decided on the Eastbrook Sectional with Queen Sleeper in Mocha because we felt it was the perfect combination of function, style and affordability. My designer advised me to buy a piece with loose pillows because they are easier to replace or flip over if they get stained or worn. She also cautioned that a semi-attached back can tear at the seams, especially in a room where kids will likely be sitting on the backs of the couches and crawling over them.

Once we made our choices, our furniture was delivered within two days. Talk about instant gratification. You can only imagine how excited I was to see that Raymour & Flanigan truck pull up in front of my house! After eight years in this house, we were finally going to have furniture in our rec room!

Raymour-and-Flanigan-Truck

Incidentally, the delivery guys arrived on time and were neat and polite. I couldn’t believe how quickly they were in and out of my house. I almost missed my opportunity to snap a photo of their truck because they were done setting up before I knew it!

Here’s how our rec room came together.

Eastbrook-Sectional-alt-view

Ashton Recliner

Eastbrook-Sectional

instruments

Clearly I wasn’t the only one who was excited.

excited

In addition to the sectional, we chose a comfy recliner to round out the seating area. This Ashton Recliner is no longer available, but there are similar ones in other patterns. I love this print, and it works well off the chocolate brown couch and helps lighten up the room.

ashton-recliner

And as you can see, we have a bit of a music theme going on.

guitars

We are quite the atypical family because we do not have a TV in our Rec Room. We did consider adding an entertainment unit such as the Hamilton 4-pc wall unit with console (we have an old TV from our family room that is just sitting in my husband’s office gathering dust) but we decided to hold off on that for a while.

What my family DOES like to do downstairs is jam out on their favorite instruments so we decided to make the music area the focal point of the room.

jamming

We chose wall art to compliment the theme. I was thrilled to find that Raymour & Flanigan had these metal guitars — perfect for the wall over our couch.

wall-art

We went to Home Goods and bought extra throw pillows and an afghan for the couch in colors that coordinate with the chair. We could definitely use more accessories to jazz up the space, but we intentionally kept it simple because this is where our kids go to play and hang out, and we don’t want to worry about them hurting themselves or breaking something. We still have some toys down there, but we have moved them behind the seating area. The kids love playing down here now.

becca

becca-and-doll

We left a table in the back of the room with 2 chairs, where they can do artwork or paint their nails. (Unfortunately my kitchen table bears the scars of many manicures gone wrong.)

art-table

I love how we were able to create a seating area with the furniture and still have plenty of room for the kids to play with their toys.

Shopping at Raymour & Flanigan was easy and painless. We’ve shopped here before so we were already fans of the brand. They have a lot to choose from, and they keep plenty of styles in stock for delivery in 3 days or less. Special orders take longer, but we’ve always been able to find options we want that are in stock.

Overall we are thrilled with our new space. It gives the kids a comfortable space to hang out with their friends, it gives our family a fun spot to rock out on their favorite instruments, and we also have a nice spot to put overnight houseguests that give them some privacy out of the main living area. Mission accomplished!

To get this look and more, visit your local Raymour & Flanigan store, or visit them online at https://www.raymourflanigan.com.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Raymour & Flanigan. The opinions and text are all mine.

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22 Responses

  1. Looks great! I really like the sectional, we bought a similar one 6 years ago from there and have been very happy with it. I imagine in a few more years it will be time to update!

  2. We bought a microfiber sectional from the R&F in Exton a few years back and it has held up wonderfully to 3 kids and a dog! Your new room will be well loved and well used!

  3. What a great space! I’m in love with the guitar art (I live in a house full of guitar players).

    As a mom of two teens, I might suggest that you add that t.v. My kids love having friends over for movie night. Pop some popcorn and they’re good to go.

    1. As a mom of three teens one girl and two boys…..we have two tvs….one for video games with headphone and the other to watch a movie. You can guess who is normally on what tv…LOL!

    2. Yes, we will eventually, I’m sure. Right now our kids love keeping their sleepovers upstairs, but I’m always baffled. i guess that’s b/c the TV is up there. LOL!

  4. You get the best help with paint, clothes, organizing, and now redoing a room…..way to go! Makes me want to be a blogger…LOL!

  5. I love how functional yet totally classic the room looks now- and COMFORTABLE!! I am totally digging your design aesthetic by the way, oh, and the guitar station – TO DIE FOR!!!

  6. LOVE all the musical instruments. I’m sure its loud over at your house from time to time but what an awesome gift to give your children – the gift of music.

    Nell
    nellers.net

    1. Thanks! Yeah, we weren’t sure when we picked the dark brown couch if it would be too “muddy” in there with the tan walls, but I feel like the pillows and wall art really brightened it up. 🙂

  7. JL – I love the color and music scheme….. your kids looks so happy 🙂 Like you, we definitely want our basement to eventually be somewhere that our kids (and their friends) spend a lot of time. So smart to bring them along and involve them in the process. I think it is so important to make the space both beautiful and functional. You definitely accomplished that…. I wasn’t familiar with Raymour and Flanigan before, but they did a wonderful job.

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