How much furniture for a family of 6?

[minta]

We have 3 children (under 4) so far, and hope to have 1 more baby, which will make us a family of 6. I have the decluttering thing down pat and am great at keeping toys and clothes and things like that to a minimum, but I am not sure how much furniture we actually need.

I'm not expressing this very well but basically what I'm getting at is does a living room have to be able to seat an entire family at once? I'm thinking it should. Ditto a kitchen. So do I make sure we can seat 6, or do I think ahead and try to seat 8 to allow for guests? Or just have extra seating in storage that we can bring out as needed.

And what about non-primary rooms such as the study, the landing cum reading corner etc... Do I focus on making those sanctuaries where people can escape for solitary pursuits or do I try to make them so they can accommodate as many people as possible?

[Drummer's Wife]

We are a family of 6 and prefer to have seating in both the family room and kitchen for all of us at the same time. But, we eat dinner together every single night. As for couches, we have a sofa and loveseat in our formal living room that really only seat 5. One kid could be on my lap, though. It's rare that we're all in there at the same time so it's not a big deal.

Our family room, where the kids like to hang out to watch Tv and play Wii (just recent additions in our home) had nothing but a rocking chair until this past weekend. We bought a huge sectional that seats 7-8 people, so now there is plenty of room. I'm much happier this way

Our table sits 6 but I'm on the look-out for a 8 seater for the formal dining room. We want 1-2 more kids, plus it will be nice when we have guests.

[annethcz]

We're a family of 6: 2 adults and 4 elementary-aged kids.

Our living room (main space) has a full size couch, a love seat, and one occasional chair. There's also a piano bench that sometimes gets pulled out for seating. We're fairly informal, so when we have guests and need more seating, we either get out folding chairs, drag chairs from the kitchen, or sit on the floor. In the summer, we spend a lot of time outside on the deck or around the firepit.

Our eat-in kitchen has a table with 6 chairs and an island countertop with 4 stools. Our table does have a leaf and can expand, but we don't really have room to do that, given the size of our kitchen. I love having the counter with the stools, it helps with informal seating. If we have more guests, we just bring out the folding chairs.

We also have a VERY informal family room in our unfinished basement. It has 2 old couches and a chair. This area is mostly used by the kids to play video games. And when the kids have friends over, they rarely sit on the couches- they almost always sit on the rug.

[PatienceAndLove]

I am partial to furniture that is modular, so it can be changed around to fit the needs of the family!

We currently have the Ikea Tylosand sofa bed with storage.
I would LOVE to add the Loveseat with 1 arm when we move to a larger place.

I have family friends who have 6 children, and personal areas were made to be sanctuaries from the insanity of the rest of the house. Even if the kids were sharing a room, provisions were taken to create "own" spaces for each child.

[kay4]

well, we are awful and eat in the living room most nights. I know, I know, it works for us though

Honestly we do not have enough seating in the living room for our family of 6. We have one big couch and a recliner and a bean bag. We really could use either a love seat or another recliner. We all fit now but it's cramped.

[Drummer's Wife]

oh, when I said the term "formal" to describe my dining room and other living room, I just used that word because it's what they are referred to in houses like this -and to differenciate from the other areas. There is most definitely nothing formal about either room. No fancy stuff here, the couches are the beat up old black leather ones we've had for years. The dining area currently consists of the kids air hockey table and a ton of Hot Wheels and train tracks. I'd love a nice, big table someday that seats at least 8... but man, they are pricey and probably unpractical at this point.

OP, I do think it's definitely nice to be able to at least accommodate your own family in the eating area and the room where you all spend time together. But I don't think it's necessary to have seating for guests more than folding chairs in the garage. Unless, of course, you entertain very frequently. Then it might be worth the space and investment.

And when your kids are little they really don't care. My younger two sit or roll or play around on the floor most of the time. We actually would have been okay without a huge sectional for a few more years, I imagine. But it's so nice now, to not have anyone fighting over who gets which couch or chair or whatever. There is plenty of room for everyone. not that they stay seated for more than a min or two.

I think the kitchen table is the most important thing to fit everyone. But remember you can use a highchair for the youngest for a while and then get more chairs or a bigger table later on.

[minta]

Thanks for your input, everyone.

As of right now, we have a dining table in our kitchen that comfortably seats 6, with sufficient space to squeeze in 2 extra chairs as needed. We also have an island that seats 2.

Our LR has a 3-seater sofa, a 2-seater sofa, and an armchair, with some nice floor space too. So that's our immediate family covered. I just notice that it seems a bit squeezier when we have 6 adults to seat, rather than 2 adults + 4 kids, so I was wondering if there was a better way to do things.

But now I'm thinking that unless you have what I would consider a rather large house, or at least a larger than usual LR and / or kitchen, then 6 adults is always going to look a little bit squeezy in any one space...isn't it? :

[PatienceAndLove]

Originally Posted by minta

Thanks for your input, everyone.

As of right now, we have a dining table in our kitchen that comfortably seats 6, with sufficient space to squeeze in 2 extra chairs as needed. We also have an island that seats 2.

Our LR has a 3-seater sofa, a 2-seater sofa, and an armchair, with some nice floor space too. So that's our immediate family covered. I just notice that it seems a bit squeezier when we have 6 adults to seat, rather than 2 adults + 4 kids, so I was wondering if there was a better way to do things.

But now I'm thinking that unless you have what I would consider a rather large house, or at least a larger than usual LR and / or kitchen, then 6 adults is always going to look a little bit squeezy in any one space...isn't it? :

Yep!

[SAHDS]

Originally Posted by minta

I'm not expressing this very well but basically what I'm getting at is does a living room have to be able to seat an entire family at once?

Do you only have a living room or do you have a family room too? If you have a living room only then yes, it should seat your entire family with room for guests. If you have a family room too - which do you use more?

My family room is the room we all use, especially when entertaining. We have a large sectional (could seat 7-8) and 2 large chairs. If needed, we can bring in chairs from the kitchen or dining room (it's a huge room).

Our living room is used by... me. It has 2 love seats in a cozy group around the fireplace. It's more formal and doesn't need room for many because it's not used by many.

Ditto a kitchen. So do I make sure we can seat 6, or do I think ahead and try to seat 8 to allow for guests? Or just have extra seating in storage that we can bring out as needed.

Again, do you have a dining room or only the kitchen area? If it's just the kitchen, I would think you'd want space for everyone (with chairs to pull in if needed).

In our kitchen, we have a small table w/ 2 chairs and 2 bar stools which is enough for us (4). Our dining room table seats 6 with room for 8 (we use this for entertaining and eat dinner there too).

And what about non-primary rooms such as the study, the landing cum reading corner etc... Do I focus on making those sanctuaries where people can escape for solitary pursuits or do I try to make them so they can accommodate as many people as possible?

I'd make those a quiet sanctuary. I wouldn't want to stuff people into a closed off room. I'd like them to be in the public spaces, mingling and having fun with everyone else. Well, unless they are open to the other areas. Are they doored rooms or pass-throughs?

I guess it really just depends on you, your family, your lifestyle, your needs, your entertaining, etc.

[minta]

We only have 1 LR, no family room, although we do have a rather large landing upstairs that serves as a private living space for just our family (there's a sofa there, a little desk and a reading chair). Part of the problem is the lack of a family room because it means our main LR has to serve as a library, media center, receiving room and general chill-out center. We already have the kids bunking together so that we can use some of the other bedrooms as a study and a nursery / LOs' playroom, so it's just a question of trying to make sure the LR proper can accommodate our immediate family for a range of activities, plus visitors. And it's just not that big and has weird angles in it on account of being both a thoroughfare (we live in an old cottage) and having a fireplace.

We don't have a separate dining room but our kitchen is bigger than just a EIK ie. the dining space is a proper size, not just a nook. It just looks roomier when we set it up to seat 6, rather than 8. I suppose long-term I might replace the chairs with benches, but right now I like seat backs as I prefer the support myself, plus my kids would just fall or push each other right off the benches, I think.

[Drummer's Wife]

They do sell benches with backs, too. I just mention this because when we were shopping for furniture last weekend I was drooling over a few dining sets like this. They were black leather (so easier to clean, but still comfy). I may end up getting one if we have another kid or two

[rebeccalynn]

I like entertaining, but to be honest - my house is set up just for our family so that we have plenty of space for daily living and we pull out the folding chairs and extend the table for times we have guests. I personally do not mind sitting on the floor in the living room when we have guests (we are casual & it is more comfy when you have toddlers climbing on you) and kids can always be bumped to the floor b/c they do not have the comfort issues that gma, gpa or other adults might have.