It is ironic how sometimes our living rooms can be the least lively spaces in our houses. They usually take up a big chunk of the house, and it mostly goes unused, with a few guests visiting once or twice a year. If you are tired of how your formal living room looks or are just looking for ideas to repurpose your living room into a more useful space, we have some creative options you can look into.
What to Do with a Formal Living Room to Make it Useful?
Most of the ideas that we share below will keep the integrity and aesthetics of your formal living space intact while giving it a new look and purpose simultaneously.
1. Create a Breakfast Nook
If you plan to wish completely safe and do not want to change your formal living room radically (as you designed it so painstakingly), then just rearranging some furniture can also do the trick. If you do not already have a small breakfast nook set, you can always invest in one as it looks pretty cute and will fit anywhere in your house.
You can set it up in the corner of your living room and have your breakfast there to take a break from the dining room. You can also enjoy a cup of coffee or read a book here, as it will give the ultimate cozy corner vibes. This is a great way of making your living room useful without disturbing the aesthetics.
2. Extended Dining Room
Depending on where and how your living room is located in the house, you can link it with the dining room, and the idea given above can easily help you achieve that. Even though this Is only possible if your dining room is open and right next to your living room, it is still a great way to repurpose your living room as you and your family can frequent the place more often to have a snack or just enjoy the evening tea here.
3. Office and Meeting Space
What with COVID and work from home – this could be the perfect solution for making your formal living space more useful. It is very easy to integrate a home office desk and chair into your living room. The best place to fit one will be against an empty wall of your formal living room. The sofas can stay there to entertain any in-person meetings, and you will have all the creative freedom to decide what other accessories and colors can strike the professional-casual balance you are looking for.
4. A Small Library
Ever seen one of those cozy reading corners in movies and wished you had one? Well, bring your formal living space into use and create one for yourself. You may need to rearrange the furniture and other items in your living room, so take on this project with a little pre-planning. There are a plethora of options available when it comes to choosing a small modern bookshelf for all the books lying around your house.
See what size can fit and which color will go with the rest of your living room furniture. Finally, select a corner in your formal living room and throw in some cushions or place an indoor bench there to have a cozy reading den to yourself. You can also fix a yellow light on top to make the area stand out and give the perfect library feels.
5. Adult Game Room
Changing your formal living space into an adult game room will dramatically increase the footfall in the area and also repurpose your living room in a very useful way. The best part about this idea is that your guests will remain equally entertained and appreciate this more than sitting in an aesthetic (yet boring) space. There are a number of ways to go about this conversion.
First, you can look into some game room ideas for inspiration to see which ideas your living room most closely aligns with. Next, you can either place a fancy billiard or card table. You can also throw in some bean bags for people to lounge upon, and your living room will soon become everyone’s favorite hangout spot.
6. A Zen Meditation Room
Another great way to repurpose your living room is to change it into a meditation room. You do not need to remove all the furniture and change the entire arrangement; adding a few yoga rugs, meditation pillows, and aromatic candles will do the trick. If your living room has big windows that flood with sunlight every morning, that is the perfect spot for this Zen makeover. You can also use this space to hang out and unwind in general, as this transformation will make your formal living space more welcoming.
7. Family Room or Movie Room
We put these two together because just a few changes in your formal living room can give you both at the same time. A family room is often referred to as the T.V room, which means it is a casual and shared living space where the family can hang out and watch T.V. Installing a T.V in front of the bigger sofa in your living room will keep the spirit of your living room intact while making it more useful. You can add a small coffee table in front of the couch on a movie night to put your snacks and drink on top. This is a relatively simple yet genius way to repurpose your living room.
Our Final Thoughts
Your formal living space is the center of your house as this is where your welcome people and host small occasions, but there is no reason why it can’t be used for something more. If you want to keep the spirit of your formal living room intact without bringing any radical changes to the space, we hope these creative ideas help you repurpose your living room in a subtle yet aesthetic (and more purposeful) manner.
