Want to start World War III? Try designing a family room entertainment system that will please everyone - the kids and mum want their say, and dad wants nothing but the latest technology. To keep everyone happy, family rooms (which are often adjacent to kitchen and dining areas) need a perfect integration of sound, games, TV and information systems, all hooked to a broadband internet network.
THE EVOLUTION OF THE FAMILY ROOM
In times past, the family room used to be the refuge of dad's tattered old recliner and a big screen tube TV. Modern family rooms, however, have evolved into becoming the main entertainment centre for the entire house, with a full home theatre setup, a large screen, games and more taking over from ping pong or pool tables as the centerpiece.
SJB Interiors Director Andrew Parr says that technology more than anything else has changed the nature of the family room. Instead of trying to imitate a pub or a hotel with the inclusion of a bar and pool table, they now try to imitate the cinema. "The home theatre has taken away from the billiard table concept, with the family room now the cinema room. People used to sacrifice space for a billiard table. I don't know many houses recently that have requested a billiard table, unless it's a really large-scale house," he says. "The screening of a movie has become the main form of entertainment."
Parr, an award winning interior designer, says the family room is becoming more of a ‘kids' room, where all of the entertainment is handled, and the living room has become an ‘adults' room, where the environment is more controlled. "The ‘adult rooms' are the ones where you'll generally find they have sound but they won't necessarily have vision there, so it's a much more controlled environment. Whereas the other room is all about having the home cinema and the theatre complex – it's an entertainment room, which has taken over the concept of a rumpus room. It doubles up as a room where the kids can play games, and it turns into a cinema room later," he says.
When it comes to the look and feel of a modern family room, Parr says the furniture needs to be more robust and comfortable than what you would fi nd in a living room. "Sofas and that sort of thing will be larger in scale, so they can fi t more people or can be moved away from the wall. The fl oors are generally a hard fl oor with a rug that can be moved – it's just about being more fl exible in that space," he says.
