How can I make this room look better?

[Fortunatepiggy]

This is our family room. We have a separate lounge so this is dining / living / playroom. It's a bit beige and boring! I dream of having good interior design taste but I am sadly lacking. What can I do?

You have a lovely house. Have you tried turning the sofa around yet to separate the areas a bit more? I agree a round rug could work well to break up the long and thin feeling :)

Will try moving the sofa thanks

And off to Ikea today!!!

I would move the dining table away from the radiator - it looks like you have enough space for it not too.

In fact none of your furniture needs to touch does it? It's a big old room!

I would pick out another strong colour other than turquoise - it would all be too matching with more turquoise accents. I agree about changing the kallax boxes to the natural ones or... We have 6 of the fabric ones like yours (drona?) but in 6 different colours in our office kallax. This could be a personal thing though!

Lamps and real plants - ikea do big indoor plants at really good prices! And with all that natural light they'd thrive.

Hope you have an easy time at ikea!

I suggest making the play area look more like a play area.
The dining area looks fine other than the table is too close to the radiator. I'm not keen on turquoise or having sofas right against the wall. I'd have the pictures on the end wall.
I'm guessing that the DCs are small so I'd have morev primary colours and a mat or rug for them to play on. Kids could gave a toy box each. Maybe a little table and chair set for play and crafts. I love children's mess me. Enjoy it, they grow up quickly.

Moved the sofa but it looked awful as the room is quite narrow and there was no room for my son to play and build his train track and I like sitting and looking out the window.

Will try the other suggestions though.. I've got a rug!

Trial and error

How wide is the wall with the clock, between the two sets of doors/ windows?

Is there space for the Kallax/ Expedit to stand vertically there? Just thinking it might open the space up towards your sofa/ rug zone.

If it fits you could have storage boxes on the bottom four spaces and use the top four for display. If this works attach it to the wall for safety. You can order the correct fixings from Ikea for free in the post.