How to Create a Gathering Space for the Whole Family

This week is National DNA Day which has got us thinking about spending more time with the whole family. With different generations come different interests and attention spans, and it's hard to know how to create the perfect space to all gather together. There are lots of activities you can all do together, but the most important thing you can do is make sure everybody is comfortable. Comfort leads to easy conversation and an abundance of laughter, which is all you can hope for when you have all the people you love in one space. So where can you put everyone to make them feel at home, even if only for a few hours?

The first thing you might think of when you have guests over is dinner. The dining room is often seen as the hub of the home so it only makes sense that that's where you'd welcome everyone. But normally we furnish our houses based on who lives there so when we have guests it's really easy to panic about where everyone will sit. That's where adaptable dining comes in, where corner benches and an extendable dining table can be a total game changer. If you don't regularly seat loads of people around your table, you can keep it closed the majority of the time, and then you can extend it ready for guests and bring in a flat bench from the hallway when more people arrive. This is particularly useful for board games, so you can space everybody out more to eliminate the chances of any cheating!

While the dining room is the social hub of the home, the living room is the comfort hub. If you want somewhere to relax together, particularly if you have children, a lounge area is the perfect place to welcome people to. A matching sofa suite is ideal to seat as many people as possible in style. A storage stool will keep cushions and blankets tidied away but will also seat someone on top for additional space, and will move around more easily than larger pieces of furniture for versatility. Kids are often more than happy to sit on the floor, too, so pop a soft rug down as well as those cushions and throws hidden in the ottoman, and they'll have their own comfy den on the floor!

In the Spring and Summer, the garden is the perfect place to get everyone together without getting overcrowded. If your garden has side access then you don't even have to have guests trudging through your house or worry about tidying your entire living space! Outdoor cooking actually creates a sociable way to host without having to leave your guests alone to provide them with food! Use a pizza oven or a chiminea with a pizza shelf and lay different pizza toppings out on the table for your guests to add their own as a fun activity - plus it takes the pressure off of you! Gathering outdoors is also a great way of combining the living and dining aspects of your home thanks to the furniture sets available - like lounge sets with rising tables or dining sets with comfortable sofa cushions!