It needs to be comfy, bright, and wired for everything. Robert O'Byrneon the family room

IF IT hasn't already been written, there ought to be a doctoral thesis on the links between the breakdown of traditional family interaction and the design of the contemporary home.

After all, if each member of the household has a room filled with whatever he or she wants and needs - like a television and a computer and phone line - there's far less likelihood of everyone coming together in a communal space. And this is why often the most frequented room in today's homes is the one that provides all those facilities and more besides and is usually called the family room.

Without necessarily being dirty, it's often the least tidy part of the house but also the least formal and the least assigned one specific role.

Instead the family room performs a wide variety of functions: it's somewhere to watch television, play computer games, entertain close friends, make phone calls, read books, listen to music. Above all, it's a room where everyone is welcome; the diversity of interests within any one family is precisely why this room must be able to serve so many different purposes.

It definitely does so in the Canny family home. Parents to three girls, restaurateur Barry and his wife Dee moved to the 19th century south Co Dublin property two years ago after turning back into a single unit what had been subdivided by a previous owner into nine different flats each with its own bathroom.

Their family room is to the rear of the house and features the one major alteration their local authority permitted them to make during the building's extensive refurbishment: the creation of a full-height projecting bay window with double doors that open onto an exterior terrace and the prettily planted garden beyond. This means that any time the weather is good enough, they're able to extend the family room outside.

The expanse of glass also greatly increases the amount of light entering what had formerly been a rather dark room; a family room, after all, has to be appealing if it's to be well-used.

Originally a kitchen, the room's various travails had ruined its old floor which was duly replaced with one of Austrian smoked oak boards - "a little bit of a contemporary touch", says Dee.

Much of it is now covered with a contemporary version of a Persian rug that the Cannys bought in London. Other structural work included having the doorframe from the main hall realigned, the cornices reinstated and a new stone chimneypiece installed. The last of these has a working flue but Barry and Dee prefer not to light any fires until all their daughters are a little older and more aware of the need to take care around a naked flame. In the meantime the fireplace holds a large Buddha head that the couple found in the Porte de Clignancourt marché aux puces on the outskirts of Paris.

Above the chimney hangs a large flatscreen television while on either side are smart fitted mahogany shelves with storage cupboards beneath. These are ample enough to hold all the paraphernalia that little girls inevitably accrue and like to spread around the house: the toys and books and CDs and DVDs.

"We got the idea when we were on holiday in Spain and saw something like it," explains Dee. "So we took a few photographs and had something similar designed for our space here."

The varnished wood of the shelving and the floor establish a colour palette for the room that is otherwise decorated in enticing shades of brown and cream and gold.

The walls, for example, are covered in a caramel-hued fabric while all the woodwork has been painted pale butterscotch.

The comfortable crushed velvet sofa is a dulled gold, a big armchair is upholstered in chocolate cotton woven with a floral motif, the ottoman is of dark brown leather and the long curtains are made from brown and cream brocade.

There are also a couple of wooden occasional tables carrying lamps with shades fringed in glass beads and, on the wall facing the fireplace, a big gilt-framed and bevelled mirror.

Despite the diversity of materials and textures, the restricted range of colours indicates a consistent aesthetic outlook at work here.

It also allows the easy inclusion of other items such as a large rocking horse and a guitar case. This is, after all, a family room. As such, it conforms to all the expected demands by being versatile enough to perform a wide spectrum of different duties.

Its principal role, however, is to provide a place for the Cannys to get together en famille.

"The room's really for kids," says Dee, "but we didn't want a playroom - they have one of those downstairs. We wanted it to feel more like a cosy family room." Which is precisely what it does feel like.

The family room: six essentials

1. If you want the family room to be at the heart of your home, make sure this is physically the case. It's less likely to be used if far removed from the hall, the kitchen, a bathroom and other facilities

2. Copy the Cannys: bring consistency to a room with many functions by decorating within a narrow colour palette

3. Think in terms of hard-wearing furniture. Ideally this room will get more use than most others in the house, which also means it will take more punishment

4. Make sure the room is wired for everything - television, music, internet, phone - and then install all those facilities

5. Keep the place warm and comfortable. While there's no need for it to be particularly smart, avoid excessive shabbiness. Last thing every night, take a moment to plump up the sofa cushions, gather any dirty cups, pick that newspaper off the floor, put DVDs and CDs back in the cupboard...

6. Ensure there's ample light, both natural and artificial because a successful family room is going to be used throughout the day and beyond