It is family room share time! This is the room we live in the most which is ironic because while we lived here for 6 months before the renovation, no one wanted to spend one minute in it. It sat empty, save for a rug, and was used just as a passageway from the kitchen to the living room. Before we renovated the room was closed off from the kitchen and the archways didn’t exist. It felt kind of like a bunker as there wasn’t one window or view outside, with the only exception of the skylight above.
Now that it is open to the kitchen and with the implementation of a few strategic openings it has become the central hub. Knowing this would be the case I wanted all the furniture in this space to be extra comfortable and since I usually gravitate towards more tailored or sculptural furniture I had a hard time finding pieces that were just as beautiful as comfortable. SO, I set out to design my own. The sofa that is (well the rug and the coffee table are also my own designs but I will touch on those later).
I put a few finishing touches on our family room with the help of Lulu & Georgia and thought it was time I share the before and after of the space!
Lulu & Georgia is one of my new go-to spots for decorative home items and as I shopped the site I found so many pieces I wanted to make mine. The ceramic stool next to the vintage chairs (that I finally got reupholstered, woo hoo!) is one of my favorites. I love that it is sculptural and functional and a little unexpected.
I added these cozy fur & patterned pillows for a little fall update and finally found the right sized side table to sit next to the sofa. The brass base is similar to our dining table but the thick wood top changes it up enough to not be too matchy matchy.
When we first bought the house, this room only had a tiny doorway entrance which we opened up to a 6 foot wide archway to create a flow from the living room to the family room. We also switched the windows out for french doors which brings in so much more light, painted, installed the built-in shelving, ripped out the carpet and installed hardwoods to match the rest of the house.
Here’s a peek into our house as decorated for Christmas. Better late than never right?, and who knows I may never take down that little white tree…
… and certainly not this DIY wall hanging. :)
I wanted the holiday decorations to blend with the decor but still add all that extra sparkle that makes the season special. Usually I like to err on EXTRA Christmas flair but being this pregnant I wasn’t sure how quickly the decorations will actually make it back into their boxes after the fact, so better to do it with a restrained hand. I did this by using a lot of metallic gold, a white tree, white lights, some natural greens, and then spread it throughout the house so most surfaces had a touch of seasonal love.
It is also the first time we have spent the holidays in the renovated space! To see how far we’ve come, check out the living room before we knocked through a couple walls in the before photos here, and all of the renovation progress so far, here.
We did it! We finished one of the gazillion projects on our hands right now and I am so happy to share our finished built-ins. We started the project a couple weeks back and just put on the final coat of paint this weekend.
The paint was hardly dry before I dove into the garage and started digging out some of our favorite tchotchkes and books that I haven’t seen in ages (8 months of living through renovations and we are finally starting to un-pack some boxes and settle in). It took us (my dad, Rupe, and I) two LONG full days to build 98% of it, and then another day to finish trimming out the front of each shelf and to paint.
This project isn’t the easiest of DIY’s but if you know your way around a miter saw and a router it isn’t as intimidating as it sounds (just takes a lot of elbow grease). We also utilized Ikea kitchen cabinets for the base of our built-ins which made it a heck of a lot easier. The thing about built-ins are that of course they are unique to each room so I will outline the steps we took and hope you guys can take something away from it.
All the details and product sources for as much as I can remember after the jump!
The guys finished off the new opening from the living room to the family room and just in time to paint! (remember how it looked before, much improved.)
Ahhh white paint. It makes everything look better (you can still see that yellow mocking me from the hallway but don’t worry I will fix him soon). I may be bringing in some other colors down the road and maybe some wallpaper, but for now I’m loving the blank slate.