3 years later...the family room

Of course the family room is the most used room besides the kitchen but this is one of my favourite rooms by far. It has gone through quite a transformation to say the least. I love that it is pretty but not precious...we really do live in this room. Besides a little bit of touching up I need to do on the coffered ceiling it is a completed room. I love the ceiling that I did just over a year ago..it won't be my last in this house...I think the floor turned out beautifully laid in an unusual way I love dark stained floors no matter how much "work" people say they are. 

The ceiling fan is really cool...especially when it is in motion. 

The sofa is from Ikea its ektorp and is 11 years old...they have discontinued this one so when the slipcover wears out I will have to buy a whole new sofa...I am kind of annoyed with Ikea because of that. Thank you for the Bemz heads up I think that is a great idea but at $609 for a slipcover I defiantly will be buying a new couch...that pricing is madness.

The chairs are new from Sklar Peppler and I am very happy with them, we were way over due to buy new arm chairs. 

I always struggle with wall decor, I typically hate mass produced art...its typically so cheesy or matchy...I found the image of this octopus and had it printed out by a professional printer then I cut it up and used some ready to hang frames and I love it... 

 I left the size of the TV up to my husband and this seemed huge to me, but I  think it works, it is our family room afterall, I would rather have a big TV then one that looks dinky...that's just as bad as hanging a under scaled art piece...it's a TV we watch TV embrace it. I don't live in a home for decor I decorate my home that we truly live in. I built these two bookcases to hold the components.

 My daughter and I put up the chair rail for a bring your kid to work day...I don't see a lot of DIY in her future, she just has no interest so far. When we had the marble for the kitchen done I also priced in the hearth and the tub deck surround to get the best price.

 Of course I had to add a little bead board to the back of the bookcases because I love bead board.

 I love how the marble tile turned out...that is such an easy project and it finishes off the fireplace...the hardest part is deciding on what tile to use.

 Let's talk about these drapes...they are Ikea...I get nothing from Ikea but take my advice when I say look at them for drapes...they are long, they are inexpensive and they are lovely. These are linen and a greige and I love them...there is one thing I hate and it is when drapes are chincy and when they are tied in the middle...remember this, drapes do not and should not have a waist...insert smile here :)

Do you see how the windows and doors are the same height...well they are not, the door is 12" lower than the windows, the builder didn't want to spend the extra dough and put in taller doors in this house...if I had caught this I would have changed that for sure but we bought the house after the framing stage...so I made the best of it, this is where decorating tricks come into play.
I hung the bamboo blinds at the same height as the windows in this room to fake the look of a taller door...it works and it makes a huge difference. We do not use the blinds, they are purely for visual appeal.

 My other drapery pet peeve is that drapes aren't full enough...as you can see here I have used two panels per side...it's so worth it to get the second set especially on a big wide window, don't put up with thin wimpy drapes. These are $60 for a set...I saw locally someone promoting linen drapes at $80 a panel that would be $320 compared to $120, that is a big difference and there is no need to waste that kind of money in my opinion.

 Lets revisit the before photos...it was so stark...this was a couple of days after we moved in...so much has changed...

Just before the big makeover...of the coffered ceiling and flooring install. You can see the DIY coffered ceiling post here 

I am glad I spend the extra money to have the builder upgrade the trim on the mantel I think the carpenter did a great job. You must see how basic and simple my built ins really are, just MDF shelf pieces a bit of bead board and trim...it's really that easy, I bet most people can tackle this DIY build project. 

As you can clearly see there was not too much to be excited about where this room started off, heck I didn't know what I wanted to do in this room 3 years ago.We had the builder carpet just so we wouldn't have subfloor everywhere, the windows are nice, the 9ft ceilings are nice and of course we love a fireplace but it sure lacked any character or style...as I always say a room should be beautiful when it's empty...that's my philosophy. It's that much easier to create a beautiful layered room when there is character...and it adds real value to your home, who doesn't want to increase their equity?

Obviously it is not for everyone, especailly if you like to keep things minimalistic.

sorry for the grainy photo...this is just after I had completed the room just over a year ago...I took down the big plastic wall and I was in awe of how it all looked it was like opening a huge present.

So there you have it the family room 3 years later...no wonder I'm tired... I tend to think of all the things I still need to do and I lose sight of all I've done, it's good to look back like this.