Family Room Reveal

I am so excited to show off our new family room!  For reference (and because I love this part), let's look at it before...

Yuck!  I know.  And yes, I did peel all that wallpaper off by hand.  You can read about my tips here.

And now after...

Love the way the faux built-ins turned out!  They are just standard Ikea shelving units.  I have a plan for that remaining open space, but its a secret for now...

I love it!  We split the sectional, which was formerly a U-shape in our old house, in order to give us the matching "chair" and so that it wouldn't block the lovely brick fireplace.

It's such a relief to have it finished (well almost... that pesky coffee table needs painting still).  I can't even express how amazing it feels.  Hubby and I have been enjoying the room a lot!  I can't wait to have a fire in that fireplace... it's wood burning!  Now we can finally have people over without having to appologize for the "reno" mess and lack of seating.  Look at all that seating!  We can fit 8 people on that couch comfortably.  Time to start planning some parties.  I plan to enjoy it for at least a few days hours before pestering hubby to start the next room.  Just for fun, here are some more pictures of the new room... yay!  Love it!

and yes, Teddy makes another appearance...

Did you notice the shelving in the back right corner?  We fit it perfectly between the wall and the "bump-out" for the duct work.  Looks custom and built in, but was just a happy accident!  I love it when that happens!  Hope your Monday is filled with happy accidents!

Family Room Preview

It has been rough going living in the new house without any finished areas to just relax in.  I feel like when we first move to a new house it feels like you're living in someone else's house until you get enough of "you" in it to make it feel like yours.  This room will be a huge step towards making it our own and I know it will be a huge relief when this room is done. 

I am so excited to show you the progress so far!  We are getting really close.   For now, I wanted to show a quick preview of the room "almost" done.  Yes, Teddy snuck into the picture... isn't he a cutie?

Amazing I know!  I'm so happy with how to bookcases came out.  Don't they look fab?  Just in case you forgot... here is the "before"

I am so happy, I could pee.  Please ignore the glowing yellow pine table... this is a hand-me-down that I think will work in the space because it's nice and long, but I have to paint it... I'm thinking RED (shocker!) but I'll have to work up some courage before I tackle that paint job.  More photos this weekend... I can't wait!

Faux Built Ins

One project for the family room that I am so excited about is our "built in" shelving.  Originally I was planning to do built in shelving units along both sides of the fireplace.  Something like these (our fireplace is red brick as well)

Then I thought that may be a bit unoriginal and I wanted something a bit more modern looking.  Also our fireplace has a rounded brick hearth, which would have to be covered or incorporated into the design, adding an additional complication.

Then it happened... a flash of genius!  I could use the Ikea bookshelves that we had in our old house and create a kind of faux built in bookcase wall.  Beside the fireplace I had the perfect place for a shelving nook... I will explain.  As you may recall, the family room looked like this:

The plan is to fill that far wall with bookshelves to hold all of our DVDs, CDs and some decorative items using these



I'm so excited!  It's going to be amazing... can you picture it?  I will post some photos as soon as it is done.

Family Room - The Plan

Our first room to tackle is the family room; this is the room that we tend to spend the most time in (mostly because it has the big TV).  For this makeover the plan is to remove wallpaper and chair rail, paint, install new carpet, install some shelving and move in the furniture. 

This room is really dark, so we plan to lighten it up with a light paint colour and lighter carpeting... preferably one without gross questionable stains on it.  We have an existing couch, which is GIANT, that we will be planning the furniture layout around.  Its the Morton sectional from EQ3... we have 2 of those center pieces and an extra corner... HUGE.

The paint colour that we've chosen is Behr Sandstone Cove (middle)

It's warm and light, but still has enough colour to stand out against white trim.  I never thought I would even paint a room beige, but I guess there is a first time for everything.  We are trying to match the paint and carpet to these pillows from Ikea (KAJSA RAND pillows), which match the couch.

 

For the carpet we're going with Stainmaster berber in Cream (which is almost the same as the paint colour). 

We ordered this from Empire Canada.  They come right to your home with samples.  I love shopping at home.

I know we'll need some colour in this room since I don't want it to be all beige and gray.  I'm thinking RED would really spice it up.  What colours do you love to add a punch of colour?

Wallpaper... why?

So as most of you decor girls (and guys) out there probably know wallpaper seems to be making a comeback.  Now its all the rage in magazines and design shows on tv.  I would like to ask those of you who are putting up wallpaper... why?  I have been pulling down wallpaper in my family room.  Yes!  The whole upper part of the wall is wallpaper (keep in mind, this is a "before" picture).

It takes forever and its a sticky mess.  I can't imagine that I would be able to choose a style of wallpaper that I will love for 10 years... or even 5... or 2... Maybe other people aren't as fickle as I am, but I like to change the throw pillows on my couch every 2 years, which means that the wallpaper wouldn't match anymore.  Also it costs at least 3 times are much as paint (or more... I haven't priced out a whole room), which is a deal breaker for me as I like it beautiful... and cheap!  So no wallpaper for me.  Do you love wallpaper?  Do you hate ripping it down?  Do you have a genius hassel-free way of removing it?  I would love to know.