My friend Kim has started an amazing new blog, Colors Mixed Together, and homegirl has got it goin' on. Amazing ideas, gorgeous projects (board and batten, swoon!), AND regular updating! How does she do it!? She has given me a kick in the pants to get my act together, so here I am...thanks Kim!
There are a lot of things I need to update you all on, as well as some super dee duper exciting things planned for the near future (painting my kitchen cabinets yo!). But, mostly since this is the room I am sitting in now, let's start with the family room. Here is where we started a year ago:
When we first moved in, we really liked the barn board panelling and huge (4 ft tall by 5 feet wide) fireplace. Over time though, we realized those two elements were making the room feel more than a little cave-like, especially with the lack of natural light in there (because of the deep screened-in porch, which we love).
When it came to the fireplace, we kicked around the idea of painting the stone (people lost their minds over that one). I went around and around with different mantel stylings trying to lighten things up, and eventually we moved our tv to the mantel (it had been in the lower left built in, but we felt like that sort of pulled the whole room into that corner). Then I got annoyed because the big beam over the fireplace is very rough and uneven...I'd try to put a vase up there and it would be all wonky and I would throw things and it was bad. Enter my awesome husband. He built what he calls a "slipcover" for the mantel...basically just wrapped the whole mantel in flat pine 1 x 8s with some very simple trim. We painted it white, and then painted the built ins on either side in the same shade (they had been a sort of muddy cream color and the difference with the new paint was CRAZY!). So then, with the TV up there with the dark-ish stone wall behind it, I felt like something needed to be behind the TV to break up all the darkness. I had some old shutters I found a while ago, and my husband mounted one on L brackets and stood it on the mantel behind the TV. Again, amazing difference. Here is where we are now:
I feel like the pictures aren't doing it justice (not easy to get good pics at 9:00pm!), but I am loving it. I think the white "slipcover" over the mantel beam really helps to break up the wall and inject some brightness. Over Christmas I had a great glittery banner hung there and it was amazing. I plan to do one for Valentine's Day soon, so watch for that. (Oh good Lord, please ignore how dirty the inside of the upper cabinets behind the tv components are...except now you can't because I made you look at them when you probably hadn't noticed.)
The shutter is one of my fave things. I just loved the way we pulled it from something we already had and my sweetie came up with a simple way to put it up without drilling into the stone. I can even take it down and paint it different colors pretty easily (already picturing in ASCP Provence).
OK, so now you can see that I haven't gotten around to painting the top of the mantle...woops! We normally don't see it at all unless we're standing right up in front of the fireplace, so you know...it may not ever get painted. I am totally ok with that. I got these glass hurricanes for $15 at Target...pretty much the same as the Pottery Barn version for $60! Don't get me wrong, I love me some Pottery Barn, but if I can find a look-alike bargain I'll take it. The owl I got at Home Goods (aka Heaven). I'm loving decorating with books, I feel like they add such a cool, personal element. The little bottles in the wire basket are from Wuslu...man they bring the good stuff! If you haven't signed up over there yet, you should, but be warned...it is addictive! They offer one item per day, and it's all awesome.
Almost forgot to mention, we finally found a fireplace screen and it has made such a difference! You wouldn't think putting a big black screen in front of a big black hole would be much help, but it really works! I think the screen just gives the eye a place to rest. And, if you look over on the left side you'll see that the barnboard panellng is no more...we took it down and drywalled and holy smokes...what an impact. I'll show more of that later this week.
This room has been a challenge in terms of furniture placement too, mostly because there is not one full wall to be found. I think I have finally found the solution though, with a new sectional that I am getting Wednesday. This was my dream piece...
...but with three kids the $2500 price tag was tough to swallow. Lucky me I found a close copy on closeout at a local store for $888! That's right, a third of the price. Now I just have to sit and stare out the window until it gets here, and then I can get serious in here. I did splurge for some PB throw pillows, and they are giving me a jumping off point to finally have a cohesive color scheme in here.
I'm so excited to be so close to having this room DONE! And excited to be back here...thanks Kim!
See you all soon!
