I almost titled it “Living Room Design Ideas” but really, it’s a family room. It’s going to be a place where David, Connor, the dogs, and I will spend a majority of our day while we’re at home (either that or the kitchen), but also where we welcome and have our friends and family congregate and enjoy each other’s company. It’s going to be ALL centered on the family in our home.
Last week we revealed the (almost) finished room HERE.
So before I get back into the not so exciting details about flooring and electrical, I figured I’d do a fun post of what I’m probably going to spend the next 2 months doing: designing and shopping! 🙂
My plan is to try and decide on all of the details of the furniture, rug(s), and curtains in the hopes that when Labor Day comes around, I can find some good deals and purchase what we need. So, here’s to hoping for some luck and good sales.
Back in this post, I talked about the new layout that I was imagining. Here’s a reminder for you:
We’re definitely getting there. As much as I would love to jump right into that kitchen renovation, we’re going to save our pennies up over the next few years and make sure we do it right 🙂
What you can see from that picture though is the fact that we’re going to need a sectional, which we don’t have. Even though I love our original side chairs and sofa:
I think the chairs a bit small for this room now, so we’ll probably sell them and invest in some larger, comfier ones. The sofa also got recently relocated to the office/playroom, and we decided we love it in there. It’s nice to have a comfy place to sit while Connor’s playing, or if you just want a break from your desk. Also, it’s just not going to get moved back period because it’s HEAVY A.F. Thank you Ethan Allen for making the most dense sofa on earth.
While I also LOVE our current coffee table (it has David’s Grandma’s seashells in it!):
I worried about the boxy-ness of everything in the room, not to mention the fact that it has sharp corners and a glass top (ie, not the most kid-friendly). So we may end up selling that too (don’t worry, we plan on keeping the sea shells), in favor of something round and of a material that will be able to hide the daily beatings from kids. (PS – that picture above is from when we first got the coffee table when we lived in our Maryland House. David’s grandma gave us her shell collection and I knew the perfect spot for them!)
Also, I’m not sure if you noticed from the room reveal post last week, but we basically left one side of the room unfinished without any molding and little effort on the paint. Can you see it yet?
That entire back wall, to the left of the bump-out and to the right of the fireplace is going to have built ins!!! SO. EXCITED. I’m hoping to incorporate that bump-out into the built ins somehow to try and disguise it. We’ll see how that goes!
So without further ado, here are my ideas (subject to change!):
[click the image to enlarge it]
I’m definitely trying to go for a pretty natural look in here, with a touch of navy. I wanted some natural texture with the colors, fabrics, and wood. I’d like to avoid anything too graphic for this room, since it’s so large, I really don’t want it to be all in your face. I’d like for the large furniture to make a statement, with some pretty, organic touches of color and fabrics. Here are some of the details/sources:
- I’ve been eyeing this built in setup for like over a year now. If it has navy, I’m sold. I think the fact that its adjacent to a fire place and a window to the deck just made me know that it was made for our house. It’s a beautiful setup by Studio McGee.
- This scalloped light fixture. LOVE IT. I bought it a few months back, and we’ve had it installed in the foyer already. We bought the 4 bulb unit, thinking we wanted maximum lighting in the foyer, but it’s REALLY bright. I think we may have to get some toned down LED bulbs for it. I bought ours off of Wayfair.
- Various navy pillows. Just kind of pulled these offline for some ideas to carry the navy onto the couch/chairs. Still undecided on these.
- Who knew finding curtains that I love for this room would be such a pain in the a$$? Exhibit A. I’m looking for a really natural/organic pattern of navy blue on white for my curtains. Yes, I’m even willing to make them myself at this point. But I can’t find anything like these, and I refuse to pay this price from Birch Lane. And yes, you read that right… that price is for a SINGLE panel.
- These built ins are just here for when we make a decision of whether we want to put a TV in this room or not. You may think we’re crazy, but we kind of love not having a TV in our main living areas because it forces us to be present with each other. We have a projector in the basement, but it’s a lot more work to go watch a show or movie that way, rather than just grab the remote and turn the TV on. We just don’t know if we’ll be of the same mindset in 5-10 years? Who knows. I really love how the TV is set into the built in design though, by Amber Interiors.
- Some greenery. Can you tell I read a lot of blogs by showing this fiddle leaf fig tree? Truthfully, I’m not picky on the type of tree, I’d just like to put more greenery in the house in general.
- Large grey sectional. I’m on the hunt for this. This one is just a random one I found off of Wayfair. But I want it to be perfect. And also something that will be able to survive children. It’s gonna be hard, I know.
- DROOL. Who wants to be my best friend and buy me this coffee table?? I’m on the hunt for a more budget friendly option than this McGee & Co. one.
- I never thought I would want leather chairs, but man, do these ones from Pottery Barn look so comfy.
- I had this lamp from Target in our master bedroom and I love it, but decided it would look pretty great down here in the family room.
The room measures about 18′ wide by 27′ long, so I think finding a rug is going to be interesting. I think I may end up doing two rugs similar to what I’ve done in the office/playroom. But finding THE rug is making me go crazy. I couldn’t even make up my mind for a general one to be put on this mood board so I left it off.
I’m all open for any recommendations of furniture companies that you love! So far, we’ve had great experiences so far with Ethan Allen, Bassett, West Elm, and Pottery Barn, but I’m all ears for your experiences/thoughts!
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