Our Family Room Design Plan

Your home should tell the story of who you are and be a collection of what you love. -Nate Berkus

If we’re friends on Instagram you may know I’ve been working here and there on our family room. We spend a lot of time in this room with our kids and I’ve never really done much with it nor especially loved anything about it. Since we started remodeling our fireplace over the holidays I decided it was time to tackle this space at long last. Here are a couple of not-so-terrible befores…..

A couple years ago we brought in these chairs from another room.

The room is comfortable but it’s cobbled together with pieces from our other homes and everything is looking a bit shabby chic, without the chic. It doesn’t feel like us or a representation of the things we love and although I’m not looking to go bezerk throwing everything out and starting over, with a few changes I think it can be a space we really love to spend time in.

I gave it some thought and put together a little design board like I do for my clients, to keep myself on track and motivated to get this room finished. We actually have a leather couch, not a sectional, but this Pottery Barn image of the brown leather with indigo blue was exactly what I had in mind. My chairs don’t have tufting, but they have that similar rounded shape and nailhead trim. The white linen curtains with blue trim, I stole out of my living room and they look so much better in here, and we have a chunky jute rug already in this room.

Working through options to make a design board helped me to really define what kind of vibe I was going for in here and what I need to focus on to get there. A new coffee table to replace the huge ottoman is a must, but the big white elephants in the room are those floral chairs.

I loved loved loved that floral chair fabric so much when I first got those 10 years ago!!! Now the fabric is threadbare in some places and really faded, and although I still think it’s pretty, I have tired of the big florals I had everywhere in my last house. Since the chairs are still in good shape except for the fabric, I thought I’d get them reupholstered. HA!!! I emailed photos of the chairs to a bunch of local upholsterers and they are all around $1000 a chair BEFORE fabric. So plan B, attempt to reupholster them myself! I’ve been working on them here and there for a few weeks and they have actually come out better than I anticipated! Here is the sneak peek I shared on Instagram a while back…..

Our fireplace remodel is pretty much complete except for doors on the bookcases, and I’ll be breaking down that huge but fun DIY project here starting this Thursday. In addition to the fireplace remodel, I have been dying to create some kind of Gray Malin-esque oversized art for our house and the little ocean landscape on the board, which was taken with my iPhone on Cape Cod last spring, is the winner!

There are lots of tweaks happening to this space and for the first time since we’ve lived here I am actually excited about this space. Besides the money we spent on the fireplace remodel, I think this is going to be a pretty budget friendly update, using a lot of what we already have and giving the space a bit more of a pulled together look that also is cozy and cheerful! I know you all like before-and-afters so I’ll be sure to break my normal Decorating ADD pattern and actually finish this room!

Did you happen to catch Stephanie’s favorite corner of home yesterday on Shine Home Love? So pretty, don’t miss it!

Have a great day friends.