Shall we head downstairs and check out the family room?! Heck to the YES.
First, let's show what it used to look like a few months ago...
We've come a long way, baby!
(Pic on the left is how it looked the first time I laid eyes on it. Pic above is after getting the asbestos tiles removed. #RIPtiles)
You ready?
Let's do this...
AFTER
There she is! (So far all the rooms in my home are girls...sorry.)
I did two things in this room that I was super excited/nervous about:
1 - Off-Centered Accent Wall
2 - Painted TV Console
Off-Centered Accent Wall
I wanted to bring some color in this room (Tsunami by Behr!) but I didn't want to do a traditional accent wall. It just felt too...boring...in this space. Plus the symmetry of all the set ups I tried prior to this one (see instagram "Family Room" stories for that saga or the pics at the bottom of this post!) were terrible. It was screaming for asymmetry. I JUST GAVE THE ROOM WHAT SHE ASKED FOR, PEOPLE. Then when I found these IVAR cabinets from IKEA on Pinterest I could just picture them overlapping a cool line of paint so I had to try it! I am new to IVAR cabinets but I AM IN LOVE. They are solid pine, so easy to assemble, inexpensive and can be painted/stained etc. I love them so. (Seriously, look at IKEA and Pinterest to see all the ways they can be used. They're awesome.) I just left them alone. I love that they "float" on this wall. In a room with shorter ceilings this helps a lot.
Josh loves art. Especially street art. And he has a pretty big collection. So I needed another spot to display his art, but I didn't want to have another gallery wall. So leaning art on these floating cabinets was the answer.
I also wanted the lines of the accent wall to look intentional so I purposefully hung art overlapping them.
Even though I was nervous about doing this wall I think taking this risk really paid off, here's why: It's just paint (and as the resident painter in our house, I think I have earned the right to say that). Obviously paint costs money, so we shouldn't just waste it by repainting a wall three times (SORT OF LIKE WHAT HAPPENED TO ME AND THIS WALL #idontwanttotalkaboutityet). But generally it's an inexpensive way to add a lot to a room AND can be changed/corrected fairly easily. It's not permanent - so it's very LOW risk.
Taking risks in design with something like paint is much easier than crossing your fingers when you're buying an expensive piece that you can't return. And I change my mind a lot, people.
Painted TV Console
I hated the cords. There. I said it. I HATE THEM. Indiana Josh was nervous about putting a hole in the wall to use one of those cord-hider-thingers (technical term), and I didn't blame him. BUT I STILL DID NOT LIKE THIS WHOLE AREA. You walk in to the room and see the side of the tv so even a cord-hider-thinger would still show the cords coming out the top and bottom. So I decided to paint! I didn't want to do another arch even though I love them.
Here's what I was thinking:
-Black paint hides the cords and ties the IKEA TV unit in with the TV, and I already had both! (Paint and the TV unit). BOOM. (I added these leather drawer pulls from IKEA too)
-Not going up to the ceiling with the black paint doesn't compete with the accent wall. BOOM.
-Rounding the corners of the "console" helps to soften it and look different than the doors that are painted black in the corner (near the TV). BOOM.
-Frame TVs look amazing, but they aren't in the budget/a necessity for us - and all the art we found for free on Roku was uber lame. So Indiana Josh air-played his pics of street art from his laptop. BOOM.
I think all of those elements helped to make this work and not compete with other stuff happening in the room. Oh, and the paint also hid the TV wall mount too! The lamp was a splurge (for me) that I got with Xmas money, because apparently I'm 14, but I really love it (thanks, Uncle Jim!). The rug is Better Homes & Gardens and I scored it from Walmart, yes, Walmart. Rugs are so expensive, guys. This one was only $150 and for the size, (7.5' x 9.5') it is a crazy good deal. It brought in awesome texture that this room really needed.
Here's the other side of the room too, so you can see how it all works together! (This is a little play nook for our wee ones.)
This room has come a LONG way. I changed lots of stuff about it without spending a lot of money (thanks, IKEA! thanks, paint! thanks, stuff-I-already-owned!).
It was a lot of trial and error to get it right, involved me breaking up with a bench (WHYDIDTHATTAKEMESOLONG), and taking some risks with my good friend, paint. In the end I am crazy about it. And am so glad I didn't give up when it didn't feel right/look right.
Girl, you fine!
Thanks for being here, friends.
Hug & Kisses,
Best Friends Forever,
Never Change,
B