Thursday, October 17, 2013

The TV Room Plan

So the other space I'll be spending a lot of time is a TV room/family room addition in the back of the house. This was originally a patio, but has been finished to be a cozy {but not cozy-small... more cozy-warm} space to relax.

Here's what we were dealing with before:



So many things that I like and dislike in one room!

First up, I'm the granddaughter of a bricklayer. Painted brick is not ok with me. I know it's a huge trend right now to paint brick, but I think many, many people will be sad that their brick won't ever be natural again. That's just my two cents. Plus, the color that this fireplace was painted did not look very good in person. It looked dirty... like smokey. And on top of that, if I were to paint brick, I really only like white... BUT with the paneling {which I did not love, but could stand until a future phase} being white, it would have been white over-kill.

With that being said, here was the original plan for the space:
  • Strip the brick fireplace and get it as close back to natural brick as possible
  • Remove stinky carpet and lay hardwood floors
  • Work with the white woodword
  • Add crown molding and chunky baseboards
  • "Beef-up" {a very technical term} the built-ins and paint them a bright color like you see below... possibly build out cabinets on the bottom section of either side of the built-ins for more hidden storage {DVD's, extra pillows and blankets, etc.}, also below.
 




lifeingraceblog.com


  • "Beef-up"/add a reclaimed wood mantle or concrete mantle {I'll share inspiration pics later}
  • Purchase a kilim rug full of color to bring life to the white room
  • Mount a TV over the mantle
  • Add comfy furniture for lots of lounging 
  • Add bamboo blinds and colorful curtains
  • Paint the back door a fun color {yellow, maybe?}
So there you have it. That was the original plan... but if I've already learned something from this process {besides that everything is more expensive than what you have budgeted for}, I've learned that plans change quickly. Here's the scoop... my contractor came to me and said there were repairs that needed to be done to the paneling that were going to become somewhat expensive. With that in mind, I asked him to give me a quote for removing the paneling and hanging drywall. Long story short, although I was planning to do that in a future phase, I went ahead and had it done already. Don't get me wrong, I'm super pleased not to have paneling {goodbye 1970's!}, but part of me was kind of excited about working around that design challenge and having some colorful built-ins {my built-ins in the front living room are also white, so I was thinking something different back here}. Here's what the room currently looks like pre-floors... yes, there was linoleum under the carpet! {Sidenote: holy moley looking at pictures like this of the in-between phase gets me a little overwhelmed!}


I chose a avocado-ish color for the walls. It's called Hearts of Palm by Sherwin Williams. I really like the color... it's a great yellowy-green, but as I'm reflecting on my original plans, I'm still sad that I won't have my bright built-ins. So this room will definitely be a work in progress... who knows, maybe I'll change the walls to a more neutral color to accommodate bright built-ins. We'll see. I do know though that there is still much more to do, but I'm excited to cuddle up in this room and relax! I did already purchase that kilim rug I mentioned earlier, but now I'm trying to decide if I want it in this room or in the dining room. So many decisions! Only time will tell!

Off to Canada tomorrow, so I'll probably be away from the blog for a bit! But next week is a BIG week! Cleaning, painting {more} and moving! You'll be sick of my updates once it's all over... just hold tight!


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