Family Room Built-ins

In August 2010, I posted a photo of our family room when we still had the old tv.  We purchased a flat screen shortly after that, but it took us a while to come up with a design and then a lot longer to get a carpenter that could implement our plan.  He started work on Friday afternoon and got the base cabinets in.  He'll be back on Monday afternoon to begin building the open shelving above.

Art

My friend Tamra made this original art work for her foyer-how cool.  I'd love to copy her idea and do something a similar bold design on sheet metal so that it's magnetic and can become a backdrop for holiday cards. 

Photos

What a great idea to add a bold detail to the room without busying it up!  Love it!

Wainscoting ideas

Finally back to some decorating projects and searching for photos of wainscoting ideas for the powder room now that we've found a carpenter.  I want to have him put up wainscoting from floor to ceiling and then put a bold print on the ceiling

I had a really hard time getting this photo, but it really shows what I'd like to do.  Leaning towards ending the wainscoting 18" or so short of the ceiling and then wrapping the top of the powder room in a bold wall paper, similar to the ones in some of the posts below

Wallpapers

Home Depot-go figure-probably much cheaper than the Asian one below that has to ship from the designer in the UK!

Here are some cool wallpapers I found when doing a search.  This one is from Eley Kishimoto-definitely an Asian spin on damask, but I've always been drawn to subtle Asian touches.  http://www.eleykishimoto.com/shop/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=64

It comes in green and red!  I just sent an email to request some samples.  Yikes!  110 pounds /per roll is equal to $171 per roll.  A tad bit pricey!

Another pretty one

http://designerfabricsblogspot.com/category/thibaut/

http://www.modernchichome.com/All-Wallpaper/c87/p661/NEW-Caprice-Damask-Wallpaper-Set-of-2-Rolls/product_info.html?osCsid=eaae171c98f69d6aadfe27be02a8ebe3

http://www.americanblinds.com/wallpaper/productid,73487

Powder Room

The electrician should be here any minute to do some odd jobs and to take the first step in the "extreme makeover" for our powder room.  Right now, it's pretty ho-hum.  I love the sink, but that's about it.  We had to adhere to "code" when building the house and they installed a fan/light combo which I have hated ever since it went in brand new 6 years ago.  I want to have the ceiling papered so the first step is to get rid of the beastly fan/light fixture, replace it with a separate fan and separate light.  Then, the fun begins-we want to get a cool chandelier that will hang down over the commode, and then have the ceiling papered in some sort of bold, damask paper.  The tricky part may be getting someone to come to wallpaper such a small section-just the ceiling of a very small powder room.  However, I've never wallpapered, the ceiling is textured and the skilled wallpaperer will have to wallpaper the fan cover so that it goes away with all that pattern.  Then, we'll have a carpenter put up 2-paneled wainscoating the entire height of the wall, paint the walls out semi-gloss white like the moulding and we'll turn our Cinderella powder room into the princess at the ball. 

Hurrah!  We're one step closer to a beautiful chandelier.  That beastly fan/light combo is no more, replaced with a simple fan cover that can be wallpapered and a lovely dangling lightbulb that will soon become a chandelier!

 

I was just updating the blog and realized I never uploaded the photo to show the end result of this project-at least phase 1.  Love the chandelier, still waiting for wainscoting and wallpaper, but we're closer to the finish line. 

Candice Olson Wallpaper

Candice Olson has her own wallpaper now too.  Can't wait to get back in there to look at her books too!

Stacy Garcia Wallpaper

Today, I discovered Stacy Garcia wallpaper at the most unlikely place-our local paint store.  I ran in for white oil-based paint to replenish our supply for moulding touch-ups and white primer for new moulding projects.  Very un-exciting purchase.  While they were shaking up my cans, I was looking at some of the wallpaper books.  The lady working there asked me if I needed help.  Not wanting to be rude, I told her what I was looking for, never expecting to find it there and voila...Now that's what I'm talking about.  Isn't it gorgeous?!!! 

Flat Screen TV's

My husband and I are finalizing plans for a new television.  We're planning to mount it on the wall and have built-ins made to improve the look of the giant tv.  My friend Ellen is also purchasing a tv, so we've been exchanging notes as we go.  She needs to mount hers above the fireplace.  I'm posting these photos from my friend Stef's house so she can see one possible look for the over fireplace mount.

Brian's old boss also mounted his flatscreen above the fireplace at his home in Nevillewood.  He installed a painting that retracted by remote control.  When the tv was off, the painting slid over it to hide the tv.  Very cool!

Wish I had some photos of the wall mounted tv, which is what I want to do in our room. 

Hot, Haute, Hot

Brian and I went down to the Strip Saturday morning.  I took a photo of two really cool accessories at one of my favorite stores called Hot, Haute, Hot.  Unfortunately, they are both too big for above my fireplace, which is where I would have loved to use them. 

Words cannot explain how much I love this mirror.  It is 5 1/2 feet square and it is beyond fabulous.  If I can't have it, I want one of my friends to have it so that I can visit it often.  I think it was $750, and hope this doesn't sound snooty, but I think that's a great price for this!

This painting is really cool too, although the photo isn't that great-too much glare.  It is metallic-some sort of epoxy that gradually darkens at the bottom of the painting.  The trees are textural-they are the same color as the backdrop.  It is 3 feet wide and 4 foot 3 inches high.  If it was 4 foot by 4 foot, it would have been mine.  It's $400. 

Phyllis's New (Old) Sofa

My friend Phyllis had her sofa reupholstered and it looks amazing.  I took a photo of it today to add to my blog.  Phyllis is Greek and is always drawn to these types of geometric textiles.  Her color palette is shades of cool blues and whites.  I love it!  The old sofa (wish I had a before photo) was a green toile-very pretty, but it was worn with time.  She found this fabric she loved, removed the skirt, added legs, and behold a new sofa.  She's planning to update the throw pillows-maybe pull out the brown tones in the fabric.

Inspiration from Claudine

My friend Claudine sent me some photos in an email today. I decided to upload them to my blog, which is serving as a digital scrapbook for me-a way to organize the photos I come across that inspire me. Thanks Claudine!

I like this one because it is such a simple color palette.  I find myself wanting to go monochromatic with bold pops.  It is very hard to do.  I have to restrain myself because when I add too much, nothing pops.  Keeping everything simple allows those fabulous organic curtains to steal the show.  Sophisticated casual!

I saw this on one of my favorite blogs the other day-greige which I have listed in the right margin of this blog.  This look is all about fabulous architecture.  I love those pots!  And love how they kept the color palette clean and neutral so that the green of the plants pops.  Awesome.  How about that fabulous pedestal.  Love it!

This is my favorite of the photos Claudine sent.  I adore this color palette-the cool tones of the grey walls juxtaposed against the warm tones of the roman shades, wood and rug.  And lots of white to rest our eyes.  Those natural fiber shades are the pop and it is achieved because of restraint in the color palette-hard to do!  And the animal skull is just icing on the cake-love it. 

This is my last photo inspiration for this post.  Same room as the first one, but now we get to see that fabulous fire place.  What a great idea for the summer look of the fireplace-stacked wood.  Hmmm...I wonder how termites fit in that plan.  Maybe if the wood was outside for a hard freeze and then brought in?  I'll have to think about that one.  I can see those yummy curtains and all that beautiful millwork.  We're hoping to add crown around our family room.  It's good to see an example where the white crown and millwork works well with the rustic fireplace.  Makes me more confident about doing it.

Thanks Claudine for all the photos!  Keep 'em coming:)

Grey

I'm currently obsessing on the color grey. I want to use it in the office above the beadboard. I'd like to find a steely grey-blue to tie in the magnetic bulletin board maps we put up this summer. I think the grey will tie in the black, white, and red that is in the room as well as the light blue of the maps.

We love the new hutch we got this summer. Only $150-what a steal and it was already refinished. I love it. Brian is going to drill some holes in the back of the drawers so that we can use the drawers to charge our cell phones, etc.

I need to reupholster the chair. It was my grandma's and I've had it forever-have never gotten around to having it reupholstered because I can never decide where it's going to stay. I would love to cover it in a black herringbone pattern. That would look so cool, and would fit in any room in my house. I'll also need to redo that window treatment whenever I make a decision about the paint color.

 

It's funny. I'm always drawn to the same photos. I found this photo last year and stumbled upon it again today. That color grey is the color I'm thinking about using above the beadboard in the office. Doesn't it look great with all the white and the bold pops of black? I also love the way it looks with the traditional dresser. The pop of orange is amazing.

Look what I found in a completely different search. It's the same room with the same yummy grey, and I love that chair. It's funny that I just posted my idea of black herringbone and then found this photo. I feel a design coming together!

I'll bring the grey into the laundry room also-it's just 1 foot wide at the top so it can handle a very saturated color.

Sugarboo Designs

I found this print a long time ago, and often come back to it.  I love the whimsy of it.  It's from sugarboo designs.  I first saw it in Cottage Living, a magazine that is no longer available-I miss it they had some great ideas. 

I found the photo from that old Cottage Living magazine.  The web is an amazing thing.  Here it is.  It's been a few years since I've seen that photo and I still adore that room!  Isn't it awesome?

Accent walls with wallpaper

I want to wallpaper or stencil my entrance wall, and wrap that wallpaper or stencilled look around the left onto the wall in the family room (see photo below)

I found an idea for a stencil technique on a design blog. Found it about a year ago, and I still love the idea, so that usually means the idea is a keeper. The blog is called purestylehome. Her husband used a home depot stencil and repeated it over the whole wall with ancestral gold by sherwin williams. It is amazing!

Sarah Atkinson

I discovered this artist while looking around on one of my favorite decorating blogs-greige.  I love how the background looks like a chalboard-the dark backround contrasts wonderfully with the whites

Ideas for Our Family Room

I'm always trying to think ahead about where we're going next in the hopes that I don't do anything that I'll need to undo later.  I'm starting to think about what to do to tie in a flat screen tv when we get around to that purchase.  Our current tv will move to the basement as we continue to turn that into a second family room as the kids get older. 

I'm thinking about doing white crown around the top of the whole room, and we're considering having a carpenter friend put some built-ins on either side of the fireplace.  We might just do built-ins on the right side because we really like the look of the open armoire to the left of the fireplace.  I'm thinking of doing closed cabinets at the bottom across the entire wall to the right of the fireplace-about 18 inches deep.  They can house any components.  Above the cabinets, we'd put the 50" flat screen monitor and flank it with 12-inch deep book shelves on either side and some book shelves across the top.  I'm seeing this all painted out in white to match the trim, with crown at the top and across the top of the fireplace.

Love this photo from Maggy Moon Interiors-it supports the idea that we could do an asymmetrical look.  It also shows that white built-ins can tie in well with the rustic look of a stone fireplace as long as the rest of the furnishings are transitional.