Show Us Where You Live Friday: Bonus/Family Room



Yay! Friday is here again!! Participating in Kelly's Show Us Where You Live Fridays is sure making the weeks fly by:)

This week is bonus rooms, laundry rooms or play rooms over at Kelly's Korner Blog. I'm going to sort of cheat by showing you our Family Room (I hadn't started doing these events yet when they did family rooms). It is a bonus room though...this part of the house (along with the master suite) was added on in 2003. Plus we do play here...and watch tv, eat dinner, entertain, and even sometimes fold laundry. Does that count? (Just nod your head.)

Here's a look at the empty room when we moved in. We love the high baseboards and french doors that lead out onto the front porch.



{the room up the steps is our living room and past that you can see the front door and entry way}


The first thing we did was paint. We love the new wall color, Sweet Spring by Benjamin Moore. This is kind of an outdated picture by now, but its from the same angle as the one above. We already had this smokey gray couch and matching loveseat and white coffee table from our previous condo. I know there are 2 different schools of thought on using an area rug on top of wall-to-wall carpet. I'm from the school of "if it helps define the space and pulls in colors from the rest of the room to help balance it out better than go for it!"


{we decided to switch things up and get black end tables, 2 different styles from the same line. by now we have some accessories on them!}


One of my problems in this room is this huge wall behind the long gray couch. For now I've hung 2 black ledge shelves we already had here but I think eventually I'm going to need something much large and more to scale here. But for now, I love using these ledge shelves as a seasonal decor spot. Here they are are in their various glory over the years:)


{this is how I have them set up now for spring and summer.}


{last fall}


{this past Christmas - see how that's the same weathered wood star I'm using for summer, I love when things are multi-purpose!}


This is how the room looks when you walk into it from the living room. Be careful, there's a step down there!! (Yes, people have fallen.)


{we love our entertainment center. its from JC Penney and is a total Pottery Barn knock-off for about 1/3 of the price. we really really needed this storage. I am still stuggling with how to balance decorating it to look good and storing what i need here. these pics are slightly outdated too, by now i've bought some nice matching baskets and used them to hide some of our paperback books, etc.}



This loveseat is the samestyle as the sofa and chair, we just got in a different fabric. My parents gave me these 6 framed botanical prints for my birthday this year (from Yankee Workshop). I thought they were just perfect for this space. Thanks, mom and dad!!




We tucked our comfy chair and ottoman into this corner to the left of the french doors. I love to read here.





And to the right of the french doors, we hung the signature mat from our wedding. The baskets on the glass and metal shelf hold magazines and our completely sorry collection of DVDs.



{gotta display my full hardback collection of Harry Potter! right now I'm rereading them for like the 5th time to get ready for "The Half Blood Prince" moving coming out this summer!}



We still have a bit to do in this room. We want to get new carpet and we need window treatments (we're thinking plantations shutters). And I need to figure out that big wall...any ideas?

Well, thanks for looking!!! And thanks again to Kelly for hosting! See you next week for Master Bedrooms:)


Comments

  1. I am in love with this room!! Your color combinations have just inspired my new living room :) (I just moved into a new house) Thanks for sharing!!

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  2. So, I foudn your blog from Timeless Paper, and just read your whole blog! HA! I LOVE, love love your mirror with the "B" on it! So cute!!! Anyway... you have beautiful stationary, and I love your decor style. Have a fantastic weekend!! Can't wait to see more!!

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  3. Aw, thanks, Heather! That is one of the best compliments ever:) How cool to think I could have inspired someone, yay!!! Congrats on your new house!! Good luck getting settled in and decorating...I'm coming over to your blog right now:)

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  4. Hi, ourhappiness! Nice to "meet" you! Oooh, I sincerely heart Emily over at Timeless Paper. I love her work and her home. Thanks for coming over and reading this whole thing all at once, that is awesome!! Of course, the one thing you love most from this entire blog I didn't do...ha ha ha! That mirror with the B on it is from my friend Roeshel's blog, Evangeline's Vine. You have to go over and check it out, she is amazing, and so super sweet.

    Now I have to go and read your entire blog!! I love all this, its so fun making new friends and seeing all these great spaces. Thanks again!!

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  5. I love the colors in your room. It's awesome! Thanks for sharing with us!

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  6. Oh my gosh!! You have such a gift...would you consider coming to my house to help me out? Please!! Your room is just perfect, and if it helps, I think the area rug works. Fantastic job!!

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  7. Your room looks great! I think we have the same coffee table.. I just bought baskets to put under mine! Great job!

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  8. Yep.. they are PB! I loved them when I first saw them. I can't wait to see your master.. I'll be checking back in. :)

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  9. I just love your home. ::sigh:: You know I'm going to have to feature something at the DIY blog, right?! I've said it a million times, but you're such an inspiration!

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  10. Love the room!! I love how the paint color can look like gray/light green/greige.. all at the same time!

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  11. You do a fantastic job at accessorizing!

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  12. Hi! Found you via a soft place to land. I too just read your whole blog. :) I love what you are doing with your home. It's really lovely!

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  13. I LOVE how fabulous you are with accessorizing spaces. Your mantles, your shelving, your pccasional tables. I'm sooo bad at it, I TRULY admire your knack for it! :)

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  14. Fantastic accessories- the room looks soothing and calming and I could take a nap there!

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  15. Nothing less than fabulous!!
    I'm going to be doing a post about a "faux mantle" I'm creating in my basement, and was hoping I could post a few pictures of your mantles from your bio as inspiration (cause I'm jealous of your mantle and mantle decorating skills, lol!). Would that be OK? I'll link that goes to your blog, too! =)

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  16. I've enjoyed looking at your rooms throughout Kelly's tour. Your clean lines and colors are great! Goodness, you have such a decorating talent, but you asked about something behind your couch....perhaps a huge mirror (if it would reflect a window or something "pretty")...Hobby Lobby (if you have) has a 40% off coupon weekly! Or some BIG wall canvas art? Or what you have looks lovely also! :) I do adore your space...and wonderful botanical prints too!

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  17. What a beautiful comfy space. I just love how you decorate.

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  18. Your decor has such a soft and welcoming color pallet. You inspire me to be less bold. I need to tone it down. ha!

    Great JCP find for your storage. I love that piece!

    You have so many fun finds in your house. You must love to shop. What are your favorite shopping spots?

    Emily
    timelesspaper.com/blog

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  19. LOVE Your WHOLE blog! Thank you so much for sharing! cannot wait to see your master bedroom next week!!

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  20. Sarah, thanks for coming on over and leaving such a wonderful note! I've been reading some of your old posts, and I really love what you'd done with your home... And so excited to find another young couple in New England! (Sox fans, by chance?!? They won tonight!)

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  21. Do you mind sharing where you got your area rug in this room? I've been scouring everywhere I can think of for great rugs for my house.

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  22. What a beautiful room. I am always so afraid of accessorizing because I know I will go too far and make a mess out of it. Your have a wonderful talent of making every little detail look amazing and well thought-out. Love your house and blog!

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  23. Wow, thank you all for the wonderful comments!! How nice to hear all this encouraging feedback...good to know that even though we aren't done with the room yet we are headed in the right direction:)

    Emily - bold is good! Our master bedroom and guest bedroom have much darker richer paint colors, but for some reason lately I've been in a light soft muted phase:)

    Jen - I'm pretty sure we got that striped rug at the Home Depot Expo Design Center...but I think they have all closed by now (that rug is old, but I'm glad you like it). Finding area rugs is hard, I've been searching for one for our dining room for 2 years with no luck. What stores have you tried so far?

    Lauren - thanks for your ideas for behind the couch. One bad thing about Massachusetts, we don't have any Hobby Lobbies:(

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  24. Oh, and accessorizing is fun!!! Don't be scared! Maybe I'll do some posts on this since it seems like a hot topic:) Thanks again, everyone!!

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