Family Room

I hesitated to post because my camera, though I'm good friends with it, simply does not enjoy indoor low-light situations. And I couldn't capture my family room the way it feels in real life. But, unless I get a new camera soon, this is it:

First the Before:
(Previous Owner)

 

And the other side of the room

 

 

When we first moved in, I had white microfiber couches, that I didn't like, but I made the best of it. The black shelf unit was $15 at a garage sale. The coffee table was another garage sale item, and the side table another (that one was $0.25) The quilt, my aunt made as a wedding gift. The throw pillows (blue ones) were sweater pillows that I got with a coupon/sale. $4. I was happy about that purchase, but after a few month decided that sweater pillows got nubby and snagged really quickly in our house. Not a good fit.

 

This worked for some time. I was looking on craigslist for a sectional, right price, right shape, right style, right condition... the biggest issue I had was scale. I wanted something so big that it would be the only furniture needed for the room. Simple and to the point. And I finally found one. So I listed these microfiber couches on craigslist, sold them later that day, got the new sectional, and painted the room. (Unfortunately now I have a low-light situation for the following photos...)

I switched my dinning room and living room rugs, added some paint to my coffee table, and changed the yellow wall paint to a warm gray. It transformed the feel of the room from cozy cottage to more of a contemporary casual, comfortable sophistication.

The dresser was one I had as a little girl. It's had a lot of paint over it's lifetime. The TV was a wall model clearance from Walmart. The photos above are square mirrors, $5 each, so cheaper than frames, with the pictures modpodged on. The side built-in I really do like. I put birch branches in the background, and added shelves (it used to be an open space that housed speakers). However, Im struggling a with how to stage it. Right now the top baskets hold our library books, and it's a functional area. One day I'll find the right shapes and scale to use it properly.

This used to be the hall area when I first moved in (back when it was yellow and country looking and I simply needed to use what I had and make it look good until I could paint)

And this is the more modern look, now that I have gray paint on the walls:

 

Once more my old couch set:

 

 

The bright light and yellow DOES look happy. The gray is actually really happy too - just bad lighting when I took the pictures!!!

Well, I'm very happy with the changes to our family room. I've enjoyed having a gray/brown color palette that carries into the dinning room as well and links the two rooms nicely. And we've really been enjoying family movie nights on the big sectional. And it does help keep the room simple, not too busy and cluttered with a lot of furniture.

Goodnight!