Design Choices for Family Room (Family Room 5)

I am up to my eyeballs with decorating decisions I have to make for the family room. Flooring, wall color, new couch, furniture layout, fireplace. Pretty much everything in the room. Well I did commit to where I am going to hang the TV, but that’s about it. It’s so much easier to make decisions about someone else’s house. Sheesh!

Paint

I am definitely going to paint the family room and kitchen the same color. The kitchen reno isn’t going to start until February. Both rooms were shades of green before, but the kitchen was lighter. The easiest choice is to paint both rooms the color the kitchen is now. But that’s boring. Why not change it up, right? Plus I kind of want to wait until I decide on a rug before I decide on a wall color. But we all know it will be some shade of blue or green. I mean why change it up now? Check out my house colors HERE. Oh! One more decision — I am kind of thinking I should paint the ceiling the same color as the walls. It’s such a weird, low ceiling in there. I think it will be less noticeable if everything is the same color.

Floor

This is a tricky one. I hate when a house has a million different types of flooring. So I would like the kitchen and family room to have the same flooring. It would be even better if it was the same floor as the rest of the downstairs, but that’s hardwood and I’ve done hardwood in a kitchen before and I’m not doing it again. The family room is carpet now. It’s gross. It’s going. And I can’t carpet the kitchen, so new carpet is out. So tile is the obvious choice. I like the 12″x24″ tiles. Something to consider is the coldness factor. The family room is on a cement slab. I think tile will be okay, especially with a nice rug. My friends aren’t really looking forward to hanging out in the cold floor room. But whatever, I’m pretty sure I’m set on tile. I like this one from Home Depot or this one from Lowe’s. Both have excellent reviews and the price is very similar.

Look at the color variation in that tile though. What a pain in the butt to make sure you’re buying all the same shade.The next question is the pattern — herringbone or brick. This is a herringbone example given in the reviews for the Lowe’s tile. I love it!It makes the brick pattern seem so boring. But easier!

Ok, so if I go with tile I need a nice rug for the area between the fireplace and the couch. Rugs USA is having a great sale right now and I saw several rugs I liked. But it would be nice to know which floor tile pattern I was going to use, because obviously I wouldn’t want to put a chevron rug on top of herringbone tile. Dude – you’d get a headache. Here are some of the rugs I came up with while I spent entirely too much time searching for stuff last weekend. Speaking of the fireplace and couch… I need to make some decisions about those too.

Couches

The couch is definitely going in the corner in front of the half-wall, except I’m want to take the half wall out and build some sort of storage that will be accessible in the kitchen. Anyway, the couch can be up to 118″ long and I’d like a chaise. I’m just not entirely sure which side I want it on. If it’s on the right (facing the couch) the chaise would be in front of the fireplace and kind of separate the room into two areas. If it’s on the left, the chaise would be in front of the TV, but it would also be under/in front of a window, which kind of annoys me. I think the best choice for me is a couch where the chaise can be moved from the left side to the right side. Perfect for people like me!

I wanted this couch from Costco that was $750, but they were all sold out in like a week and I missed my chance. Apparently they only have furniture in the spring, which is too long to wait. And no, they don’t have it online. Actually, this one looks a lot like it but it’s $1599. What’s up with that???Other couches I like from Costco…

I’m not sure if I want the backrest on the side of the chaise because it’s would be right there by the step when you enter the room. I am actually really scared about getting a new couch. We’ve had really good luck with our $400 Ikea EKTORP couches. They are in perfect condition after 9 years and 2 house. Wow. Have I really had those couches for that long? Who would have thought?? And they have WHITE slip covers on them. But I love it because I can wash them whenever they get dirty, or twice a year, which is what ends up happening. I am on my second set of covers, but a new set of white covers for the EKTORP couch is like $50 bucks. Hello. But I need to go sectional. The EKTORP sectional just isn’t big enough. I need a 3 seater + chaise for my family of 5. This is going to be our movie watching couch.

This Ikea KARLSTAD is a possibility. My mom has it. I’m not crazy about how low the backrests are. I like a little head support. And I would definitely have to swap out the legs. Definitely.Now this looks like a good movie watching couch!

The Fireplace

Tearing out the brick wall that was attached to the fireplace was definitely the way to go. (See this POST for before pics) But I am totally undecided what to do with the remaining portion. The options include building a white surround/mantel combo and either leaving the brick or tiling the over the brick that is still visible. The other option is to cover the entire thing in faux stone (maybe something like THIS). Then there’s the option of taking it all the way up to the ceiling or stopping with the mantel. If I tile, I have to deal with the fact that my fireplace opening is arched. If I had the money and it was easy to run a gas line, I would love to put in a gas insert. I always thought gas was so cheesy, that wood burning was the way to go, but boy have I changed my mind. I’d love to be able to hit a button on a remote and start up the fireplace!! The insert I like is less that $550, but my family room is on a slab so I’m thinking a gas line would be pricey. We do have gas in our house already, in case you were wondering. Sources below: Apartment Therapy, Houzz, Caitlin Creer Interiors, The Lettered Cottage, Thrifty Decor Chick.

Built-in Shelves Around Stone Fireplace Design, Pictures, Remodel, Decor and Ideas

herringbone tile gray fireplace

Build-in Bookshelves

And finally… I am undecided here too. Should I do a corner built-in, like this?

Or all along the back wall, but leave a space for seating, because I’m thinking of having the table in there. (source: Simplified Bee)

built-in bookcase living room sofa hranowsky

Or a combo, like this.

Or just go classic and simple — straight across the back. Thrifty Decor Chick has a great tutorial for building these shelves.

DIY built in bookcases

I’m not sure if I’d go 12″ cabinets on the bottom or a full 24″.

Dining room turned home office

Or go open shelving all the way across.

Globes, Maps, Turquoise, Aqua, Yellow Retro, Wall of cabinets surrounding the TV. This is what most people do. Unfortunately, the TV is made the MOST obvious when perched in cabinetry painted white.

The easiest way to make built-ins is to use BILLY bookshelves from IKEA. I’m going to help my friend Cindy to that in her living room at some point. But they don’t make the 15″ depth anymore and 11″ just isn’t enough for me. Source: Centsational Girl.

kates bookcases during