A Dark Family Room Gets a Fresh Facelift

See the more UPDATED version of the family room here: Our ‘Real’ Family Room – The Final Reveal!

Our home is like a revolving door of paint colours – keep spinning and the colours will keep changing!  And the furniture…and the accessories…and the husbands – because he did want to divorce me after spending 7 hrs assembling my latest purchase.

After deciding I was officially ‘over’ my big black hunka hunka wood bookcase, I scoured the Ikea website for something big, white, functional and affordable.  I wanted a fresh, bright look as our family room can be a bit on the dark side (Luke – I am your fahtha, kinda dark side).

And because I was super happy with my Ikea Oxberg bookcases in my office (which I WILL show you one day), I picked the Hemnes collection for the family room as I could have shelves, cupboards AND drawers (usually I am sans drawers, wink wink).I also refreshed the feature wall and bar area with a dark gray paint colour from Benjamin Moore called, wait for it… ‘Gray‘. Whoever came up with that name is a rocket scientist.  Gray is in fact a dark toned charcoal with a strong blueish/purple undertone and I’m DESPERATELY in love with it.

Blah blah blah, KYLIE SHOW US SOME DAMN PICTURES ALREADY!

You are so bossy sometimes…

The Fireplace End of the Room

This was our family room when we bought the house – a hot mess of red and brown (and Tim).

Now our family room is a light, bright and family friendly space!  It was like a dark dungeon when we moved in, which just goes to show that with the right paint colours and decor, even a dark space can feel bright and welcoming (even WITH a dark paint colour)!

The Sliding Farmhouse Door Area

See that door in the photo below?  That’s the old entrance to our spare bedroom (which was turned into my Office here)

The large black and white photo is where the door used to be.  The new entrance is to the left with my AMAZING farmhouse style barn door (it weights 200lbs!).  Moving the doorway was a game changer for the flow of our home.  Not only is the room easier to access, there’s also a window in that room and you can now stand in the entryway and see right through to our beautiful backyard!

Another thing you’ll see consistently throughout our home is the use of gold – not like ‘bling bling’, but the colour.  I LOVE the colour gold, like a rich earthy sunshine.  And while my accent chair borders on the chartreuse end of things (mad love) it brings a consistent flow throughout our home.

This photo here is from our dining room upstairs.  Looking at the 2 photos above, you can see how our home feels different, but pretty darned cohesive throughout – it’s clearly the same home.

The Bookcase Area

And the bookcase – AHHHHHH!  (that is the sound of the Heaven’s opening up…)

Here’s how this wall looked when we bought the house – we actually bought that cabinet too as it works FAB in our entryway!

In between. I loved my black bookcase, but it’s happy in its new home now (yay for Angela!).

And now, the Hemnes bookcase unit fits my large (14′) wall perfectly.  I am an AVID reader (aka nerd) – I love the smell of books, the feel of books and the look of books.  And yes, I am SO anal that they are colour coordinated (except for the middle shelf – those are just a mix of my faves and memoirs).

See the UPDATED version of this wall here – it’s pretty awesome. 

And while the main walls are painted Benjamin Moore Gentle Cream (lightened by 25%) it’s hard to tell because a) I’m not a professional photographer and b) in some lights it picks up the reflection from our ‘very green’ backyard.

The Bar Area

Before.  The bar top had a granite countertop that was 24″ wide.  When we put a chair in that corner, we’d cork our head on the bottom of it, which was funny to watch, but uncomfortable to do.  Stools made sense, but it just wasn’t how we wanted to use the room (I added stools behind the sectional instead as you’ll see below!).  This area too, was a dark cave of meh (a hugely technical term).

See the NEWLY updated Bar/Wine Shrine here:  The Home Bar (Part 2)

After.  I love the new stone slab from K2 stone.  At $350 it was more than I’d usually spend on something like that, but WELL worth it.  We still need to seal it properly, but I’m enjoying it as-is for now!

With its awkward bulkheads, the bar area looks more pulled together with 1 paint colour (Benjamin Moore rocket scientist ‘Gray’) and was the perfect place for a family photo gallery.

With the bar top 1/2 as wide, I was able to put a chair to the left of the fireplace, rounding out the room nicely and adding a good cush for the toosh.

Mixin’ patterns like a boss.  Notice how well the colours coordinate and complement the stone on the fireplace and realize why the original red was NEVER going to cut it.

And I just love this little moment…

And back to the beginning, in case you didn’t notice in the first photo, I had a live-edge sofa table made for the back of our sectional.  With a couple of stools it makes for the perfect spot to drink wine, eat food and occasionally WORK while I watch HGTV!

See the NEWLY renovated family room here (trust me, it never REALLY stops around here…)

Before…And after…

And because there’s ALWAYS room for sentimental pieces, here’s just a SMALL example of the wee treasures I have throughout our family room.  From my Grandpa’s old books, to heart rocks and beer flasks, our home is always filled with love.

So there it is – I’m sure next month it will look different again, so stay tuned (wink wink)

Want ideas for your own home?  Check out my affordable Online Decorating, Design and Color Consulting Services

Chat soon,