Design Concept for our Family Room
And just like that, here we are at Week 2 of the One Room Challenge.
If you’re stopping by for the first time, welcome! You can catch-up with Week 1 from the ORC. You can also find out more about me here, and read more about our 1863 Queen Anne Victorian home here.
Let me tell you, I am feeling the pressure this week. I’ve hit that crucial point in the project, where I’m over it with the dust and the mess, and I’m just ready to be done. Next week I’ll delve into our work restoring our circa 1863 plaster walls, bead board ceilings, and original heart pine floors. But for now, let’s talk design!
Designing our Easy Elegant Family Room
My buzzwords for this space are elegant (always), casual, cozy, and natural. As I shared during the first week, I’m planning to use a color palette of cream, blues, and greens, and I’ll emphasize wood tones and natural textures.
Here’s a Design Concept Board I put together for our Easy Elegant Family Room.
Up at the top you’ll see my wall and trim colors. We have beautiful historic trim work and moulding details in our home, and I’m excited to draw attention to these features with a darker trim color (shown here: Benjamin Moore Bed of Ferns ) and a lighter creamy neutral wall color (shown here: Benjamin Moore Linen White). I’ve yet to test these colors in the room (that’s super important, by the way) so I may end up making some adjustments. I’ll let you know where I land with the paint colors.
We have a beautiful Bernhardt sectional sofa (the Patrick, now discontinued) which I’m planning to reuse in this space. I’ve been eyeing an antique campaign style dresser or sideboard to use as our media stand. This one pictured here fits the bill. I love the beautiful brass hardware, a theme I’m planning to carry throughout the space along with blue & white accents.
I also have a pair of antique caned chairs that I purchased off of Craigslist over a year ago. I’ve been slowly stripping away the layers of paint, and am planning to use these in the space. I’ll have these reupholstered in a fabric from my own textile collection. I’m also planning to do a few sets of custom throw pillows in my own textiles as well.
I mentioned that cozy and natural were two of my buzzwords. I plan to introduce lots of wood tones into the room through the use of antique furniture, and also woven grasses, such as a large jute rug that will anchor the room. I’ll also install natural woven shades over our windows, and pair them with crisp white linen pinch pleated drapery. I always love a two-layered approach to window treatments. Finally, I’ve made the insane decision to strip all of the doors in the room down to the raw heart pine…so wish me luck and send sandpaper!
The Floor Plan
I’m considering two different layouts, so I’ll share both furniture plans with you here. Our room is a gracious size, with very tall ceilings, and almost perfectly square dimensions. The one challenge, which some of you noticed in my last post, is that there’s an abundance of doors and windows (plus a fireplace!). I’m planning to group most of the furniture in the middle, allowing for circulation space around the perimeter of the room. I tend to think this looks better anyways, especially in larger rooms.
Because this is the family room, we’ll want a TV in the room for movie nights and such. It’s always a challenge placing the TV in view, without making it the center of attention. I think I have a few solutions up my sleeve with these two layouts.
Next week I’ll be sharing our process of restoring our original plaster and lath walls, refinishing our heart pine floors, and working with our bead board ceilings. If you have any questions, feedback, or personal experiences with restoring an older home, I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.
Until next week!
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PS: You can check out all of the other great designers and bloggers participating in the One Room Challenge here.