Changes to our Family Room

Happy Spring, Friends!

I hope you're having a great start to your week! We're on day four of rain, freezing rain, sleet, wind, and snow. All the churches in our area canceled their services yesterday and all the schools have been closed today! So, that's Spring in Michigan!

We've made several changes to our family room in the last several months. The biggest change is the wall color. It's now 'Antique White' by Sherwin Williams. I painted the walls and ceiling the same color.

The other big change is our fireplace.  Our fireplace mantel, that my husband built many years ago, was white and we had added moulding that went to the ceiling. When the walls were blue, it set the fireplace apart, but because we were painting the walls a more neutral color, I didn't like the white going to the ceiling. So my husband built a French trumeau for each of our fireplaces on the main floor.

The whole thing is attached semi-permanently to the wall. The mirror is the same one that used to be here. I painted it to match the trumeau and we used screws to attach it. I wanted it to look like it was part of the trumeau. The mirror will be easy to remove if we want to but I think it will be there for a long time.

Here's a before~

And here's the after!

 He also built one above our fireplace in the living room that I'll show you soon.

Another new addition in this room is this coffee table. I found it on Craig's List and I love it! It looks like it was made to go with our armoire.

It's not in perfect condition but that doesn't bother me. (Then I don't have to worry about keeping it perfect!)

The 'book' on the table is actually a box and we keep our remotes in it, as well as a few other items that are nice to have handy when you're lounging on the couch. The armoire is an entertainment center and holds a tv.

I realized after I took the picture below that I forgot to remove our kleenex box that sits behind our couch. Oh well! (real life) My friends joke that it's the 'arc of the covenant' kleenex box! Ha!

The rug in here is also new and was purchased at HomeGoods several months ago. It's very thick and plush and much better for our grandbabies to play on the floor. 

Hope you're getting some warm weather where you are! I know that not many people are!

love and blessings~

 "But the land into which you are about to cross to possess it, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven."  

Deuteronomy 11:11 

Christmas in the Family Room

Hi Friends!

I hope you're all having a joyous holiday season! Our family was all together on Thanksgiving and we'll all be together for Christmas. There's no sweeter blessing than that!

There are lots of changes around here since this summer, so I'll just be including them as I share each room decorated for Christmas.

Our family room is the room where we spend most of our leisure time. 

I recently found a new entertainment center/armoire on Craig's list. I was instantly in love with it but thought I was silly to get it - our old armoire was so nice. But when it was still there a few weeks later, I mentioned it to my husband, and we got it that same day - for $75!

It's much more my style than our old armoire.

I decked it out with bows of evergreen for the holiday.

I filled our sofa table, that my husband made, with glittery trees and deer.

Michigan gets a lot of snow during the winter, even though we haven't had much yet. I love to fill this room with fur and snuggle up on the couch on cold, blustery nights.

 This fur throw is from Pottery Barn.

 We've had this tree for several years now. I filled it with snow flakes and icycles.

I got these large fur pillows at HomeGoods.

I'll be back soon with more rooms, all decked out for Christmas. Hope you have a wonderful rest of the week!

love and blessings~

"And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.  This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria.  So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city." Luke 2:1-3

all furniture - second hand
fur pillows - HomeGoods
fur throw - Pottery Barn
rug - HomeGoods
baskets - HomeGoods
pillows (Joy/Peace) Joss&Main
mirror - HomeGoods
candlesticks - HomeGoods

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Family Room Tweaks

Our family room got a few 'tweaks' getting ready for the photo shoot with Romantic Homes. When Staci Dumoski, the editor at Romantic Homes, requested that the slip covered ottoman be in the living room, that meant that I had an extra coffee table. I thought that our new table was more 'romantic' than our industrial cart, so I moved it into the family room and put our cart in the basement.

My daughter's always my most observant and honest critic. She said, "I don't know, Dad. This coffee table looks so good in here that I bet the cart doesn't make it back in here!"  (I think she might be right!)  It's surprising how much this small change brightened the room. I'm glad I left the top of the table the original wood tone. It flows well with the other wood in this room.

I had also been thinking about painting the mirror above the fireplace for a while. I reasoned I could always paint it back if I didn't like it but I'm loving it blue! I used a couple of shades of blue chalk paint that I mixed myself and a gold glaze mix on the details. Then I used a chalk paint antiquing wax in the corners.

I love fabric. One of the things that always gets me redecorating is finding a new fabric that I love. I found this linen stripe at warehousefabrics.com and made several pillows out of it. The photos of our house are planned for a Spring 2017 issue of Romantic Homes so I used pastel accents in every room.

My peonies were all gone by the time of the photo shoot. A sweet friend showed up at my door in the morning with all the peonies that were left on her bushes! I combined them with hydrangeas I had gotten at the store for this bouquet on the coffee table.

Behind the couch, I put some faux Spring branches mixed with bird cages and gold candlesticks.

My mercury glass lamps are a constant because we use them in the evenings.

I added some matching gold and mercury glass candlesticks to the mantel.

I moved my one fireplace screen in here for the shoot. I took these pictures before Kristen got here.

I hope you're having a wonderful summer! This is our last week of our grandson's teeball games, my son goes back to Boston tomorrow and our bathroom demo starts on Wednesday.

I'll be back soon with our guest room that I haven't shown you in a while.

love and blessings~

"Behold, I will set your stones in turquoise, and your foundations I will lay in sapphires. I will make your summits of rubies and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones."

Isaiah 54:11,12

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The Scoop #229

Adding Spring to the Family Room

Lately I've been craving color and pattern.

Maybe it's Spring. Or maybe I'm getting tired of neutrals. I don't know... but I have been pulling out fabric that I've had stashed away for a while and some of my old treasures that I just couldn't stand to get rid of when I redecorated and adding them back into our decor.

My lattice fabric that I recently added to the living room goes beautifully with florals and I've added it and a mix of floral fabrics into our family room.

I  loved seeing everyone's beautiful gardens and even though I knew it was early to purchase flowers for the garden here in Michigan, I couldn't stand it and I did. And then we had frost again. So I've been enjoying my flowers here in the house.

I bought this blue and white planter at HomeGoods. I just put these hyacinths into the pot and covered the plastic pots with spanish moss. They're starting to turn a little yellow and may not even be blooming anymore by the time we get past the danger of frost. Oh well! They've been a treat in here.

 The trees are in bloom here now. I've added some branches and a bird cage to the table behind the couch.

My gate got another coat of paint. I didn't like how blue it was and toned it down by dry-brushing it with SW Deer Valley.

I've also been pulling out all my bird cages and topiaries. Looks like a little bit of English Country has invaded the French Country. ;)

I've had this bird cage for a couple of years. I got it at HomeGoods. I also bought several of these beautiful rose bushes and am afraid to plant them yet. I'm planning on putting them in pots on the deck. In the mean time, we're also enjoying them here in the house.

My giant blue and white tea cup is holding a mix of herbs. My previous herb garden wasn't doing well and I'm convinced it was the terra cotta pots. I stuck these new plants in this ceramic pot and they're growing like weeds.

I don't know if I've ever shown you the back of this chair. It's really fun. I should probably put it somewhere it's more noticeable. 

I'm hoping to add some of the rustic wood in here like we did in the living room. That's now been added to my husband's honey-do list. :)

Hope you're having a wonderful week and getting lots of nice weather.

I've been trying to give our deck furniture a fresh coat of paint but we've been having lots of rain. So, I guess I've got plenty of time because we're not going to eat on the deck in the rain anyway!

Be back soon with more projects!

love and blessings~

"Behold, I will set your stones in turquoise, and your foundations I will lay in sapphires. I will make your summits of rubies and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones."

Isaiah 54:11,12