A Bedroom In My Family Room?

Many of my regular readers know I've been going through my home room by room redecorating and updating them.  As I design the room, I'm not just interested in updating the decor, but making the space more practical for my new stage of life as an empty nester.

The room we chose to update this year was our family room.  It's a large, long room and it has always been an awkward space to decorate because of the length and the lack of light.  In the two "before" pictures the room is decorated for Christmas, making the room appear even more cluttered.

This is a view of the room if you just walked inside.  A large mammoth entertainment center covers one long wall (remember when these were all the rage?).  The walls are stucco with a faux painting of gold and creams.

This is a view of the room if you were standing by the Christmas tree looking back.  Again, it is very cluttered because I had to make room for a Christmas tree.  But I really want you to notice the French doors, as they play a huge role in the renovation project.

The Reason

Now, before I begin my tour of the beginning of our renovation project, let me explain my reason why we decided to do what we did.  As you know, we are empty nesters.  We have three small bedrooms on the third floor of our house with a narrow staircase leading to them.  When the children and grandchildren come home to visit, they usually stay about a week and average about three or four visits a year.  The last time they were here, we didn't get much sleep.  The crying grandchildren woke us up at night and Ashley, who doesn't like the mattress in the guest room, requested to take our bed.  So we gave up our queen size bed for Ashley (I know, what a princess).  But now my husband and I were sleeping on a full size bed and we weren't comfortable as we kept hitting each other all night.  Then Jason, Ashley's husband couldn't sleep with the baby in the master bedroom, so he went to sleep on a sofa in the living room.  Of course we then teased Ashley the next day and asked her how she was enjoying that nice, large Queen size bed all to herself while her elderly parents suffered on a full size bed.

Now there are two other reasons we wanted a bedroom on our main floor other than guests:  accessibility for old age and air conditioning.

 We were concerned as we age that we may not always want to or even be capable of climbing the stairs to the master bedroom.  It would be nice to be able to stay in our home as long as possible by making it more "old age friendly".

The last reason is that our home does not have central air.  We have one small window air conditioner that miraculously cools the entire main floor to our satisfaction, but the third floor is hot.  The lack of central air is usually not a problem for us.  We are outside more than inside during the summer and neither my husband nor I even like air conditioning.  We are able to sufficiently cool our house with box and ceiling fans.  However, every year we get about a three day heat wave, which makes sleeping upstairs very uncomfortable.  On those days we sleep on mattresses or cushions on the floor on the main level.  We thought it would be nice to have a real bed for those hot summer days.

The Problems

Now that you know why we wanted a fourth bedroom in our home,  let's discuss the problems with creating a sleeping space in a living room.  The main problem we had to deal with was how to create privacy without losing the light.  The living room is a dark balcony space that overlooks a sunroom.  There are only two windows on the east side of the house.  I did not want to just wall a portion of the room off and lose all that light.

The second problem, was losing too much space for a bed so that there wasn't enough seating space.  The bedroom portion of the room had to remain as small as possible so that our family still could gather together in this room.  I should also mention that I have three total living rooms in my house, so I'm not really giving up a large space for large gatherings.  I have a small sitting/living room open to my dining room, and a very big open sunroom that was large enough for my daughter to be married in.  I only needed enough space for the family to comfortably watch TV in this room.

The Solution

Now that you know the reasons we wanted to renovate this room, and the problems we had to overcome, here is how we solved them.

The first thing I did was to paint the walls pure white in a semi-gloss finish to brighten the room and reflect light.  The white instantly updated the room and made the woodwork pop!

After months of thinking, talking, and researching, we decided that a wall of glass that created a partition but still let light in would be best solution.  We used the existing French doors to the room.  Hubby simply took them off their hinges and made a wall with them.  Then we purchased Plexiglas and hubby made two sliding doors that operate like the popular barn doors in Farmhouse style homes.

Here is a picture of the the room still under construction.  The French doors were made into walls to section the room off.  I stained the new wood surrounding the doors black.  Later I would stain the area on the outside of the black "Early American".

My husband created a sliding barn door system all by himself.  He did not purchase one of those fancy, expensive kits.  We left the wheels and nail holes all exposed for a modern industrial look.

The clear Plexiglass slides directly behind the French doors so you can't even tell it's there when the glass is open,

As I stated earlier, the room is actually a balcony, so we wanted to close off the opening to the sunroom below for sound privacy.  We decided a bookshelf would not only be very practical but very pretty as well.

Here is a view of the Plexiglass doors closed.  Now I know most of you are wondering about privacy.  As of now, privacy is not an issue.  We have a pocket door attached to the main living space of the house that we can close anytime my husband and I want privacy.  If more privacy is ever needed, I could also put a rod behind the doors and add a curtain that I could open and close.  My husband and I have been using this room for a month now that the kids have been living with us, and we have not felt privacy to be an issue yet.  I also realize that if I ever have guests use this room, they may want more privacy so I would definitely hang drapes for guests.

A view of the room open with the doors behind the French doors.

Here you can see what the doors look like closed from inside the bedroom looking into the family room.

The Bed

For the bed, we wanted the largest bed possible without sacrificing space, so we decided on a queen mattress.  I ordered a fabric headboard from Wayfair and we attached it to the wall.  Then my husband built a wooden platform that a mattress could sit on top of.  There is plenty of space underneath the bed for under-the-bed totes.

In this picture you can see the shelving unit my husband created.  He put bead board paneling behind the shelves.  I painted the shelves a bright high gloss white.

Now I know you're anxious to see the final results but I don't know when I will be able to show them to you as just days after we almost completed the room (I still have to polyurethane the glass doors) the Apocalypse happened and my kids moved in with us.  It was actually PERFECT TIMING,  but I never really got a chance to decorate the room the way I planned so I haven't taken pictures.  However, I will say that the room is working out perfectly for our now multi-generation household.  Because there is a living space right next to the bedroom it's as if my husband and I have our own "Master Bedroom Suite".  The kids have the entire third floor of the house to themselves.  Each grandchild has their own bedroom.  We share the bathroom, kitchen, and dining room, but at night my husband and I can retire to our "suite" and have time to ourselves before bed.  It couldn't be more perfect!  

The funniest part of this whole story is that I always felt led by God to do this but I didn't really know why other than the reasons listed in the beginning of this post.  Every time I would tell people I was putting a bedroom in my living room they looked at me as if I were nuts...including my own kids!  I would reassure them that we would make it look spectacular and not weird, but no one believed us.  So far I only had one friend and my kids see the room since the pandemic occurred, and everyone now agrees it's the coolest thing ever.  Before the room looked very dated.  Now it looks hip and cool, like a New York City loft;  and it's not even decorated yet, plus we still have some of our old furniture!  I was planning on carpeting over the tile, and buying new decor and furniture, but now that is all on-hold until we see what the future holds.  For now, the room is perfect as it is!

If you really want to see "After" pictures without it being completely finished just let me know in the comments and I will post a few current shots.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

My New Living Room: From Dark and Dated to Light and Modern

I know, surprise, surprise!  So many of you thought you would never see this post.  I started this new redecorating project of my living room WAY back in February with this Inspirational Post.  In that post I shared inspirational pictures of what I hoped the room would like and also what I wanted the purposes of the room to be.  However, everything took a lot longer than we thought it would (we waited a month and a half just for our furniture to arrive!) and we had one frustrating issue after another.  It truly was a re-decorating nightmare!  In the end, I did not get everything on my wish list, but overall I'm pleased with the room.  Let's begin our tour and I'll tell you all about it!  First, here is the "Before" picture.  It was a very dated, dark, small, cluttered room.

BEFORE

And here is the "AFTER" picture taken from the exact same spot as the "BEFORE" picture.  What a difference, eh? Looking at these pictures it's hard to believe it's the same room.   It is no longer a dark, cluttered space.  Now it is open, bright, and cheerful.

AFTER

 

The most obvious difference is the wall color and new floor.  Gone is the dark, blue-green color on the walls and gold/brown rug.  The wall color was replaced with "Colonial White" in a semi gloss.  The ceiling and trim were painted in Ultra White High Gloss.  Because my house is over 100 years old, there are a lot of small rooms.  When I first purchased my house 20 years ago, I painted all the rooms dark colors because HGTV said it would make my small rooms "cozier".  Ugh!  Big mistake!  It only made the small rooms even smaller and darker.  Light colors, especially whites, open up and brighten a room!  

Finding furniture for this tiny room was a challenge as it not only is very small, but there is virtually NO wall space.  I think I went to every furniture store in town and looked on-line,  and I just could not find anything that I liked or would fit.  Finally, out of total exhaustion and frustration, I just "settled" and purchased a recliner and a leather chair.  The leather chair did not work in the room at all so we moved it to another room.  Even though we measured before we went shopping, once the chair was in the room it just seemed too dark and heavy and overwhelmed the space.  (You can see the leather chair in this post HERE if your interested).  The recliner on the other hand, I didn't mind.  The fabric had a pretty sheen to it, and it seemed to fit the corner nicely.  Although it's not my preferred style of furniture,  it's very practical, especially as I age.  It is also a "Heat & Massage" recliner, which is a big bonus to me.  I can't tell you how many times I've enjoyed sitting in this chair after a long day in the garden!

To lighten up the dark chair a bit, I added a pretty throw by Vera Wang to the back of it.  The pillow is one of my old gold pillows that I just covered with a silver pillow cover from Hobby Lobby.  Pillow covers are the most economical way to update old pillows.  They cost half as much as a pillow.  This one only cost around $2.50 because I purchased it during a half-off sale.





Once we knew we were keeping the recliner in this room, the next issue was a table to put drinks on and hold our remotes.  A table would not fit in any practical spot near the recliner where one could easily reach for their drinks.  So my husband built this floating shelf out of distressed shelving.    I also needed a place to store all our extra blankets, so I added this basket from Home Goods.



It was very important to me to not have anything in this room that doesn't serve a purpose (except for my one small corner of knick knacks, which you will see when you read on).  I really wanted it to be easy and quick to clean.



I added a basket to the top of the shelf to hold all our remotes, my eyeglasses, and hand lotion.  Now everything I need is at easy reach, yet out of site.  A pretty orchid arrangement from TJMaxx completed the look.

Once all the heavy drapes of the old room were removed we marveled at all the beautiful sunlight in the room.  Why did we ever have the windows so covered up before?  The room has a southern exposure and great views of the garden below.  At first we we weren't going to have any drapes on the windows at all.  My husband put more trim on the windows and we wanted the large windows, and the light and view to be seen.  But after I lived in the room awhile, I felt the room was incomplete without window treatments.  So we just put one white panel on each end of the windows.  This way, the window frame, and the view, can still be seen.

This window faces east and has the most gorgeous morning sunlight.  My husband surprised me and said a hanging plant would look great in this window.  I was surprised because he normally doesn't let me put real plants in any room but the sun room.  He thinks the water spills ruins floors and furniture.  But I found a ceramic hanging pot from Ross that does not have holes on the bottom so it won't leak.  The plant sits in a plastic liner inside the ceramic pot.  The macrame plant holder I found on Amazon for less than $10.00.  I love that macrame is making a comeback, don't you?

The bead board ceiling and wood stove area were left unchanged other than fresh coats of paint.  The inspirational picture is from Hobby Lobby.  We did change the sconces from the gold "funeral parlor style" ones we had before to these Tuscan beauties.

View from southern window.

In the corner opposite the recliner, next to the wood stove,  I created a little reading corner.  After wasting a lot of money on furniture, I could not bring myself to try again, so I just slip covered my old wing back chair.  Yes folks, that's a slipcover.  They don't make them like they use to!  I had a friend over to the house last week, and she couldn't believe this was a slipcover.  She thought I bought  a brand new chair.  I purchased it for $50.00 on sale from SureFit.  It's like I got a whole new chair for only $50.00!!!!!

The slipcover is a stretchy jacquard damask material.  It forms beautifully to the chair and is secured underneath with Velcro straps.  I chose blue instead of white or grey because even though "all white everything" is "in" my husband and I both like a little contrast between the furniture and the wall.  Blue, especially this color of blue, is very trendy right now in home decor too.  To keep with the modern trend of "all white everything" I simply added a white pillow and throw to the chair.
The white pillow (Home Goods) and crochet throw (vintage) soften the blue and help blend it just a bit to the all white room without losing the color.



When I initially designed the room, I wasn't going to have any rug in the room at all.  One reason is that we loved the new floor so much, we didn't want to cover it up.  The second reason is that this is such a high traffic room because you have to walk through this room to get to the upstairs bedrooms.  Any rug we ever put in this room before always got worn very quickly.  But, my husband and I both felt the reading corner needed be distinguished from the rest of the room and what better way to do that than to anchor it with a rug.  The round rug was a perfect choice, because it never gets stepped on  when walking across the room to get to the staircase.  I purchased it from Amazon.  The colors go great with the room colors.



This is a view looking down into the room from the staircase.  Some of my readers may remember me writing about the footstool.  I love the crochet footstool.  I feel it adds a contemporary touch to the room and needs to stay to balance out all the more traditional elements.  My husband on the other hand hates it and wants it to go.  But it's past the point of no return now, so it's staying!  At least, until it's worn or I find a better one for a good price.  When shopping for footstools, I was shocked at how expensive they were.  I found this one at TJMaxx for $40.00.



As always, I had the hardest time finding a table and lamp for this room.  Every time I redecorate a room, these two items are always the most difficult for me to find.  I couldn't stomach spending hundreds of dollars for an end table;  especially the ones that were heavily distressed and looked like they came from a rummage sale.   So I hit my local thrift store and found this one for $25.00.  I'm trying to decide whether I should chalk paint and distress it.  My hubby and daughter both say "no" but my friend says "yes".  What are your thoughts?

The lamp I purchased at Ross for $15.00.  I liked the neutral color and burlap shade.  I framed one of my favorite pictures of Alethea and I with a new frame from Kirklands.  The color and style of the frame went perfect with the boho look I have going on in the room.  The colors in the picture also go well with the rest of the room decor.  Two baskets were added, one for the top of the shelf and one to hold magazines on the lower shelf.  And lastly, I added a coaster to protect the table top surface.

This picture was the only item left from the previous room.  I thought the design and colors went beautifully with the new decor so I kept it.  I simply moved it from the opposite wall to above the wing back chair.

Right side view of living room as seen from inside the adjoining dining room.  In addition to painting living room "Colonial White" this winter,  I also painted the dining room and office the same color.  The office is right next to the dining room (not shown in this post.  I will do another post showing all three rooms later).  I love how my semi-open floor plan seems even more open now just because all three rooms are painted the same color.

Left side view of living room as seen from dining room



I really wanted to keep this room clutter free and minimally decorated as possible.  I didn't want a lot of nick knacks that I have to dust.  As I have been going around my house, updating and redecorating rooms,   I try to keep my old age in mind.  I want the flow to be unrestricted, nothing to trip over,  and I want the rooms to be easy to clean.  But when all was said and done, this room seemed a little too minimalist to me.  So I went and bought this corner shelf from Hobby Lobby ($55.00) and filled it with just a few nick knacks.  There use to be a round table in this corner, which really tightened up the space.  The corner shelf on the other hand, is so minuscule, that it still allow plenty of room for foot traffic at the stair case landing.  And, I have a little spot for my nick knacks.  What can I say?  A Granny has to have a spot for her nick knacks.

On the top shelf,  I put a modern blue glass vase (Home Goods $5.00).  On the second shelf I placed a Dollar Store bird canvas on an easel and then I added a succulent planter that I made myself.  The third shelf is a picture of our entire family at my daughter's wedding.  I thought the teal dress I was wearing coordinated perfectly with the other blues in the room.  I then added a teal vase with white faux flowers next to it.  I painted the vase teal myself (post coming soon).  The bottom shelf was a tricky one as it is so close to the floor I couldn't put anything breakable on it.  When I found this lantern at Aldi for around $6.00 I thought it was perfect for the spot.

View of living room as seen from back wall of dining room.

View of living room as seen from staircase landing.

I really needed a TV in this room as it is right off the kitchen.  Often when cooking, I like to sit down and watch TV when something is in the oven or simmering on the stove.  The other living space is too far away for that.  So, we then mulled over how to put a TV in such a small, awkward space.  It used to be in the corner, where the wing back chair is now.  But I never really liked it there because of the windows.  So we decided to move it and put it between the two windows.  The size of the TV fit perfect there.  At first, we we were going to purchase a new entertainment center.  We couldn't just put the TV on the wall because we have components.  But again, price sticker shock affected me.  I just can't believe how much furniture costs these days, can you?  So I started looking at thrift stores for something I could alter.  But then hubby said "Why do we need an entertainment center?  We don't need the storage for Cd's or videos anymore.  All we need is a way to hold our components."  So he came up with this ingenious idea of creating another floating shelf.  The TV sits on the top shelf, and the components sit on the second shelf. We hung a black cloth to hide the cords and the rest of the cords inside the molding on the lower left window.  The window curtain covers up the bottom portion of the cords that go into the basement.

It was a brilliant idea!  The floating shelf has a clean, modern look, yet, the distressed wood shelving keeps with the character of the house.  Above the TV I hung a boho style architectural piece.  We felt something was missing above the TV but we didn't want to put a real picture there because we felt it would compete for attention with the TV.  Because it is white, and blends with the wall, the architectural pieces fills the space without overwhelming it.

And before I close, I should also mention we replaced our old stair case runner with a new one.  I had to go through old post archives to find a picture, as I forgot to take one.  But that's OK because now I have my precious Alethea in a picture!  The new runner is a beautiful grey and white with flecks of blue in it.  It matches the round rug very well.

Well, that's it.  Sorry it took me four months to post the final results but we had a lot of struggles, frustrations, and waiting periods till it was all done.  Even though the room didn't exactly turn out like my dreams,  I'm pretty pleased with it.  What do you think?

Summary of Room Remodel Costs:

Flooring:                                                                                                                                    $500.00

Paint:  Free, with rebates

Lighting:                                                                                                                                     $75.00

Rug and Runner:                                                                                                                         $125.00                  

Furniture:  (I'm not including the cost of the leather chair as we did not use it in this room)  $525.00

Wood For Shelves, Trim:                                                                                                            $125.00

Window Treatments:                                                                                                                    $50.00

Decorations:                                                                                                                                 $245.00

                                                                                                                                                    _______

Grand Total:                                                                                                                           $1645.00

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

Shopping With Alethea at IKEA and More!

Whenever I visit my children in Illinois, I love to go to IKEA!  I don't buy much, I usually just purchase food items (have you ever tried their oatmeal cookies?  AMAZING!) and small decor items. My main reason for going is because I love to walk through their showrooms and get ideas!  I think their small space living ideas are incredible.

This small living space that my daughter and granddaughter are exploring, was so pretty!  I said "I could so easily live here!"  Of course, I'd probably have to get rid of all my crafty stuff and 3/4 of my clothes, but I could still live here!  I loved all the pink, especially the pink dividing curtain and the pink sofa.  

Here is the kitchen portion of this room.

And here is the entertainment area of the room.    

I had just finished painting my new living room when I was visiting my kids, so I was on the lookout for new furniture.  That's another reason I wanted to go to IKEA;  to check out their "all white slip covered furniture" that's all the rage.  Unfortunately,  although I found a lot of furniture that I liked the look of, (like the grey couch below),  I didn't think it was comfortable when I sat on it.

I was also on the hunt for interesting pendant lighting for another room in our home we will be remodeling next year.  I saw a lot of lighting I liked, but nothing screamed "Take me home with you!"

On a side note, notice the floral wallpaper?  Wallpaper is back in style, especially if you only wallpaper one wall.  I would never do wallpaper, because when I bought my house 25 years ago every wall (and ceiling) was covered in wallpaper.  I spent years stripping it off, so I would never put it back in.  But I will appreciate all the pretty wallpaper designs I see.

I spotted these curtains and made a mental note to consider them when we begin our next room remodel.  My husband and I discussed having a curtain to separate a living space from a sleeping space in that room.  These will work great!

Here is the famous "All White Slip Covered Couch" every Instagram woman wants in their home.   I sat in it, and just wasn't comfortable.  I also thought it was a little pricey for "cheap" furniture ($479.00).  And, I don't know, they just look kinda sloppy to me.  I get the attraction, but in the end, I passed as I didn't think they would work for me.

I really liked this wire storage rack idea, it would be perfect for long necklaces and scarves.

I took a picture of this showroom because the duvet cover is the same cover I purchased for my guest room.  When I decorated my guest room, I used pink as the accent color, so it was interesting to me to see my same duvet cover accented with blue.  If I ever decide to get rid of the pink, blue would work too!

One of the items I was considering buying for my new living room was a chaise lounge.  I liked the modern look of this one, but again, when I sat in it, it was terribly uncomfortable to me.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how they decorated these pink vases.  I actually purchased two of these leaves the last time I was at Ikea, but I just left mine tall.  This is a brilliant idea to bend the stem and add an orchid.  I really must try this!

These planters are so cute too!  I've noticed the plain wooden bases on planters are really trending.

Another industrial pendant light I liked.

Here is the slip covered chair that goes with the slip covered couch.  Again, just not comfy and pretty pricey to me.  The chair is $349 alone plus another $169 for the ottoman.  One thing I noticed while shopping for new furniture for my home was how expensive ottomans are.  They are almost as expensive as the chair!  I wonder why.  It's almost as if they do that on purpose, because they know you NEED the ottoman to go with the chair, so they overcharge you.

I really liked this pendant lighting.

This 'basket' cover is actually sold separately.  I think out of all the lighting I saw, this one might work best in my home.  I love the texture it will bring to a room.

Alethea had so much fun in the kid's area of IKEA.  She loved playing with this play kitchen.  It blew me away with how she knew how to turn on the water faucet, fill dishes with water, and cook something in the microwave.  I could tell she must watch mom and dad cook in the kitchen a lot.

I did like these updated retro versions of wing chairs and found them the affordable at only $279 (current on line price) and the ottoman is only $69.

I'm keeping an eye out for a new entertainment center for our next room remodel.  I liked the industrial look of this one, plus the metal will help keep the grandkids from pushing the buttons on the tv components!

I've been trying to figure out what to do with the windows in our living room.  We really don't need curtains in that room, as there are no privacy issues.  I thought of having no window treatments at all, but it just seems kinda sterile to me.  So then I considered these:  they're not shades, because they don't roll up.  They are just stiff fabric that could actually serve as a room divider too.  They come in a variety of patterns.  I thought they were pretty cool, but hubby dismissed them because they would block his view.

More fun pendant lighting.

I always look forward to shopping at IKEA not just for inspiration for my own home, but also so I could eat in their cafeteria.  I love their Swedish Meatballs!  I tried their salmon dish once, but when a friend suggested I try their Swedish Meatballs, I've ordered that ever visit since.  They also sell their meatballs in their frozen food section, but because I was traveling I couldn't buy any to take home.  Alethea went crazy for them!  She loved them so much!

Finally, here are some other pictures I took while shopping with Alethea at other spots in Illinois.  The weather was really bad the week I was there, so other than the zoo and the children's museum, shopping and a movie/restaurant with my son was all I did.  That's O.K., as I love to shop when I'm in Illinois because they have so many more stores than we do in my small town.

Here Alethea and I played together at a play area in a mall while mom shopped in a nearby store.  Alethea loved these little chairs and I thought the colors of the chairs went so well with her outfit.  She is such a cutie pie.  Her mom texted me yesterday that Alethea got her very first "boo boo" when she fell down while playing outside.  I sent Alethea a text with kisses and lipstick emojis for her boos boos and Ashley said that she is "enjoying all the sympathy she is getting over her boo boos."



Well unfortunately this will be a temporary end to my travel posts (I will pop in on Wednesday with a few 'Staycation" posts).  My husband and I decided not to take a spring vacation this year so we could complete some much needed house projects instead.  I must admit, it was very hard on me not to take a spring vacation.  I always look so forward to getting away somewhere warm after a long, hard winter.  But we are taking a vacation in the fall, we are going back to UTAH!  I fell in love with the state of Utah when we drove to Las Vegas a few years ago.  Unfortunately, we had a car issue and we never got to Zion National Park, so we always planned on going back.  This time we won't be going alone, we will be taking our son with us.  He's never seen landscape like Utah before, so I'm sure he'll be blown away.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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