Coastal Family Room

Hey everyone!  Come on in and welcome to our Florida family room.  Hope you all enjoyed the tours of the living room and dining room.  If you missed either of those tours, you can catch them HERE, before we continue.

Before we go any further, let's take a quick look at the entry.  I know.  Not much here to see.  I'm on the hunt for two matching benches that will fit under the paintings.  The paintings are 36"x48" and I don't want them to look "top heavy" if the benches are too short.  I think the benches should be at least  48" long.  I thought about sofa tables or chests under each painting but the bottom ledge of each niche is only 29" from the floor and standard table height is 30" so that won't work.  The quest continues...

These self-made paintings were a quick and easy way to fill a big space on a small dime.  I feel the niches needed something bold and I think the paintings  make a statement. What they say, I'm not quite sure, but anyway...moving on...

Let me say, this isn't the look I envisioned for this room when we first moved in. I wanted to create a fun light -hearted room with a  relaxing beach vibe and I was thinking it would be almost all white.  Something with the  colors of the coastline-soft sandy dunes, sun bleached star fish and sand dollars, and  the soft greens of natural sea grasses.  And, mixed in would be various shades of brown, like pieces of driftwood.

I've always wanted an all white room and I thought I'd finally be able to have one. I didn't intend on having all the bright greens and blues. I love all the white rooms I see in  high styling design magazines, and I love the white rooms I see in so many of the blogs I read.  LOVE THEM!  And I love white painted furniture.  I have LOTS of it!  But I guess I love color more.  I have so many brightly painted colorful pieces, too.  Bright greens and blues.  And some reds.  So, I guess this room is a compromise. My objective was to incorporate the pieces I already own and love into this new space...still lots of white and a couple of brown pieces...with punches of bright apple green and splashes of turquoise...and mahogany colored floors to anchor it all. 

The walls are painted a very light creamy sort of green.  My son calls is pistachio, so, I'll call it that, too.  The room has the lightness that I wanted without being white. 

For me, the easiest way to put together a coastal feeling home is to start with white sofas.  We purchased these new for this room back in October '09.  I bought them from jcpenney.com.  They were on clearance for $499 each( I don't remember  the original retail price, but I think they were around $1100 each).  What a lucky find!  I was nervous about an online purchase but the reviews were all five star so I went for it.  I'm really happy with them.  They're super comfy and the cushions are foam wrapped with down feathers.  Best of all, the slipcovers are machine washable!

The only  other purchases for this room were the coffee table and the long shop counter that the tv is on.  The coffee table is from Ballard Design.  It was the floor sample and on sale...a good deal but I don't remember what we paid for it. 

The shop counter, on the other hand, was an absolute splurge.  It counts as my birthday, Christmas and anniversary presents for the next umpteen years.  Honestly, it's the single most expensive thing we own.

We happened upon it one day while window shopping at the Lincoln Park, Arhaus Furniture in Chicago.  It almost took my breath away ( it did take my credit limit away, lol).  Anyhoo...I love it and it fits in that huge niche.

And, take note of the curtains.  They look custom, right?  No?  Can't fool your keen eyes.  They're  king size bedsheets, $12 each.  'nuff said.

How do you think I did?  Do you feel the beach vibe?

Anyone else showing a new room or completed project this week? I'd love to see it.  Do tell!!!

I'll be linking with a bunch of parties this week.  Will you be there?

See ya around

 

Home Tour Continued

It's been almost three months since I first welcomed you into our Florida home and showed you our living room.  I hope you visited with me then but if you didn't, it's the 2011 Welcoming post.  Please take a look and then continue with me into the dining room.

I've posted a few pictures in the past that show little snippets of our dining room.    All the past pictures showed Thanksgiving and Christmas crafts that dressed up the room for the holidays.  There are peeks of the table and chairs.

Let me start by saying that we don't live in this house full time but we try to get there for regular getaways. When we're there for a quick R&R weekend it's usually hard to motivate ourselves to start another project or even finish one that we left incomplete.  Our projects are really only cosmetic since the house is only a few years old.  I've been able to get most of the rooms repainted and we laid hardwood floors in the family room, master bedroom and one guest bedroom.  All-in-all the house is basically done but, as you all know, there is always something that needs to be tweaked, updated, fluffed, etc.  I still have a wish list and a honey-do list, each about a mile long.  I'll be sharing our diy projects, purchases, improvements, etc. as they come along.

So today, it's the dining room.    

We painted the living room and dining room walls a light turquoise.  I had the paint color matched and mixed at Walmart.  I've been using Walmart brand paint for years because they can formulate a pretty perfect match from any paint chip.  I've had great success with them and I just refuse to pay upward of $30/gallon at a speciality paint store.  Walmart paint is $8/gallon.   This way, I  get current designer colors and save tons of money.

After months of searching, I found the chandelier at Overstock.com.  I wasn't really sure  what I was looking for but I was confident that I would "know it when I see it".  I'm really happy with this one. It has that  modern yet vintage feel.  Does that make sense? Anyway, I love it.  I think it has the blended mix that I like-traditional drum shade, shiney modern chrome finish, fancy feminine crystals and whimsical flowers.  AND it was a bargain-$129.00 minus 10% coupon and only $2.00 shipping fee.

Someday, with all the money I've saved on paint (ha) we'll  be able to buy the hardwood floors.  I'd also like to have a rug under the table.  Right now, I'm thinking sea grass, but who knows what I'll wind up with.  I'm also on the prowl for lamps to go on each  white chest.  I'm hoping Homegoods will come thru with something for me soon.

The fireplace is just propped against the wall, leaning there until we add the wood floors.  We'll have to figure out how we will attach it when that time comes.  I've carted that fireplace around from home to home but we've never had it affixed to any wall.  I think it deserves a permanent place here, though.

The table, chairs, and two side chests are all old pieces that I recently refinished.  I plan on posting a closer look at them later.

Oh yeah, about those three little windows, I'm not crazy about them.  So, short of replacing them with a nice picture window, anyone one have any ideas for them?  I'd love some advice and I'm excited to hear your suggestions.

Ok, I think that's it for now.  Hope to see you at some linky parties this week.

See ya,

I am linking this oldie but goodie to Songbird's white party.  Thanks Marianne!

2011 Welcoming

Sure hope everyone is enjoying the new year! This is my first post of the year and I am inviting you into my Florida home. We purchased this home a little over a year ago and although we don't live here full time, it is our hope that we will one day soon.

This house was bank owned when be bought it and was sitting on the market for over a year. Prior to that it was lived in for only about a year, so it is essentially new. It was originally built as an investment property. The builders kept everything pretty basic and neutral, no " bells and whistles". We've made a few cosmetic upgrades to the house already and have grand ideas for future projects. There is no timeline for any project. We'll work as time and budget allow and, hopefully, one day it will be the home of our dreams. ( Really, it already is. I never imagined we'd own a home on a lake and just a mile inland of Tampa Bay).

These pictures are from last year. When I took them I had no idea that I'd be sharing them with anyone. This post will show the entry and living room. Photos of the rest of the house and completed projects will follow in future posts. As you know, it can take many years to turn a house into a home. Really, I'm only beginning to "know" this house. So, come in, and follow me as I make this house our home.

Painted the entry and living room. The walls used to be "builders beige".

Plan to lay hardwood floors in the living room and dining room.

The sofa and chair are seventeen years old but have been recently reupholstered.

I hit the jackpot when I found the coffee table. I saw it in a furniture showroom last year for $1100, but I snagged it from a consignment store for $200! Score!

Hope you enjoy the house tour and come back to see more.

Happy New Year!

Barb