Submitted by A Brit of Happiness
So today is the day that I get to show you the “Family Room” Makeover. I have been working on this room for a few weeks now.
Keep in mind, I need to finish the curtains, and I still haven’t had a chance to paint my wall art for above the doggy bed, but that will get done soon enough, I hope 
Well, I won’t keep you waiting.
Here is the BEFORE…
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Everything was sprayed beige, even the ceilings, when we moved in. We opted to not have windows on either side of the fire place so that we could have a large built in from wall to wall. The window frames were knocked out to allow for really nice finished off framed out windows!
Here is the AFTER…
I love this shot because it shows the rooms true color, but I hadn’t finished the curtains and blinds off in this shot.
Here is the room completed. We added the blinds, which I ordered on overstock. You can find them here.
Then we put up the curtains and curtain rods, but not in that order We bought both the curtains and rods from Target.
I am going to add some chartreuse colored horizontal stripes to the curtains when I can actually find some fabric that matches the pillows. It has been much more difficult finding fabric than I expected, but I will keep looking.
I still haven’t gotten a chance to make my art piece for the wall area above the dog bed, but hopefully I can get it done in the next few days and give you a tutorial on it later this week.
Ok, so from this picture, you might think, ahh the lights in the cabinet add a nice touch.
So did I until we put them up and after a little while,
the hubs said “Why did you turn off the lights?”
My reply, “I didn’t.”
His reply, “Ha Ha Ha, so that’s what they meant by 30 minute lights!”
Yep, 30 MINUTE LIGHTS! So if I want a little ambiance, I have to get up every 30 minutes and turn these “suckers” on with none other than my long trusty level, since I am not tall enough to reach. The only bonus is the exercise I get from getting up and down . So much for trying to go cheaper and get some battery operated touch lights.
In my future plans, I hope to have some nice recessed lighting in the ceiling that will shine down on each side of the bookcases!
Ok, this maybe my favorite find for the room, it’s hard for me to decide. It was $12.99 at HomeGoods. Now I would like to say that I got it because as soon as I saw the #24 on it, I thought “Oh wow, my house growing up was #24,” but not so. More like I just loved the color and look of it and my mum was the one who pointed out the significance of the number and said, “I bet that’s why you got it.” Sure Mum, sure!
I really like this lamp for a few reasons, one, it’s silver. I think silver, or gold for that matter, is the secret to finishing off any room. If you look at almost all of Candice Olson’s rooms on HGTV, she adds silver through out her rooms to add a bit ofglamour and sparkle and finish things off nicely!
Another reason I really like this lamp is because of the swirl design on the base. Kind of a “rolling waves” effect. If you go simple with other areas of your design, i.e. couches, woodwork, and pattern, then you need some layers of interest in the room and I think this lamp does the trick!
The “glass bubble ball,” (again this is a very important technical term) was purchased at Ross for $6.99. I love a good bargain!
I think it is a fun touch. Bubbly water and coral, anyone for scuba diving?
I was able to pick up a bag of “finger star fish” at Marshalls for around $12.00. So I have been using them throughout my house. I have them in my morning room glass jars and I used them to make Starfish Art. The candle and candle holder were both purchased at Target.
I also purchased this big beautiful shell at HomeGoods! I could live in that place, HomeGoods, not the shell!
Remember Nora. The lovely whale I purchased when I started decorating this room. Well, she was very lonely until I found her “true love” Pip. Nora came already named, but Pip was all alone on the shelf at Homegoods with no name, so we adopted him, named him, and brought him home. (P.S. Don’t tell Pip, but when I was in S. Carolina at a different HomeGoods, I found Justin, a hammer head shark. Pip might get jealous of Justin and I wouldn’t want a love triangle, so Justin is going in another room. Crisis diverted!!
Strong and handsome Pip.
The minute I saw the driftwood ballsspheres (it just sounds better) at Crate and Barrel, I knew they were coming home with me. I got one small and one medium sized sphere. What shelf wouldn’t look good with a little bull dog bling? He is the guard dog around here, since our real bulldog is too much of a “softy” to harm anyone!
Here is the momma driftwood sphere. What do the owls have to do with the ocean, you may wonder, well I have no clue I have had these guys for awhile and can’t seem to part with them. They may find a new home somewhere else in the house, but for now they will live at the ocean.
I was so excited to find these storage baskets at Target. I really like how the color and texture of them adds warmth to the room.
See just when you were worried that these book shelves weren’t gonna’ house any books, I shocked ya! I am working at becoming an elementary teacher, so I have to show how important it is to read, right? Even those these books are mostly pictures,Shhh!
I found all of the Coral for the bookshelves at Marshall’s Dept Store. They currently have a really nice selection of beach themed items.
I bought the chartreuse green pillow at World Market and the gray blue flowery pillow from Target.
This is the fan we went with for the Family Room. It is “humungo.” I purchased it at Lowes.
I like the way each blade is different. I think it has a really cool driftwood look to it!
My vintage ladder accents the wall as a “multi tasker.” He can hold blankets and cover large ugly wall vents, what more could you ask for!
Hello new projects that I love! You can check here for the “how to” on my pallet doggy bed and herefor the vintage ladder redo.
The ladder was purchased from a lovely shop called Everything Vintage, Co. Both blankets were purchased at Marshall’s.
I would love to hear back about any thoughts you have about the Family Room Makeover.
You did an awesome, awesome job on your family room makeover! It looks fabulous!!! What paint color did you use, I love it!! You should pat yourself on the back for a job well done!! ENJOY it now!!
LOVE it!
Really beautiful! I love all the accessories and special touches! Awesome! Great job styling the shelves!
Lovely family room! I love your built-in’s and the gallery wall over the sofa. Where did you find the lamps? Love those!
Hi Kathy, thanks for the lovely comment! I just purchased the lamps at TJMaxx about 1 month or so ago.
Very nice, where did you buy the cabinet/bookshelves?
Hi there Blake, The cabinets/bookshelf are built ins. I was fortunate enough to have our realtor’s building co. and my brother in law build them for us! I think watching this piece get built might have been the thing that got us into diying and blogging
Wow! What a beautiful room. Thanks for sharing.
What an amazing renovation. Great job!
Smiles,
Lesli @ BeautifullyCoastal.com
I pretty much love everything about it.. It is so tranquil!
fabulous job!!! cant wait to see the art work over the dog bed!!!love your colors, and the stripes to the curtains would be cool!
Wow, what a lovely room! That diffused lighting in the shelves especially made every decor look ever more stunning.
Love this room. So calm and relaxing. I may have missed this, but what is the paint color used on the walls? It’s beautiful.
Thanks.
Hi there, thank you so much for your kind words about the room. The color is Rainwashed by Sherwin Williams. It took me a while to choose, but I am really pleased with it!
Justin and Cassity, thank you so much for featuring my Family Room! You guys are AWESOME
I love the overall look of this room. Lots of hard work! Those baskets in the middle of the cabinets are genius!
I have two humble suggestions… Is it possible to have glass shelves for more light distribution? And it would look great to see the back wall of the bookcase a) painted maybe a darker shade of the rainwashed or b) temporary wallpaper for a bit of dimension. Either way- great job!
Hi Annie, thanks for all of your kind words and suggestions. I have been toying around with the idea of painting the back of the cabinets, but I am still in debates on that one
For the shelves, I completely see what you mean as far as the lighting. When the budget allows, I want to do recessed lighting in the ceiling above both sides of the bookcases, that way it will shine down on the entire piece. Lighting is key in a room 
Thanks again, Helen
Amazing makeover! Great job! What type of carpet did you use? Is it frieze?
Amazing makeover! Great job! I was wondering what type of carpet you used. Is it frieze?
Hi Jill, sorry I didn’t catch this comment the other day. The carpet is frieze. It is a wonderful carpet to have with pets and children for the clean factor and I love walking barefoot on it. I wouldn’t want a carpet with any longer pile, but this length suits us very well. Thanks for the lovely compliment
Hi! I love your blog. I do have one question though… What kind of primer and paint do you use for your bookshelves? Do items stick to the shelves after they’ve been sitting there for while? Any special tips on painting bookcases?
Thanks Monika, we use a few different primers. I really like the Zintser primers. For paint, we have fallen in love with Sherwin Williams. Their quality of paint is pretty hard to beat. For us the items have stuck a little bit, but I found a few things that I will do differently when we repaint them. SW has a type of paint that sort of hardens, it is more expensive, but well worth it. My parents used it on their dining table and my neighbors used it on their bookcase. It gives the finish like you get when purchase a piece of furniture. Also, after painting with it, you are suppossed to wait 30 days before you put anything on top of the paint. I don’t know if I could wait that long, but we will see
Love the room! Where did you get the couch & rug? I need a dog friendly rug!
Hi Carissa, the couch is from JCPenney and the rug is from World Market. The rug has been dog friendly, but the couch
Not so much with our British Bulldog. He’s a messy guy!
I’m so in love with this room. What is the paint color you used? Blues are so hard to get right and you NAILED this one!!
Hello and what a beautiful room you have created. I love the coffee table, it matches the lighting fan perfect, I’d love to know where you purchased it from?