Lots of firsts this week. I'm excited to also be launching my Home Tour Series. As I mentioned before when we bought our house over three years ago, my husband and I fell in love with it when we pulled into the driveway. They say when you know you know, which was so true for us. We loved the wrap around front porch and envisioned watching the kids playing in the front yard while having a glass of wine together after a long day. When we stepped into the front door the house instantly welcomed us and we were impressed by the open floor plan. Coming from a small city condo with only an 8 x 10 space for the twins to play in, with treacherous stairs (which I fell down many times) this house was a huge departure for us. At the time we thought everything was move in ready and we would change a few paint colors here and there. HAHA boy were we naive 🙂 After three years we have slowly put our touch on each and every room (with a few to finish) making this house OUR HOME. I love every single square inch of our home and it is a direct reflection of our families’ style. It is completely conducive to having two active toddlers and there is definitely no room off limits. Full disclosure we potty-trained our twins in our family room (just roll up those rugs :).
I'm including a before image of what our family room looked like on our second walk through before we purchased our house. Yes, that's my sweet hubby and twins, they were 100% in tow for our house hunting process. This picture is not as pretty as the after pictures, but much like life, sometimes you have to look back and reflect to truly see how far you've come. The family room felt like a dark gray dungeon with a huge red brick road to nowhere. The Brazilian cherry hardwood floors are beautiful but the stark contrast was not easy on the eyes. We refinished the floors, painted the walls a subtle gray, and repainted the trim around the windows white. We drywalled all the brick above the fireplace to the ceiling and added a mantle surround.
We had to go with custom built-ins because the right side of our fireplace could only accommodate three lower base cabinets. The overhead library lights are perfect for evenings when we are relaxing on the couch after getting the children down. We prefer the warm glow at night versus the brighter overhead lighting. The cabinets below hide all the kids toys and games. My favorite part of the built-ins are the adjustable shelves. I'm constantly changing our family room decor with unique pieces I find from our antiquing trips so it’s nice to have the option to change whenever we want. I look forward to sharing our whole home tour with you all!
XO
Doreen
I've listed all sources below, if I'm missing anything please don't hesitate to comment and ask!
Photography- Sara O'Brien Photography
-FAMILY ROOM SOURCES-
Custom Built-In Cabinets- HCI Cabinetry & Design, Inc
Library Sconces- Restoration Hardware
Cabinet Knobs- Restoration Hardware
Rug- Rugs USA
Chair- Crate and Barrel
Floor Lamp- Target
The family room looks incredible!!!
Thanks so much Jill!