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Vintage Map Wall Art

I am just going to say it.  Wall art can be tricky!   Finding the perfect piece to fit with your room, fit your budget,  and fit your style can be near impossible!   That is when you bust a move and DIY my friend.  I had a general idea of the look I wanted to create, I envisioned subway style art, but I didn’t want a stark white and black contrast. I wanted a vintage map wall art vibe,  but I STILL didn’t want it to be so dark that it darkened the room.

So I found this great Etsy store: Minimal Map Designs .  This shop sells printable maps online.  You can purchase custom PDF maps that you print off at your local print shop. So for a couple of bucks a piece, you get a custom piece of art!  Booyah! Now how to turn it into Vintage Map Wall Art!

 

Vintage map wall art

I printed them at our local Staples as “Blueprint” size print.  The size of the actual paper was a little big, so I needed to trim down some of the edges.  I used a straight edge and a rotary cutter.  I ended up giving the map  a 3/4″ border.

Vintage Map Wall Art www.sawdust2stitches.com 2 Once all the edges were trimmed  I was ready to age my paper!  I used about 8 English Breakfast tea packets and 4ish cups of hot water.  You don’t need a lot of the tea solution,  just enough to coat the print with.  I used a large plastic tub to dip dye it in.   It only needs a few seconds in the tea, and then gently pull it out of the solution. 

As soon as you pull the print from the tea,  place it on a dry towel.  I am not going to lie, these papers will be delicate so be careful!  Once it is completely  dried I repeated the process again.   This is not necessary,  but I wanted to deepen the color.  After two baths in the tea solution it had a perfect  vintage patina! 

Vintage Map Wall Art – IKEA Framing

I then put it in a very cheap IKEA frame!  You can get these big frames for only $14.99.. 

 The one odd thing about the size of these prints is that they ARE NOT standard U.S. size prints. So instead of placing the print behind the matte, I placed it on top. Voila! Worked perfectly.

For the perfect finishing touch I used these awesome clip from Crate and Barrel.

 I am SO  thrilled with the way these pieces of art came out!  But I am not half as excited  about these as I am the room they are in !  Stay tuned, the whole room reveal is coming and it is going to be EPIC!

 Thanks for reading and TAKE LUCK!

Corey

 

70’s Ranch Kitchen Makeover (and how to install door hardware)

This is sponsored by Home Depot.

It’s finally  time!  It’s time for a room reveal from the 70’s Ranch, and  it is a good one! We are starting out with the heart of the home. The kitchen.  You guys,  this thing was awesomely horrific!   I mean check out these yellow counter tops, complete with  yellow floral back splash.  I wish I could say that the color scheme was the worst of it.  The worst part was the layout. It was a really narrow galley style kitchen.

One side of the galley was the appliances,  the other was a long row of pantries.  You could never accuse this kitchen of not having ample storage, but it was weird, borderline excessive.  So DOWN came the random wall of pantries.  You can get all the demo details here. 

If you have been following along with this remodel, you know that I created a GORGEOUS style board that would serve as our inspiration for this remodel.  We envisioned a bright airy kitchen  but wanted a pop of black for the accents. We fell in love with these handles from The Home Depot , and we hit the ground running from there.

So let me show you a little bit of the process. See that huge hole in the ceiling, that is where the row of pantries was evicted from. While  I am all about DIY, we were on a serious time crunch to get this kitchen done, so they purchased their cabinets and had them installed. (Seriously, sometimes hiring someone to help out can be the difference from  wanting to assault someone with a spackle knife, and  wanting to remain a DIY blogger.) I am not going to lie, the layout of this kitchen makes me giddy, and the size of that island gives me serious house envy, and I LOVE my kitchen. (You can see mine here.)

Once the counters were in place we got to work tiling the back-splash with white subway tile. (Jena (My friend/homeowner)  got to learn first hand how to tile a back-splash, this was her first one and she tackled a lot of it without my supervision! It’s totally  doable for a new DIY’er.  At this point we had a very white kitchen! It had white cabinets,  white sink, white back-splash, and light counters.  Time to add some contrast!  Next up installing our  GORGEOUS hardware from the Home Depot.

Again,  this is another project any novice DIY’er can do , and it will can drastically change/improve any kitchen.  So, here is how I install hardware…

When it comes to installing hardware I am a hardcore fan of the Kreg Hardware Jig.  You set the dimensions on it once, and then you just  clamp in place.

Then using a drill and a 3/16″ drill bit  you drill  through the guide holes and through the cabinet door.   No more hoping you are driving it in level and praying your spacing is perfect! 

Now it’s time for the rewarding part.  Adding the hardware.  I like to use a drill when screwing the bolt through the cabinet and into the back of the hardware. A.) I can be lazy B.)  I am impatient.

Look how GORGEOUS it is! These drawer pulls are from the “Liberty Classic Square Collection“. P.S.  They also come in brushed nickel and really pretty modern brass !

Seriously  look at the kitchen without hardware. It’s pretty and all, BUT…

But look at it with the black pops everywhere!  It makes my DIY lovin’ heart want to burst!

 I am in love with this kitchen!!!

Even the little window nook has my heart!


Alright, now you guys have gotten a little taste of what is yet to come with this house,  so stay tuned, because we are just getting started!

Take Luck,

 Corey

I  acknowledge that The Home Depot is partnering with me to participate in this  Beachwood Appearance Board Program (the “Program”). As a part of the Program, I am receiving compensation in the form of products and services, for the purpose of promoting The Home Depot. All expressed opinions and experiences are my own words. My post complies with the Word Of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) Ethics Code and applicable Federal Trade Commission guidelines.

70’s Ranch Flooring Makeover (Laminate is the way to go!)

Hey all, as you know we have been working on a dated 70’s ranch style home. (You can see all the gory demo details here.)   The layout was really odd, and it had random walls that broke up the floor plan. The rooms felt a lot like caves. When we began the design process we envisioned a large open floor plan, which would obviously require walls coming down…  However, I think there is another KEY factor in creating an open floor plan! Apart from taking down walls;   I feel like having continuous flooring is extremely important!  Often times you will find homes that the flooring type will change from room to room. Even if your floor plan is completely open, a change in floor type will create the illusion of division. Obviously, practicality is a huge reason for this. But that simply isn’t the case anymore!  With the new phenomenon of wood laminate flooring you can have your cake and eat it too.

As you might recall I have used laminate in the past. You can read about my first home and second home makeover’s here.  I have used laminate throughout the entire downstairs in both homes and  I have ABSOLUTELY  loved it!  So of course when planning an open concept floor plan I opted for my tried and true brand, “Select Surfaces”.

I know homeowners are wary about investing money into laminate flooring, well don’t be!  I have done the research and compared reviews. (Which is how I found Select Surfaces flooring)  When shopping the market I was shocked at how much I would save by using Select Surfaces brand. (It is currently only available at Sam’s Club, but you can see all their color options on their website.) Obviously, the price point was a huge factor but I was still a little skeptical, but after using it in multiple homes I can attest to its quality.  This stuff is awesome! I have now used three of their different color options, and every time I am beyond impressed with their resilience.  They have great color options, it looks amazing with gorgeous hand scraped texture and this stuff takes a beating!  I obviously spend a lot of time beautifying my home and building new furniture for it. Which means I am constantly rearranging my furniture.  Despite dragging my furniture all over the floor it has not scratched yet! (While I would never suggest you do that, but I want to stress how tough it is.) I can honestly say that in the three homes I have used this in, I have only scratched in ONCE. (I was working two stories up on scaffolding and dropped my pry bar.) Even then it was only a small unnoticeable ding.  Seriously impressive.

The hardest part of the flooring decision was the color. They have so many amazing color options. Ultimately, we opted for “Caramel” color.  It was a light oak color, (but not in the dated  kitchen cabinet way).  This was the perfect color  for the feel we were trying to create.

You can read more about the install process here and here, but for now let me show you how much this flooring has completely transformed this space!

This stuff is so easy to install! As you know we are working with our friends(the homeowners) on this project and they are fairly new to the DIY world. We showed them the basics of installing and they took off running! It is a click and lock style board, which makes this a very user friendly installation process.

 

Seriously how gorgeous is that color !?  Just look at it! 

If you are curious as to what it is going to look like, or looked liked before the installation you can get all the before pictures and design plan here. 

Here is even a sneak peak of the kitchen!  (The full reveal will be on the site in the next few days, so stay tuned.)

It is hard to image what this house looked like before.  After knocking down a few walls, and adding continuous flooring this place feels so much more inviting, open and home-y, and that is exactly what we were hoping for!

 Take luck  and stay tuned!

Corey

Covering Wallpaper with Faux Shiplap

Covering Wallpaper with Faux Shiplap – This post is sponsored by DAP.

Hey All,  welcome back to the 70’s Ranch makeover!  If you are just tuning in, my friends and I are in the midst of a HUGE renovation. We are in the process of gutting a 1970’s ranch home.    You can see all the demo/before images here.    We ripped out paneling, and a few random walls… we also took down a lot of wallpaper.  Most of the wallpaper was easy enough to take down, but some pieces were more stubborn than others. There was also a chair rail on the wall that followed the perimeter of the main living area and down the hall.  So we were dealing with damaged walls due to the wallpaper and it’s residual residue, and then if we decided to remove the chair rail we would also have wall damage  from that.  So we decided to work WITH the problems.  Instead of spending a lot of time and money fixing the problems, we decided work with the eyes sores!Covering Wallpaper with Faux Shiplap

Covering Wallpaper with Faux Shiplap

It’s no secret that I love chair rail height shiplap. ( I have done it in my past two homes!)  So it seemed like a no-brainer in this  case. We decided to use the pre-existing chair rail and baseboards and install our own faux shiplap.  It would add a ton of character, it would be cheap, it would hide eyesores, it was cheap. Did  I mention it was cheap?

Anyways,  I want to stress how doable this process is!  Granted real shiplap boards are ideal when it comes to being user-friendly. (You can see my post on tongue and grove style boards here.)  However if you are on a tight budget this is the way to go. Even a beginner can do it!   

Covering Wallpaper with Faux Shiplap – Materials Used:

  • 3mm underlayment  (4’x8′)
  • Sandpaper
  • DAP DynaGrip Adhesive
  • DAP Plastic Wood
  • DAP Alex Flex  Molding Caulk
  • Finish Nails

Tools Suggested:

  • Tablesaw
  • Tape Measure
  • Sander
  • Finish Nailer
  • Drill with 1/4″ drill bit
  • Jigsaw

When I can say that “you can do this” I really do mean it!   Take my friend Jena (homeowner) for example.  Jena had never used a power tool in her life,  maybe a drill,  but certainly never  a saw or  pneumatic nailer.  The DIY world was a completely uncharted territory for her.  This project was her crash course for her and she did great!  So if you are a little wary, don’t be, you have got this!

1.) Prepare Boards

Let’s dive in.  The first thing you have to do is prepare your boards. For this project, we wanted to use very thin boards, and here is why:  As I said before we were working with the pre-existing baseboards and chair rail.  So we selected a board thickness that would look right with our baseboards and chair rails. We selected a 3mm underlayment paneling.  You can purchase these panels are  The Home Depot, for about $10 a  4’x 8’panel.

Before you start cutting your boards,  you will want to determine the width you would like your boards to be.  Anywhere from 5″- 6.5″ wide is pretty standard.  You really can’t go wrong.  However, if you are trying to create a  chair rail height you will need to factor your desired height.  As you can see below, I measured the distance between my baseboards and chair rail.  I ran some numbers and ended up dividing my (distance between baseboard/chair rail) ÷ (5)=  Width of shiplap boards.

One last thing to consider when cutting your boards.  Take into account the spacing you would like inbetween your shiplap boards.  This is all a matter of personal opinion. We ultimately decided that we wanted little to zero space between the boards. Again all a matter of opinion!

Covering Wallpaper with Faux Shiplap – Measure and Cut

Ok, for real let’s get started. Once you know your desired board dimensions, start ripping!  (Ripping is a term used to described cutting a board in the long direction.)  You will need a tablesaw, OR a friend with a tablesaw, OR you are going to need to smile really nice to the guy working at Home Depot.

I set my saw’s fence and showed Jena how to use a tablesaw.  This was her first try, and after getting through her first few boards she had a  good handle on it.

Next sand the edges of your boards. If you have a good blade on your saw you should have minimal tear out. (“Tear Out” is  the frays of board that splinters on a cut edge.) When I sand I do like to round my edges  just a little bit. Again, all a matter of personal opinion, I just like the look.

2.) Attach Boards

By nature paneling boards are fairly light weight and flimsy. Which is both a pro and a con.  It is flimsy so it doesn’t want to stay rigid,  but  because it is so light weight it is easy to work with.  All you need to do to remedy the flimsiness is a good adhesive.

Covering Wallpaper with Faux Shiplap – DAP DynaGrip

When selecting an adhesive I chose to use DAP DynaGrip.  This stuff is awesome!   I would feel very confident saying that if you really wanted to you could get away with using only  DynaGrip and painters tape to attach it to the wall.   It grips really quickly,  but still allows room for adjustment.  It is great to work with, especially if you are trying to install solo.  It is like having a second set of hands when installing.

For time reasons, I used a small finish nailer to tack the boards in place.  The nails aren’t necessarily to hold the board to the wall, it is just holding the board in place long enough for the DynaGrip to dry.  The less nails you use the less holes you have to fill!

Step 3.  Spacing

Another thing to consider is your joints.  Make sure you stagger them! For example, don’t start every row with a full board,  you will end up having all your joints lined up.  Make sure you take some random cut offs to start rows.  There is no math to it,  just eyeball  where  you would logically  want your next joint to be.

Covering Wallpaper with Faux Shiplap – The Gaps

P.S.  As you recall earlier we talked about considering the spacing between your boards.  On mine I had virtually no gap.  When I sanded my boards, I rounded the edges slightly and this helped emphasize the appearance of  shiplap, without having a think dark gap. (But if you like the more drastic look, GO FOR IT!  I have heard of others using quarters or nickels for their spacers.  Just keep it consistent.

Step 4. Outlets

Covering Wallpaper with Faux Shiplap – Outlets

I have found that the trickiest part is when you need to incorporate an outlet, or switch. In all honesty, it really isn’t that bad.  Just take careful measurements and you will be fine!   Start by measuring the placement of the outlet, and transfer those measurements to your next board. (See image below)

Now, if you have never completed a cutout on your own, no worries.  You can do this!   I have found that the simplest way to create a cut out is by first using a drill, and a drill bit to make holes in the corners of your cutout.

Then using a jigsaw, place the blade in one of the holes, and simply connect the dots!

Step 4.) Repeat steps 2-3 until complete.

Step 5.) Corner Trim

Once all your shiplap boards are installed you are ready to tie up a few of the loose ends. In some cases you may want to add some trim to your interior and/or exterior corners.

One option for interior corners is to use a very low profile quarter round to clean up your corners. In lots of cases a healthy bead of caulk smoothed out should do the trick.

When it comes to outside corners I always opt for a low profile corner trim piece. Installation is fairly straight forward. Measure, cut, apply with DynaGrip and if necessary tack in place while the adhesive dries.

Step 6.) Fill Holes

The quickest way I have found to fill holes is using a tub of wood filler and a putty knife.  Hands down my “go-t0” filler for this application is “Plastic Wood” by DAP.  It comes in a  short and wide tub. This is a HUGE selling point for me, I like to be able to dip my putty knife in the container and not get it all over my fingers and knuckles.  Bonus it dries quick, and if you use a sharp putty knife it spreads on smoothly enough that it require minimal sanding with no shrinkage.  Plus easy clean up with a wet rag.

Covering Wallpaper with Faux Shiplap – Fill in the holes

So grab a putty knife and start filling any discrepancies. Learn from my mistakes and only use a little bit of filler and scrape the applied area with your putty knife.  It will remove the excess filler, and require minimal sanding!

Step 7. Sand

The purpose of sanding at this point should NOT be to smooth out the actual boards. In this step you should be spot sanding where you applied your wood filler.  It should be a quick and painless process.  Once you are finished sanding just  give it a once over with a slightly damp clean rag.  This will remove all dust and debris in preparation for paint.

Step 8. Caulk

Inevitablly you will have some gaps and discrepencies in your work.  Don’t worry that is when caulk becomes your best friend!  For this application I  use “Alex Flex Premium Molding and Trim Sealant”.  It is easy to work with and it’s easy to clean up with water.  It dries quickly and is paintable!  It’s my no brainer selection when it comes to trim work.

So  grab a tube and get to work.  Sometimes  seams won’t seem (word pun totally intended), to need filled, but once they are painted they might stand out more. (Don’t worry if you find more joints/seams that need caulk after you have painted,  it is no big deal!  Just caulk as normal and add some touch-up paint once completely  dry.

When caulking I always make sure I hit the joint where my  shiplap meets any trim boards. In this case I caulk where my chair rail board and my shiplap meet.

Covering Wallpaper with Faux Shiplap – Caulking

I also always make sure I caulk where my  shiplap meets the baseboard.  It always gives it a very finished look.

Look at the HUGE difference a few sheets of paneling can make!!! Covering Wallpaper with Faux Shiplap

Covering Wallpaper with Faux Shiplap – Accent Wall

We ultimately decided to cover all the unsightly  wallpaper residue with shiplap and also did a full accent wall  in the family room.

Step 9. Prime and Paint

Because,  we were working in a space that was completely unfinished, I opted to you use a paint sprayer to paint all the shiplap. If you don’t have that luxury  you can easily use a paint brush and roller.

  Here it is all primed and ready for paint! 

  I like to hit my seams first with a primer using a paint brush.  I have found that  if you hit the seams really  well with primer and a brush you don’t  need to worry about the seam  as much when you apply the top coat with a roller.

When rolling paint make sure you follow the direction of the boards. Covering Wallpaper with Faux Shiplap

That’s it,  you are done!

It is killing me to not show you the whole space, but I promise it will be worth the wait! Stay tuned because this place is coming together fast and you aren’t going to want to miss the reveal!

 Take Luck,

 Corey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Master Bedroom Makeover

This post is sponsored by The Home Depot. All opinions are my own.

Hey All!   My master bedroom has always been the storage space for all my leftover furniture.  It was the place all the cast offs gathered.  Granted, it wasn’t awful, it just wasn’t great.  It was blah…  It needed something.  It needed an accent wall, but not just any accent wall; it needed to be light and airy, while still having some character.  That’s when I found these amazing shiplap style (tongue and groove boards) that had tons of texture, without being distracting.  It was a match made in heaven and I decided to design my whole room around these yummy boards!

So if you need some interest in any room follow along to see how easy it can be to take your room from “blah” to magazine drool worthy you can head over to The Home Depot’s website to get all the step-by-step details on how I created this gorgeous accent wall!

So let me show you  what a HUGE impact these boards can make.  Here is what my room looked like before I started this mini makeover.

Like I said, not awful,  just really, really boring. Believe it or not this transformation was pretty simple!   These Beachwood appearance boards by Slivastar  are exactly what the space needed!

Once the boards where up I felt like it was still missing something,  but I was hesitant to cover up the wall!  So I built a couple of see through frames that did the trick! (Tutorial coming soon!)

Also after  installing the Beach-y style boards,  I felt that my bed frame also needed to have that airy vibe as well!  So I whitewashed my Craigstlist bed to match!  (Tutorial Coming Soon.)  If you missed my window nook makeover you can read all about  how I transformed my lackluster bay window area into a gorgeous feature!  You can get all the details here. 

   

Want a cool idea to display a tv?  I tricked out a vintage art easel to act as my t.v. stand.  Granted, I probably wouldn’t encourage this system in a children’s room,  but I trust my husband not to knock it over. 🙂

If I’d had known I could have made such a HUGE difference to this space in just a days work of work I would have done it ages ago!  So if you are looking for an “oomph”  to an otherwise decorated space then you should definitely  check out my tutorial for these beach style boards here. 

 Thanks so much for stopping by!

 Take Luck,
Corey

 

I  acknowledge that The Home Depot is partnering with me to participate in this  Beachwood Appearance Board Program (the “Program”). As a part of the Program, I am receiving compensation in the form of products and services, for the purpose of promoting The Home Depot. All expressed opinions and experiences are my own words. My post complies with the Word Of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) Ethics Code and applicable Federal Trade Commission guidelines.

70’s Ranch Makeover (Demo Day!)

Alright folks,  you might have noticed that I have been MIA recently… I have an excellent excuse,  I promise!  Over the past two months my husband and I have helped some friends of ours  take on a very large project, and when I say “very large”  I really mean HUGE!  I have completed my fair share of room/home makeovers that include a handful of renovations.  But this, THIS  was the  first whole house gut that I have ever been apart of.   When I say “gut”  I mean we had full out Chip style “demo day”. (Which  in actuality was more like a week and a half)

So today, I am giving you a makeshift tour of the 1970’s ranch before we gutted it, along with some of the process of tearing it apart!  Lots of walls came out, and man alive there was enough paneling to build a small city! Enjoy!

 

Kitchen

Kitchen Before

Check out this kitchen!  Every single part of this kitchen is straight up 70’s composite materials.  It was horrifically awesome!  Originally  we were trying to think of way that we could work with what we had.  Ultimately, it was decided that  it wasn’t worth saving the hideous cabinets to save money.  The kitchen is where they spent   almost all of their budget.  It was a hard idea to swallow,  but honestly if you are remodeling put your money into the kitchen!  It is definitely an investment, but for resale value it is a HUGE asset.

Kitchen Demo-

The kitchen was very narrow galley  style kitchen.  Pictured below is Andy (my guy) and Garrett (her guy) doing some serious demo. (Don’t ever remove walls unless you verify that they aren’t structurally necessary!)   They are in the process of tearing out a divider wall/pantry  that separated the  whole kitchen from the rest of the house!  It was weird just straight up weird.  It was the first wall to come down, and it made a huge difference!

When all was said and done, we removed the wall/pantry,  moved a doorway, removed cabinets, a back splash, wallpaper, and two layers of flooring. We took this thing down to it’s bones, and it already looked so much better!

Kitchen Vision-

Now for the fun part…designing. We had lost a lot of storage space when we took out the pantry, so we brainstormed  some practical storage ideas for the kitchen.  I  personally have always been a huge fan of large islands, and Jena, had a great idea of creating storage on both sides. So we planned the entire kitchen around an island…  After walking around countless stores and browsing tons of magazines,  I THINK we narrowed down her(Jena’s) style.  She loves all styles… hahah except eclectic. (weird, huh?) Anyways,  she loved ALL THE styles, but after weeks of observing her picking out styles she liked  I started shaping the concept I thought she might prefer. We ultimately  came up with a very modern farmhouse with a bit of boho, and mid century flair.  We wanted a pop color . But a pop color doesn’t always need to be an actual vibrant color!  We are using black, and brass as our pops with natural greens!  It’s going to be gorgeous!  Here is the general idea for the kitchen.

Square Collection Black Pulls

Range Hood with Black Finish

Farmehouse Sink, White

Kitchen Faucet, Matte Black

4X8 Soft White Wide Beveled Subway Tile

Glass Shade Wall Sconce Wall Lamp (Black)

Kitchen Interior

Dining Room

Dining Room Before-

Check out that light fixture!  I think it pretty much sums up the style of this entire house.  There was no paneling in this room, but it did have some awesome curtain toppers (You know the balloon kind they sure to stuff with plastic bags?  They slightly resemble the puffy sleeve dresses from the early 80′?  Oh yeah, it was great! With the added bonus of WALLPAPER!!

Dining Room Demo-

The biggest  part of the dining room demo was changing the location of the door (see the new construction on the left?).  We thought a barn door would look amazing on the left  wall so we rearranged some doors. (It was also very practical decision when considering the house layout.)  The small archway  on the right was just weird and awkward and it needed to come down. So after making sure it wasn’t necessary we took it out!

 

Dining Room Inspiration-

I am not going to lie, the dining room is the room I am most excited about! Once we had a general idea on the style we were going for, this space just mentally  fell into place.  I could just “see it!”.  While it was a “formal” dining room, we wanted it do have  comfortable vibe.  This dining room will be apart of a very  open concept living area, so it needed to flow seamlessly  with the rest of the house.  This is what we came up with.  

Bistro Style Dining Chair

Turned Leg Dining Table

Hand Woven Natural Jute Area Rug

Five-Light Linear Chandelier

Succulents in Square Pots

Heavy Faux Linen Curtain White

Entry

Entry Before

 

Entry Demo

 As you can see in previous pictures, the entry is almost apart of the dining room.  They had a weird little archway that I am assuming was suppose to separate the two areas.  Which it did… kind of.   In all honesty,  it just made the area look smaller.  The great  thing about an open floor plan concept, is that is can make even the smallest areas look large and grand.  So down came the wall!

Entry Inspiration-

The style of the whole house is fairly minimalist. So we are trying to create a big impact with out a lot of “stuff”.  A black door seemed like an obvious “must-have”  along with some simple art, greenery, and a low profile light fixture with character.

 

Laminate Flooring

 Light Fixture

Front Door Inspo

Entry Console Table

Art

Artificial Green Olive Branches

Family Room

Family Room Before

There is that paneling  I was talking about!  So much paneling, everywhere!   This space was weird to all of us.   This is the “family room”,  but behind the fireplace is also part of the “family room” … It’s as if the owner decided they just wanted two rooms so they added a wall there. It left  us all scratching our heads.  Why?  It wasn’t a load bearing wall…  Why??!! …

 

 

 

Family Room Demo:

So what did we do ?  Well we tore it down, naturally.  Instead of having two cave like family room(s) we create a large open space with a freestanding fireplace.  Plus, look at all those doors across the back ? Aren’t they great!?  This room was instantly  brighter!  Last thing to do was to remove the two layers of floors and we were all set.

Jena, and I… and one of our kids?

Family Room Vision:

Now, for the family room design style.  We needed to keep in the same style, but wanted to set the space apart from the rest of the home. Rugs are the best way to create visual boundaries without having walls!  Even if they aren’t a statement rug, a rug is a great way to define a space. In their family room we decided the best thing to do was to create a “living space” and have a secondary sitting area on the far side of the fireplace. We are loving the idea of bringing some nice rich cognac color in the couch, but that might change. We will see!

Sources:

Vintage Blue Rug

Coffee Table

Cognac Leather Sofa

Wall Art

 That’s all there is to it..  now the fun part begins!  Make sure you follow along as we share updates on the complete 70’s ranch makeover, over the next few weeks!

Take luck,

 Corey

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