Family Room Tour

When I asked a few weeks ago what you all wanted to see more of on the blog the most popular answer was more of our new home. Our family room is just about the only room that is for the most part finished. This was the room that sold me on the house. For those of you who are new here, Chris and I had been looking at homes for close to two years. Once we found out we were pregnant with Ellie we really felt the need to move and kicked our house hunting game into high gear. Obviously we didn't find a home until after Ellie was born and it was probably for the best- I would have been super stressed! Ellie actually came with us when we looked at this home!

We took these pictures a few weeks ago and I've already changed things around quite a bit. I added some items and switched around our shelves- taking away the natural wood items, switched the colorful books to more neutral books, and just rearranged some of the placement of items. I most likely will be fiddling with these shelves for the next five years! We also moved back the rug and couch a bit to give us some more space. 

I worked on this space with interior designer, Emily Meszkat who has been so fun to work with. I'm not a decisive person and change my mind all of the time (sorry Emily!!) when it comes to anything interiors related so it was nice to have someone help make decisions with me and point me in the right direction. Emily and I started by walking through my house and then met at coffee shop to go over what looks I liked and what looks I didn't care for. I originally wanted to lacquer this builtin but Emily convinced me to wallpaper the backs of the shelves instead and I'm so happy we went in that direction. After a few wallpaper fiascos (samples that were completely different from what we were sent) we finally settled on this Phillip Jefferies vinyl paper "Mirror Mirror" in Once upon a Grey. I really wanted something shimmery that would catch light throughout the day and I'm so happy with how it turned out.

We knew we wanted a sectional and went with CR Laine's Taylor sectional in a kid friendly Sunbrella fabric that is so soft and dreamy. I wanted my kids to be able to "live" on the couch and not worry about every spill, crumb etc. Charlie has already taken a crayon (shocker!) to the side of the couch!

The biggest showstopper in our family room is this beautiful, custom painting by artist Kristen Tirney. I will be dedicating a blog post in the next week or so all about Kristen and her beautiful paintings and will give you more info about commissioning a custom piece with Kristen (and possibly a giveaway!) so stay tuned. Kristen was absolutely amazing to work with and took so much time to chat with me about what I was exactly looking for and seriously hit it out of the park. She took my breath away the second she sent me photos of the completed painting. It is such a calming piece in the most beautiful, cool colors and it makes me smile every time I look at it. Every single person that walks into this room asks about it. I think there is something so special about having a custom piece of artwork- not just having something that no one else has but having a piece that reflects you as a person.

The original fireplace wasn't painted and I went back and forth with the idea of painting it and leaving it as is but finally decided to go with my gut and painted the whole thing white and it really brightened up the space and made the room feel like one cohesive unit.

One thing that remains the same are these little egg knobs that I'm still waiting to change! Really dislike these guys!

SOURCES::
Design:: Emily Meszkat // Large Painting:: Kritsen Tirney // Couch:: CR Laine // Pillows:: Shop Little Design Co. // Wallpaper:: Phillip Jefferies (mirror mirror) // Rug:: Ralph Lauren via home goods // Acrylic Table:: Ballard Design // Paint:: Benjamin Moore Decorators White in eggshell for walls / BM Decorators White in Semi Gloss for builtin / Benjamin Moore Super White in semi gloss for Beams and Trim

photos by Julia Das

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