I Love my Family Room!

I love this room.  It is kind of a surprise to me that I enjoy this room so much because when I put it together, it was less “this will look great here” and more “I just unpacked this and need a place to put it.” So, the fact that it has eneded up being one of my favorite rooms is a nice little gift.  It was important that I was very intentional with how I finished this room lest it lean too feminine or pattern heavy.  So I looked long and hard before I settled on fabrics.  The green pillows are carry overs from our family room in Naperville, when I had the rest of the room styled I knew that because of the intense greenery and shocking blue sky visible through the wall of windows that green and navy was the perfect palette for the space.  I didn’t want it to feel too contrived, so I kept the old pillows and just added the blue and white patterned pillows, a few pops of blue (different shades) accessories and then popped in a bit of bright pink as an accent.

This room gets so much light from sun up till sun down that I didn’t want to add anything that would bring it down, or have any sense of weight.  In the summer I want things to feel as fresh, light and natural as possible.  Glass lamp bases, glass apothocary jars and the mirrored tray on the coffee table add a bit of reflection and sparkle, woven baskets at both ends of the fireplace facing couch add a warm, natural touch and are topped with a wooden tray.  Stacked round end tables keep things from being too linear.

The TV wall was a challenge in itself because our TV stand from the apartment wasn’t big enough for the ‘cove’ in the wall.  So I took a bookcase and popped it next to the tv stand, mainly beacause I had no idea where else in the house it would work.  It was so unbalanced I decided that I could finish the eyechart painting and hang it opposite the bookcase to make it visually even without making it match.  The black frame with a touch of gold makes it heavy enough to counterbalance the bookshelf.

The bookshelf itself was super fun to style.  I made sure to attack it as a piece of art rather than a storage piece; books were second fiddle to the overall appearance of each shelf.  I chose specific books out of my ridiculous collection for their size, subject and appearance: Monet books are stacked together, Audrey Hepburns are in another stack and Shakespeare gets his own little spot as well.  Some books are placed upright and others are stacked horizontally, bookends act more as accessories than their intended function.  Stacked cups, a metallic O, a silver bowl and various other snippets bring personal interest into the shelves.

It is so easy to sit back and relax in this room; it is spacious and light and airy (the two story ceilings don’t hurt, neither do the floor to ceiling windows) I really feel my personality in the room, but the rest of my family’s as well.  It managed to be quirky but homey at the same time, comfortable but elegant as well.  Other people may never notice all the small decisions that go into making my spaces what they are, but each little design element works with the others to make a beautiful room…and people definitely notice that!