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WARMING UP OUR FAMILY PLAYROOM WITH A NEW LOOK
May 20, 2020
Ever wonder how a room ends up with all of the details and finishes it has? Well, here goes my story..
..from light & bright
to dark & cozy
I'll be honest. Usually when people ask me, what's your next project? I have an idea in my mind of what it will be, but it never plays out the way I imagine. There's always an interception of a million projects. This one (which is a pretty big one)
was completely unexpected. It was a project that desperately needed to be done but we always looked passed it. Being home for so long opened our eyes that we truly needed this space to be 100% comfortable.
Our family playroom is located on the lower level of our home. We designed it 2 years ago after having a limited amount of toy storage in my toddler's bedroom. Although the room was really beautiful, we didn't find ourselves utilizing it enough because we truly just hated the carpet! We put a rug down to make it a little more tolerable. Yet, still only used the space only a handful of times in the beginning.
An incredibly cute room. We hacked that ikea kitchen & had the ballpit made custom from a really sweet seller on Etsy called whatkidslovethemost. You can click
for a direct link to her shop! (& see a bunch of my photos for her ballpit listings)
My fiancé worked so hard on these DIY built-ins.
I really love his willingness to create so many crazy ideas I acquire in my head. I mean, that herringbone detail? So good.
To think that his skills have improved so much since then, also! It really impresses me. My design eye has definitely evolved over the years as well.. meaning more projects!
Flooring.
We knew that if we wanted to give this room new life to its fullest potential, that meant ripping out that dusty carpet. I sent my fiancé to bring home as many flooring samples as possible. We wanted something durable, waterproof & easy to install, such as Luxury Vinyl Planks.
In the beginning, I wanted to match the flooring to the hardwood floors on the main level. I wanted it to be consistent but finding an exact match was so difficult! It had me thinking, do I really want dark floors anyway? I've been drawn to the light wood-look flooring that is all over Instagram and Pinterest. I came across this gorgeous LVP at Lowe's & knew it was the one. Eventually, we'll have the main level done or do something that's cohesive..but that's for another post!
We used Procore Plus
in Warm Honey Oak.
At only $2.38 per sq. ft., this is a great, budget-friendly flooring option. It's 5mm in thickness and feels really durable (we ran furniture across it to test if it would scratch). The color is what we really fell in love with most. We were selective when laying the planks down to make sure it didn't result in that "stripey" floor look and to make sure there weren't two of the same looking knots laid down next to each other. The planks took some getting used to. If removed at the wrong angle, the interlocking system could snap off so we had to be pretty careful when installing them. After finishing all of the more difficult cuts done (in the hallway, around door trims), it went by pretty fast.
Did you think I was going to go through all that work to change the floors, only to do more work
& PAINT
EVERYTHING? You're absolutely right, I would.
Thankfully, my fiancé is always supportive.
The new floors just didn't look great with the original color we had painted the built-ins.
My fiancé was going on a Lowe's run to grab whatever items he needed and per usual.. I call him with the classic,
"So I was thinking..
we should paint our built-ins black. Maybe Black Magic by Sherwin Williams? Oh, and maybe the entire second level Accessible Beige. Probably all the baseboards, too, so we'll need it in two sheens. Can't forget possibly the interior doors all black. Maybe. I'm not really sure, though. I probably want that done. But I don't know. It would look so nice. What do you think?"
Meaning, just buy the paint and supplies.
lol
Before putting in the new flooring completely in this area, we taped off the built-ins to get ready to be spray painted. My fiancé uses a Graco Magnum X5. Prepping the area is the most time consuming part. Spraying the entire thing from start to finish takes probably.. less than 15 minutes. It's a pretty quick process & gives the best finish!
Custom wood/burlap doors.
Still brings a beautiful, textural element & it's so inexpensive! Win.
Wood stain.
The stain we used is our go-to. Minwax
Special Walnut followed by Weathered Oak. We tried out various stain combinations but this one paired the best with the flooring & other wood tones in our home.
Brass pulls.
There was no other option in my mind other than to go with long, brass pulls. Something simple with straight lines and modern. I didn't want it to end up looking too farmhouse-y because of the burlap, so this was a nice balance!
I asked him to build two more doors (for the side bookcases) with any extra scrap wood and paint them black. It makes it look so much cleaner & we need the extra storage! He's so proud of those inset doors. They look so good!
The domino effect resulted in me selling a lot of my furniture pieces & searching for new (or used) pieces. Because everything was closed, I had to either find items online & wait for shipping or search Facebook marketplace. I came across these gorgeous accent chairs (left is the seller's photo) that matched incredibly with the gold pulls! We had to drive 1.5 hours for them, but they were worth it and such a good deal! It was nice to get out of the house and go on a little road trip anyway. I ended up reupholstering them with this plush fabric (literally $13 Walmart blanket, what?!)
because the fabric stores were a week behind on orders. The original fabric was a blue-toned gray on one chair, and a patterned fabric for another.. which wasn't exactly fitting for this room.
I love how soft & fun this chair feels now!
Window treatments.
We bought and returned so many items. Finally, I said to my fiancé.. what about using that rod cutter you have? Duh. He forgot about one of those. This all could've been so simple. We used the strongest rods we could find and combined two sets.
Bamboo roman shades
were a must for bringing in more warmth. Plus, they pair so nicely with these curtains! I love having the option of pulling these down if there's a glare from the sunlight shining on the TV. I loved them so much that I had my fiancé grab a set of 3 more for our main living room!
If you follow me on instagram, you probably saw that I found this light fixture last minute after my reveal post. Another Facebook marketplace score!
Coffee table.
I found a few pieces on FB marketplace, but after being mislead by the seller multiple times.. I decided to scrap the entire idea of being thrifty & just go for this beautiful
black marble table.
We already own the white/gold version, and my fiancé was rooting for this one from the start. So happy we went with this choice. It's a statement piece that grounds the room.
Rug.
To be able to maximize coziness, a rug was forsure a must. I needed a lot of texture & something that would be able to easily clean spills from. This Loloi rug
has enough variation, detail and it's super soft!
Shelf styling.
I love a good shelfie but I also believe in functionality!
I carefully chose the items on the shelves when designing this playroom 2 years ago. I used most of the same things on there besides a few plants & small vases. I found items around my home & had my fiancé spray paint them black to give a dimensional feel and new look.
I fell in love with these classic, vintage board game books! We play Scrabble a lot with our 12 year old daughter. We hope it'll expand her vocabulary and really make her think (it isn't working, she puts down 3 letter words more than half the time haha).
Other items on the shelf:
a clear acrylic puzzle
that will really challenge your brain! It has 8 corner pieces just for that one rectangular puzzle. Super confusing but I loved putting it together. I thought it would keep me busy during this quarantine, but I couldn't stop working on it until I finished it in the first 2 days.
Chess pieces
(for the chess board on the coffee table), Jenga, Connect 4, playing cards, wooden colored pencils, blank paper books, etc.
Of course, the family playroom would not be complete without my babies' framed ultrasound photos.
Concrete.
I made it my mission to incorporate some concrete elements somewhere in this room. I just love the texture and rawness of the material! I had this plant stand that was banged up from being moved around outdoors, so I decided it would look better covered in concrete. It looks so good next to this floor lamp! We covered the bottom in concrete as well to really tie them both in. At the last minute, we thought it would look really cool and artistic to cover the top half of the "paint-dipped" frame with concrete, too. It originally had a beautiful floral print but it just felt too feminine for this room. I could tell my fiancé didn't care for it much. I'm still trying to rework that brass/wood console table. I didn't spend much time on it since it wasn't priority for me. Eventually, I just may have my fiancé build a super minimalistic console table there.
2 year difference. You probably could've never convinced me that I would add so much black paint and wood into my life! Amazing to see our home evolve into what it is now today.
Well, that's a wrap for now. I hope you all enjoyed the condensed version of my entire thought process for creating this remodel!! Thank you for visiting & supporting my passion.
SOURCES LIVING ROOM 7.5' CHRISTMAS TREE FAMILY ROOM 7.5' FLOCKED CHRISTMAS TREE CRYSTAL BALL TAPERED CANDLES GLASS ICICLES RED GLASS ORNAMENTS GLASS STAR TREE TOPPER SET OF 9 BROWN ORNAMENTS GLASS TEARDROP ORNAMENTS SIMILAR GLASS ORNAMENTS SIMILAR VINTAGE SATIN ORNAMENTS 1 SIMILAR VINTAGE SATIN ORNAMENTS 2 BRASS DECORATIVE PRESENTS BRASS/STAINLESS STEEL ORBS (SOLD OUT) TREE COLLARS (SOLD OUT) WAVY GLASS ORNAMENTS (SOLD OUT)
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