We are finally moved into our new home and new town and it feels so nice… and overwhelming. I’m so excited to finally be in after a crazy rollercoaster of selling our place fast, trying to find a new home, moving between my in-laws and rentals, and finally getting into our house. It was well worth the wait, but now we are in an empty house without furniture and lots of projects to do, so I still don’t feel completely settled or like we’re in our home. It’s slowly but surely feeling more and more like our house and a home, but we still don’t have places to put all our stuff or sit or eat, so I’m eager to start decorating and furnishing the place. But there’s so much to do, I’m overwhelmed and of course, as any of you who have furnished or built or renovated a house in the last few years know, everything is backordered and more expensive and all of that, so at this rate, it’s going to be a year before we’re in any way settled. I wish I had started planning earlier and ordered some things for the house, but after a crazy rollercoaster trying to find a new home in the craziest housing market ever, I didn’t want to jinx us by buying anything until we had signed at the dotted line and the house was ours. I am realizing now that we may have to decorate in a few phases, especially since I’m eager to get somewhat settled, so I’m trying to get the main living spaces and bedrooms at least somewhat furnished first. Since we’re spending the majority of our time in the kitchen and family room (the rooms open up to each other), I thought I’d start there. We really need a room to sit and hang out, so I am super eager to get the family room squared away. Luckily, one of my favorite designers and friends, Jennifer Beek Hunter, is helping me with kid-friendly family room ideas to complete this important space, and I’m so relieved.
I really like design and the hunt for things and want to try my hand at all this as you know, but our family room’s layout is a little funky, and honestly, I have trouble pulling the trigger on things, so I really need someone to push me along if we’re ever going to have a family movie night that doesn’t take place on the floor. Plus, when you’re investing in furniture, which ain’t cheap and waiting for what seems like forever for it to arrive, you want to make sure you’re getting it right. Jennifer has been helping me with the layout and what pieces to get and doing it really quickly so that we can have a place to hang out soon and I could not be more grateful. She’s seriously been the best, and now I totally get why working with a pro is so beyond worth it. We won’t have all the pieces in place for probably another month or two at the earliest, but I wanted to show you our kid-friendly family room ideas in the meantime.
I love blue and white, so that’s the color scheme I’m carrying through from the kitchen to the family room. We have these blue and white Riviera chairs from Serena and Lily in the kitchen with a white marble tulip table and these Serena and Lily stools. Eventually the kitchen will be painted all white with new countertops and brass and white light fixtures. So I want the family room to fit with that schema and also be family-friendly since we know the kids will be bringing food in there, jumping on the couch, and playing and watching movies in there. We decided on an L-shaped sectional couch for the room to keep it open to the kitchen while providing lots of seating and lounging space. Jennifer helped me figure out how to lay it out so we don’t block the window or have you looking at a couch from the kitchen. She recommended Maiden Home’s sectionals — their customer service is great and I really like the shape. We are likely going to go with the Sullivan, which she recommended. We’re currently debating between and navy and lighter blue option for the couch. I am trying to decide if I like the lighter blue with the navy chairs and if it will hold up (even with performance fabric) as well as a darker blue that can hide stains.
As you can see from our kid-friendly family room ideas, I have a few color schemes in mind and I’m not sure which one I like best. I think I’m going to let the couch decide whether we go with the lighter blues or navy. I have these navy and red Sameera throw pillows that I had made for our last place that I am tempted to use in the family room and have a chair upholstered in that fabric. My other thought is to go more light blues and maybe some navy accents to tie into the kitchen. I ordered this Serena and Lily coffee table — I liked this one too, but the one I chose will hold up better with kids and I like the idea of keeping this space bright white and airy. We’re going to be painting it all a bright white as well. Behind the couch, we’ll do a big cabinet where the kids can keep their toys that inevitably make their way up the stairs from the basement (where I’d prefer for them to stay lol, dream on right?). I like this one from One Kings Lane but not sure it will work with the whiter coffee table. I also love this Serena and Lily console but I think we need closed storage for the not so cute toys. Below I shared some schemas I mocked up for the room along with kid-friendly family room ideas.
Let me know what you think.
Anitque garden and home
shelleydesign.com
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