Coastal Cottage family room {before & after}

We finally finished our coastal cottage family room makeover. I feel like I have been working on this room forever.  The colors in the room before were traditional and on the darker side, which is what my mom liked. This use to be their family room, until we switched living spaces last year.  This furniture is a set we bought many years ago and was in a much smaller room. It looks a bit lost. I decided to change the look from traditional to a cottagey pottery barn style. In my opinion, the family room before and after is dramatic.

Photo courtesy of This Old House Magazine

Before:

After

Photo courtesy of This Old House Magazine

This was a joint project with Rhoda, from Southern Hospitality.  You probably already know how awesome Rhoda is but if you are new to blogging and don’t know her, be sure to head over and check out her amazing blog. I enlisted her expertise and boy was she helpful! I sent her some before pictures of our room as well as my inspiration picture . I love the white planks on the wall in the room below and the light “airy” feeling. This was my inspiration picture.

Rhoda sent me a four page email with loads of  ideas, tips, layout suggestions, color schemes & source suggestions. It was fabulous to work with her! While we deviated a bit from the board, a lot of it was incorporated. What I loved most about Rhoda, is she is budget savy and was very motivated to re-use what I already had.

The planks on the wall are painted Benjamin Moore white diamond and the top of the wall is Benjamin Moore Wythe Blue.  I also added a 2 inch shelf on top of the planks to define the separation between the planks and the wall. It turned out great for leaning pictures.

Photo courtesy of This Old House

 

Prior to putting the planks on the wall, the fireplace looked lost. I love how the planks added character and a bit of pizzaz.

I think our DIY Pottery Barn inspired media console fits right in. My dad and I had fun making it.

There you have it! Yes, we invested in a new sectional sofa and no, it is not pottery barn. I found it on sale at a local furniture shop but had to buy it as shown. It was a deal let me tell ya! We love hanging out in this room watching TV as a family or just surfing the net. Before, it was difficult to sit as a family, especially when my stepdaughters were here. The kids are all getting bigger and were tired of sitting on the floor so it was time to get something that would fit all of us.

Update:

Loving the furniture and accessories in this room?  You can find a resource list here.

A gigantic hug to Rhoda at Southern Hospitality to helping me throughout this entire process.

We couldn’t me more thrilled with our new coastal cottage family room design. It’s fresh, inviting and such a relaxing place to hang out. You know when you just look at a room so much, you can’t see the potential or are just so overwhelmed, you can’t move forward? Well that was me. Rhoda helped me navigate through resources, layout suggestions, fabric help, and a four page email of design ideas and suggestions, she was my confidence. It was great to bounce ideas off of her and get her honest opinion.  I hope you enjoyed our family room before and after reveal.

For a great resource on how to design a living room, check out this tutorial.  Good stuff!