The Reality of Making Your Home Work For You
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Hello, my BOLD ones!
If you are like me at all, you get me when I say that it’s been a slow-going process to make this house feel like a home. I love a good before and after, but my before and my afters have many, many in-betweens as well.
And I had a TON of pre-conceived notions as to how this home should look and function, i.e. the floor plan. I mean, if the builder puts a chandelier in one room, that proves it will now and forever be the dining room, right?
Or the cable outlet is in one room, and that decrees that it shall, from this day forth, be the family room! The END.
So, I went along with it like a little dumb sheep.
And I hated my family room. It’s one of those rooms that has three sides and is open to the middle of the house. The fireplace is on the outside wall, and it made it so hard to figure out where to put our couch. We finally ended up mounting the TV over the fireplace and setting the couch facing it. But that really blocked the flow of the room.
I rearranged the furniture so many times, my boys began to think I was destined for the psyche ward.
Then about a month ago, I woke up with a flash of brilliance and thought how wonderful it would be if we just, instead of wrestling with the furniture placement, just switched the two rooms.
Morgan, again, said that I had lost my mind. But I ignored him like all good blogging wives do.
Here are some photos of the family room before:
It doesn’t look horrible here, but we never, ever hung out here as a family.
This rendition below is somewhat schizophrenic… where do we look? At the fireplace? At the sideboard? AAAARRGGGHHH. (run screaming.. I did).
And now, here it is as the dining room:
It’s so much more open and functional! And I love having a fireplace in the dining room.
I did get a new rug. You should have seen, up close and personal, just how nasty, disgustingly dirty the old one was. I asked Morgan if he thought we should donate it (because I’m always looking for a tax break…haha) and he just looked at me.
It promptly went in the trash.
I also just recovered the chairs. I’m sharing some fun tips on that soon, so keep your eyes peeled for that epic post. 😉
I’m moving to a more intentional black and white foundation throughout the house, but the Moody Blue will stay on the walls for now. I actually love how it looks with the black and white.
I started with black and white when I did my stairs, but then I got sidetracked. Womp. Womp.
I’m definitely not done in here, so stay tuned to see more updates this year. I’ll make sure and not have earphones and period chart placemats anywhere in the big reveal. Or the latent gallery shelves hanging out in the corner.
That photo above reminds me of those elementary mind games… how many things can you find out of place in this room.
Oh, and those fake twirly trees? They’re supposed to be on the front porch, but as we live in the continent’s most violent wind tunnel, they’ve taken up residence, albeit not permanent if I have any say, in the new dining room.
So now, here is what the dining room used to look like:
Not hideous, but it functions so much better as our family room. We hang out in here all the time now!
Um. Totally ignore all the junk. I’m planning some pretty big changes in here. I just ordered a new sofa sectional and some wallpaper. (which you can see the sample there above the couch below the diy plywood art.
The dark blue below the chair rail is getting a coat of black, and I’ve already made a new light for the space, which I’ll share someday soon in, yet another, epic diy post. (double wink)
I just wanted to give you a sneak peak of the room, and now I’m thinking I should have put shoes away and turned that cushion around. haha.
But all eyes are on HotShot anyway, right?
And these “real life” pictures will make the dramatic “reveal” even more amazing. So, let’s just say there is a method to my madness.
One of my blog goals this year is to share more of my real self, and it doesn’t get any realer that this, yo.
That rug is new, and it’s like a little cloud of heaven. Yes, it’s getting a little dirty, but whatevs.
Anyway, this post is supposed to be all about how the reality of making your home work for you. It’s really a matter of using what you have in a new and unexpected way. Of not being confined by the layout and structure of your home but finding new ways to make it comfortable and function for your home and your family.
I have issues with space and my mood is very affected by furniture placement. Is that weird? Or do you have that secret super power, too?
xoxo
Gwen
we did this in our last house and it worked SO much better for us!!! you live there so you make it what you want! as long as you don’t put your bed in the kitchen sink all is well. 🙂 and love the new rug!
Ha! I can say for sure there will be no sleeping in the kitchen sink!
Thank you!
Gwen
Totally not weird at all. Furniture placement effects my mood too. I love the switcharoo and the new chair covers look great!
Thank you so much, Whitney! Glad to know I’m not the only one with a weird furniture placement issue!
Great advice! And honestly, I love the twirly trees there and think you should keep them in front of the windows. From the outside, it would look like a playful take since you have cornices but no blinds or curtains. And with the all white cornices, window trim, and baseboards, I think they add something amazing (shape, color, texture) to a very clean-lined room. If it were my room, I’d totally keep them there!