Family Room Redo and Feeling at Home

I gotta say, it took this…a family room redo for me to feel at home. And within minutes of the carpet guy leaving, that is exactly how I felt.

We moved into our new home in July. We painted bedrooms (the boys and ours) and have done a few things here and there around the house but nothing big. Honestly, nothing big needed to be done. Structurally the house was sound. Renovations were not a necessity and we wanted to save up to pay for all of it at once.

Number one on the list was the family room. You can see, it is a rather small room. Add in a coal stove in the corner of the room – the only corner, and you have an even smaller room. Add in the fact that the ceilings are 7 ft ceilings AND have a swirl like plaster on them and it is practically a small box. Not the most ideal for three active kiddos. So it was a priority to give it an update. It is the room that we “live” in, so a top priority.

First we hired a contractor. Let me tell you, it is no small feat to find a good and honest contractor. Man, I wish we had some of our peeps back from PA. We had to start over here. There were no shows for estimates, estimates blown totally out of proportion because the contractor was busy…it was bad. Finally we settled on a contractor that we felt comfortable with. George from Bristol County Remodeling started last Monday and within a few days, the coal stove that was set in brick was out. The wood paneling was off, walls were patched, and progress was made!

What a difference!

Ben ripped out the remaining flooring the next weekend.

Then we painted. Just like old times…the painting duo. Ben has gotten pretty good over the years. He rolls the walls and I paint the trim. It’s our thing.

We chose Sherwin Williams Accessible Beige in a satin finish for the walls. The family room doesn’t get a ton of natural light – and like I mentioned, the ceilings are short so we need a nice light color to lighten it up a bit. Then we changed the trim color from blue/green to pure white semigloss. Just these two small changes made all the difference in the world.

The day after painting the carpet installer showed up. Remember last year when our house flooded?! I remember it all too well. Well, we had taken FOREVER to decide what carpet to get back in PA so I headed to the local carpet store here, Classic Floor Coverings, and asked if they could just find the exact same carpet. They did. Side note: It is ridiculous that carpet is called different things in different regions. Like this is EXACTLY the same carpet as we had in PA and it has a totally different name. Ridiculous. Anyway, it was installed and it is perfect.

And we finally feel like we are at home. Kids playing on the floor, comfy cozy heat filled room…in love.

Now we just need to figure out what to put on the walls. Any suggestions? 😉

About Lauryn Blakesley

A woman out to explore, celebrate, and enjoy everything that my community and living locally has to offer. Blessed with three beautiful children and an incredible husband, our family embraces adventure while dreaming of what is to come. Lover of knitting, running (although mostly after little ones right now), the color orange, fun accessories, fall, tea, and a clean kitchen floor. I spend my days in awe of my family and trying to teach my three to treat others as they would want to be treated.

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