Our Family Room

 

chair side

Like Christy, I am gathering all my room photos together so we can prepare our home to be on the market. This room, while it’s probably our “most used” room, seems to always lag behind other rooms on my “to-do” list, and therefore really has never been shown to ‘the world’ here.

fireplace view

couch side

If we weren’t moving, I would paint the room to warm it up, but for now we are leaving it white. We chose a very neutral color scheme inside this home–dark floors, white walls, white kitchen. I know many of you prefer to see more “color” in rooms, but we designed this house during a crazy, stress-filled time in our lives {if you have met my daughter, you understand!} and I craved quiet in our new home. We also didn’t want the inside decor to take away from the pretty view of the lake outside.

lamp pic wall

 

couch side

vignette2

fireplace

hydrangeas

full view

My future decor plans include a custom cushion for the chest shown above. Also, reworking the couch pillows and painting our entertainment center. That will all happen after we get done touch-up painting and the pre-move purging finished {then pack, move, unpack etc.} I suppose!

Sources:

Rug~ Ballard Designs Jute {a bargain $ for the 9×13 size but be warned, it sheds!)

Couch~Hickory Furniture Mart {similar to PB’s Charleston}

Clock~Target {someday I will figure out what I want on my mantel. I lured my design smart neighbors over with wine to help in desperation a few weeks ago, I just can’t seem to get it right!}

Chair~ Ballard Hollis Chair

French Bergere Chair~ No idea, lucky score from a model home furniture sale.

Long french pillow on chest~Restoration Hardware

Couch Pillows~Etsy

Curtains~IKEA

Coffee Table~ Pottery Barn

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Posted in Home Inspiration, Home Tours, Real Spaces | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Sometimes it works…and then sometimes…

As I have mentioned I am working hard to get my home ready to go on the real estate market.  So, recently I have been updating certain problem areas to help my home “show” in the best possible light. As I don’t live close to many retail establishments, this has involved spending LOTS of money with Ballard Designs.

I love Ballard, they are just my taste. I am always happy to see the catalog arrive in my mailbox, and love pouring over each issue. But, as you would expect with mail order, sometimes things work…and sometimes they don’t.

My success today came in the form of the Ballard Couture Chair Covers I ordered for my dining room chairs. This was admittedly, a risk, as I totally don’t have the Ballard chairs they are designed to go on. I did measure my chairs vs. the dimensions in the catalog (as well as sadly, passing on having them monogrammed so I could return them if they didn’t work out) and I knew they would be off but not by too much.

Here is the “before” of my chairs. They came from Storehouse many years ago, and while I love the lines of my table, I have never loved the chairs. The set was the first furniture my husband and I purchased after we were married for our little townhouse. So, it was time for a little updating. Plus, I recently painted the walls chocolate, with the intention of making almost everything else in the room white.

Here is the chair before: (I had recovered the seats a few years ago)

I figured (correctly) that my chairs would need some help to match the dimensions of the slipcovers, but I just added some layers of quilt batting over the back (top) of the chair, and slid the cover on. While its not  a perfect fit, its fills out the slipcover and is a huge improvement.

I know that I could have made something similar, but at $35 each, plus I used the 15% off coupon Ballard just ran, it was well worth my time to just order them and not pay for materials, childcare and deal with my lack of patience with sewing. I love them! I did not love the amount of ironing they took when they came out of the package–but hopefully the remaining wrinkles will fall out over the next few weeks.

Now, my “fail” of the day…I have been waiting for WEEKS for the Ballard Burlap panels to come back in stock. They arrived yesterday, and after even more ironing, I got them up. Then took them down, rehung the curtain rods higher, and put them back up. Their weight promptly pulled the rods out of the wall, so then I re-anchored them and rehung them again. And decided it was all a waste of time…

Here they are (see the rods still falling out of the wall?)

In my opinion they just don’t work. While I hoped they would cover up a less then pretty view out the back window, I don’t like how dark they are, and how wide they are in the space. The final straw  is the cost of new (more substantial) rods– on top of the curtain cost– just wouldn’t be worth it just to make the room look good to show. So, back to the drawing board!!! I am thinking a trip to Ikea??? I need a cheap, easy short-term solution, and as always its a good place to start.

Posted in Before and After, Home Inspiration, Real Spaces | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

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