Summer Updates in the Family Room

It would seem it is almost time to start talking about Fall decor {I should say in ‘blog land’ it is time, though in reality it is about 100 degrees outside!} so before we fully get there I wanted to show off the summer changes in my family room. I like to make updates to the decor in this room based on the season, the neutral palate of the cream walls and mostly white furniture makes it easy to switch things around, it keeps it interesting around here 🙂 You can see the winter version here and some Fall shots last year here.

This summer I wanted to really brighten the space up, the grays are soothing in the winter but it was starting to feel dull.  It would seem that navy is on my personal decor hot list–and pretty much everyone else’s right now–so navy it was.  I just made updates by adding some bright blue pillows and a few new accessories.

This is a two-story room in the center of our home, which was the one thing I did not want when we were looking for our new house. Of course, the house we wound up purchasing came with this floorpan {we didn’t have many options at the time, you can see this room before and our home search story HERE}. The high ceiling makes the room very loud and the two-story walls are a pain to paint, which is probably why we still have the builder cream on them. However, the great part of the space is that the tall windows give us a ton of natural light and that isn’t something I’ll ever complain about.

I painted the dark, reddish brick fireplace white {that tutorial HERE} shortly after we moved in and since then have been trying to finalize the space once and for all.  I didn’t finish the coffee table in time for these pictures, it has been sanded it down but I haven’t applied a new stain yet. I am debating between two processes but the goal is to get it to be a gray color, a Restoration Hardware-esque weathered gray, so I’ll be back to show that off once I figure that process out.

I know you all have probably already heard more than enough from me raving about the Joanna Gaines Magnolia Home line at Nordstrom but I thought you would want to see the window frame now that is in my home. I previously had a gold mirror on top of the fireplace, but it wasn’t exactly right in the space. I knew this window frame would work great with the colors and the style of the room and I couldn’t be happier with it. It’s nicely made and the perfect size for the mantel, of course, Joanna nailed it #nosurprise.

Here is a wide shot of the room, the kitchen is to the left and my husband’s office is on the right of this space. It is pretty much our go-to hang out space so we have as much seating as will fit, I find you can never have enough comfortable chairs, plus the bench by the fireplace fills in when we need room for just one more.

This summer I also added blinds to the windows, I still feel like the space needs curtains but the windows are so tight against the corners it would be almost impossible to install rods, for now the blinds help soften some of the light.

I need to share with you all my experience with these blinds. I purchased this woven style from JCPenney at the recommendation of a well-known blogger who mentioned that they were a deal (like $30 each). In the past I have purchased these woven blinds from Overstock which are a snap to install, and previously had gorgeous, top-quality ones installed in my breakfast room. These were the worst thing I have ever installed! Please do not buy them 🙂 Had I known what I was in for I’d have returned them immediately. They have the strangest installation system that had me putting dollars in the swear jar, it was horrible. So bad in fact, that after I got one of them got installed early in the summer the other two sat in their boxes until this week when I finally forced myself to push through to finish. So, anyway–point being, I’d recommend avoiding buying these!

Moving on…across from the fireplace is the gallery wall I put together shortly after I moved in. My kids have grown considerably from the pictures so it may be time to update it a little bit :). You can see how I made the lampshades HERE.

I added some gold touches there mixed with some grapevine balls to start getting a little bit of Fall into our house. I can’t say enough good things about this World Market table, if you don’t already have one you should get it–it’s such a great price {I just noticed it is on sale too!} and it can be styled in so many ways. Adding the two buffet lights on the table really brightened up a darker area of the room which is especially nice at night.

You can see our kitchen behind the couch, the cabinets I painted last Fall are holding up great {painted cabinet tutorial HERE}, I haven’t missed the darker kitchen one bit. It is so nice now to take photographs of the couch without cropping out the kitchen behind it 🙂

Most of my couch pillows came from HomeGoods, as did the accessories. It is almost time to swap them out for the Fall colored ones, but I guess I am trying to hang on to summer as long as I can  🙂

Have a great day everyone!

SOURCES

Couch–Hickory Furniture Mart {similar HERE}

Coffee Table–Pottery Barn {similar}

Pillows and Accessories–HomeGoods

Painted TV Console

Woven Jute Rug

Window Frame on Fireplace

Everett Foyer Table

Bench–Target {similar}

Artwork–Minted

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