A couple of week's back I did a giveaway for one of my Inspiration Style Tiles, which are basically a collection of home decor and storage options to provide some inspiration in putting together or updating a space!
Lori was my lucky winner, a mom of three boys! I absolutely couldn't wait to get started!
Lori wrote:
Hi Jennifer,
I can't stop smiling, I am so excited. Let me start off by saying that I love your blog and the look of your home. We have lived in our home for 10 years and for those 10 years this room has confused me. My mother and brother are staying with us for a while so that leaves the family room as our main living area. I would like the sectional to stay and the TV armoire can stay or go. It houses the TV, stereo and gaming consoles. I would love some type of shelving w/bins to store the boys toys and maybe an area on a wall to display family photos. I don't know if you can tell by the pictures but the walls have a popcorn like texture that my hubby did when we moved in and took down the wallpaper. I would like the fan to stay because it is so hot and humid in Florida. This is a very dark room even though we have a huge sliding glass door, so I am not opposed to adding more lighting throughout. We have tile floors throughout, and would love an area rug that isn't too plushy since we have a son with asthma and allergies. Honestly, I tend to lean toward the earthy tones. But I am open to any color ideas you give me. This room is going to set the tone for the kitchen and hallways too. I am going to be painting the baseboards and doors a much lighter color so please don't feel like you have to work around the dark woodwork.
I absolutely heart a huge bridge/tree picture that IKEA has in their show room. {I will send you those pics in another email since they are in my phone}
Thanks,
Lori
To get an idea of the space I was working with, Lori quickly sent over some pictures of the space she was looking for some direction with:
And then she did something REALLY awesome, which was send me a picture of a room at IKEA that really inspired her! Love that she gave me a good idea of her design goals and inspiration!
She had mentioned that she was really drawn to the bridge art.... and I totally don't blame her! BEAUTIFUL!
And based off of the photos and information she gave me, here is what I came up with for Lori!
First I will start with the color pallet I came up with. I completely love
the bridge artwork you shared with me from IKEA, and when I was looking for options of similar artwork to place above your couch, I came to the conclusion that you had already picked the perfect piece. What did it for me was the scale of the piece for the price and the amazing colors. With your ceilings being so tall and the wall being owned by the couch, that piece of artwork would look INCREDIBLE above. And I had a hard time finding anything similar in scale for a lesser price. So great work with the starting off piece, which I used as inspiration for the rest of the room!
As I mentioned, I pulled the colors from the artwork. Since you mentioned the room feels dark, I thought that using a lighter, fresh color pallet on the walls and through accessories would be a good solution.
I would recommend to go with a creamy ivory color on all of the walls
{I picked Behr's Ivory Mist}. And if you are up for a fun painting treatment
{which I think would be a jaw dropping feature for your space}, I would add a feature floor to ceiling striped wall where your current TV armoire/toys are. I would love to see the stripes painted in a wide pattern
{at least 12" thick}, alternating between the ivory color of the room and a light gray blue color
{I picked Behr's Light French Gray}. The other two colors you see in the color pallet, are a deep brown and a sage green, which would be brought into the space via accessories and furniture pieces.
As far as painting stripes on textured walls:
Block the color from seeping under the tape, by “painting” on a clear coat first {or if you have the same color as the original wall color, use that}. The idea is that something is going to seep under the tape and leak into the voids. With a clear color or the base coat color you have now filled those voids with something that will not show after the tape is removed. The filled voids will now not allow the new color to seep under. You can count on some paint seeping under the tape. Just use a small artists brush to correct these tiny areas. Remember to step back a distance from your work before you start correcting all the mistakes you might think you will need to. You will be surprised at how few of those tiny paint bleed under points actually are viewable to anyone just standing in the room.
On the small wall in which you have the TV cord running, I thought a
tall white bookcase would be the perfect solution to not only add additional storage for media and toys
{via some cheapo canvas bins}, it would also provide a great way to hide that cord and offer a finished feeling to the space. Extra credit could be given for adding molding to the top and bottom of the bookshelf for a built in feeling.
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For the window treatments, I selected a grommet topped natural color
curtain panel that would not only look fabulous, but would also be a great long term investment since they would go with any color pallet you choose now, or in the future.
Since your inspiration photos had some lighter wood tones, I thought that
this large tray would look just perfect atop your ottoman, as a sturdy place to set beverages, books, flowers or any other accessories you please!
To sprinkle in some additional accessories from your color pallet, I found
this sage green damask pillow and incredible
gray blue medallion pillow. And, if you ever get around to winning the lottery, I couldn't help but throw in some amazing inspiration in the form of this insanely adorable
bloom pillow, which just so happened to grab every color in your pallet! Too bad it's so insanely priced right?!
Ok, time to address all those toys. Toys can be a tricky thing to easily contain and control in a pretty way, and it looks like your kiddos definitely have a blast hanging out in this space. To keep it kid friendly, yet make it easy to tuck away their belongings and give it a grown up feel, I found some
great storage shelves that have the option of adding doors! The best part, is you can control where the shelving goes, adjusting or even removing if necessary for various toy heights, and they are extra deep to really give you loads of storage for your buck!
And again, you can
add doors to completely keep it all hidden and
some pretty cabinet hardware for some blingy icing! If measurements permit, I think that centering your current armoire
{which would look absolutely incredible painted out in that gray blue color used in your stripes} and flanking each side of the armoire with one of the shelving units, would provide oodles of necessary storage and give the wall a cohesive and balanced feeling.
You mentioned to me that you really liked my gallery wall above our couch. Well, keeping that in mind, and knowing you have three adorable little men of your own that should totally get the spotlight on your walls, I thought that picking up some
pretty white frames for above each shelving unit would be an incredible way to show off their smiles!
And to address the situation of the room feeling dark, above and beyond painting in a lighter color pallet, adding some lighting may offer up some help as well! And seriously, the price is really incredible on these
STUNNING glass lamps! When paired with a white or natural linen shade, they would be the perfect room accessory to make the room shine
{literally!} Placing one atop the toy shelving unit, flanking each side of the armoire would be just superb!
I couldn't resist adding
these vases, they were oh too perfect for that artwork right?! And you gotta love that they are on sale!
Last but definitely not least, to pull the whole room together, a nice
natural jute rug would be the perfect way to keep the room feeling earthy and again, be a piece that will be flexible for you forever on with any room updates that are made. And by keeping it simple, it will actually help make the room feel larger and cleaner!
So what do you all think? Hopefully Lori can find some inspiration from the Style Tile and find ways to implement them within her room!
And for anyone else interested in an inspiration style tile, make sure to shoot me an email for availability
{you can check out my services page for all the details!}
