Cottage Style Family Room

September 24, 2013

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My lovely little home was built during the 1920's in a summer beach neighborhood. Most of the surrounding homes were used purely as summer vacation residences and while our home was the first year round home built in the area, when we moved in, it was still very small and in need of major renovation to accommodate a modern family.

Our current family room was actually the original dining room of the home, but we decided that we would never entertain that way and would rather have a den or family room space and so the remodel began! Of course, it did not come without challenges.

In our old home, we had an open kitchen/ living room set up, the very popular great room style. I totally understand the appeal, but we decided that it was not a great room for us. In the old house, when my husband and I were in the kitchen, we were constantly trying to talk over what the kids were watching in the family room and vice versa.

I love my kids to pieces, but there are times when a little separation of space is desirable ~ endless episodes of bad TV come immediately to mind. We did not, however, want to completely wall the room off either. I wanted to be able to keep my eyes on the kids and have the option to interact and listen along. So to solve challenge number one, we opted for French glass pocket doors to separate the space.

It was the perfect solution. They are space savers, add privacy and quiet when necessary and beyond that, they are quite charming and really add to the architecture of both rooms. The photo above is from one end of the kitchen looking into the family room.

The picture below shows both doorways from the family room leading into each end of the kitchen. I love how the bars on the doors mirror the bars on the kitchen cabinets and on the windows. The half wall frames the tv area and opens up the tiny room, while allowing access to the basement stairway...and shows off my beautiful flower market sign.

Which leads me to challenge number two...how to satisfy my need for frill and feminine without completely emasculating my husband!

I think we did a great job compromising.

I did get a very large floral couch, but we added some fabulous accessories to balance the room; pictures of wildlife and fly fishing lures in straight wooden frames add weight to the walls and compliment the flowers by contrast. I have to say that this room was the most fun to shop for, as my husband was so involved.

I have said before that the best decorating comes from filling a space with things you love. When I look at this room, I see the remnants of beautiful days spent together with my husband and kids. What could be better than that?

Some of our other treasures ~ a sturdy lamp with a leather shade and a gorgeous decoy that was given to us as a wedding present. The pretty table was a curbside treasure from the early marriage days. It is still one of my favorite pieces in the house.

Challenge number three was the most difficult to address ~ the size of the room. As I said before, the house is not big and this room in particular is really very tiny. One couch was not going to fit everyone for family movie time and while we do have a (less than) formal living room and a finished basement, for some reason, everyone ends up in this room.

I did not want to discourage that behavior since this mom loves togetherness. I needed as much seating as possible.

Thankfully hubby is ridiculously handy and added this awesome window seat. It is huge and able to accommodate several people when sitting and it's long enough for an adult (or two) to lay down and really stretch out. It's an awesome napping space, especially in the winter when the heat is on! I covered a Target body bolster in a bold pattern to add some more contrast to that floral couch.

I think that one of my favorite accessories in this room is the little chair. Its original purpose was to provide extra seating. There used to be two of them, presents from grandma, and the kids would sit at the table, eat snack, do homework, play games, do crafts, watch tv for hours at a time.

No one actually fits (well) into the chair anymore, but I just can't seem to part with it and it's so cute in the room next to my reclaimed wood end table that I use as a coffee table. The scale is just so much better for this size room.

In the end, I think that the room came together really well.

All of the challenges were met and successfully addressed. Of course, there are still a few trim pieces that need to be painted from a recent window replacement and I am sure that I will be changing curtains or pillow fabric in the near future, but overall we love the room and spend tons of time in it! Which is funny, because it is definitely the smallest room in our home, but that is okay, as it's usually jammed packed with the people I love and I don't mind being close to them at all!