Ugly Family Room Transformed

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Topic: Ugly Family Room Transformed

sthatche

Wed, 12/20/2006 - 8:49pm

Ugly Family Room Transformed

When we purchased our home, the family room was dark and dreary. Dark carpeting, dark wood paneling. So, we just put in some ugly furniture to go with the rest of the room. After years of this, we finally decided this room needed some TLC. We replaced the dark carpeting, used paintable wallpaper over the paneling, replaced the suspended ceiling (probably asbestos, added more lighting and gave the room a “theme”, that theme being “Our Tropical Room”. To achieve this we even covered the existing support post with a $20 cocoa colored carpet, added palm leaves from the dollar store, and placed an astro-turf mat beneath adding a pair of colorful flip-flops and real coconuts. The colors used on the walls and windows trim were inspired from our vacation in Aruba.

Before

Seating

Dining

Palm Tree

Bar

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What a great idea!

Heidi writes:

Sat, 12/30/2006 - 12:14pm

I love all of the pictures!! You really were creative and I bet you all use that room so much for often. It's probably "the party room" of the house! Thanks so much for sharing!

Thanks...

sthatche writes:

Sat, 12/30/2006 - 3:38pm

Heidi, Thanks for your comments. Yes, we use the room a lot now. We love it. I would go to bed each night thinking about how I wanted the room to look and how I could do it without spending a lot of $$. The most expense was the carpeting and hiring an electrician to do the recessed lighting. I wouldn't trust anyone but a professional to do that job. Other than that it was pretty much inexpensive and I got the "look" that I wanted. Not having much experience putting up wallpaper and never having put it over paneling, that was a challenge. I replaced existing 1/4" round molding on an existing shelf (that runs along all the walls) with hemp rope for a "nautical/tropical" look. I am now in the process of changing my bedroom to a tropical theme also. Unlike the family room though, the bedroom isn't going to be "kitchy" (sp ?).