Monday, May 21, 2018

Changes downstairs

The last time I shared our family room, it looked like this:
Everything has looked pretty much like that since 2016, then we decided to change up the layout this spring.  The couch was too far from the tv, and there was a lot of space in the front of the room that got all crapped up with kid stuff.  So, we decided to move our shelves together near the far end, and move the couch forward to create a kid area that can't be seen from the door.  Here it is now:
The baby buggy in the corner now lives in the playroom, and in it's place, I put a couple old school desks I found at Goodwill.  I added to the 'coloring nook' with a gold plug-in pendant from World Market. 
The rest of the area behind the couch is sort of a jumble, but I guess that is the point!
I have tried to get some stuff on the walls, too.  I was so tired of looking at a big blank wall above the sectional, so I got a 20x30 made of my favorite image of the boys. 
It was obviously way too small for that spot as a stand-alone image.  See this blog post on my photography site for more info about how I found that out the hard way!  Instead of the picture of the boys, which I moved above the desks, I decided to get these canvases from Target:
These are the proper scale, and I love the retro look of the print...as well as the beautiful colors!  I plan to fill in the sides with gold framed prints to keep with my 'black, gold, and wood' theme throughout the house. 
A vintage cane chair (set of two, actually) that my neighbor was throwing away is living in here for additional seating.  I would love to reupholster it, because the fabric isn't in good shape.  I've also thought about painting it!
You can see I put my white Goodwill mirror from the Russet street house on that back wall.  I'm not sure it will stay, but it's nice to get it out of the garage for now.  The half moon table underneath it is absolutely a placeholder for something better when I find it.  A curtain in the doorway of the laundry room is a nice way to cover the mess with no fuss.  This brings me to my real issue....the color of the doors in the lower level.  They used to be an orangey wood, and I intended to paint them white to match the trim. 
But after I primed (with BIN) and painted the inside of the bathroom door, I got to thinking that maybe Urbane Bronze would look nice on the outside of the door as well.  So, I did my thing and ended up with a nice dark door.  PS - painting over BIN is a dream, it sands perfectly smooth and paint sticks to it like crazy!  Also, I never remove hardware, and always do the insets of a panel door first. 
There is only one coat on the outside of the door, because I'm not sold on the color.  This photo was taken before the mirror was added, but this is a good representation of how it looks during the day.  There is a good amount of light down here, so I'm not worried about dark doors making it look dark.  I do think it might make the old parquet floor look orange, but that may be the other door throwing me off. 
Also, I know it was popular five years ago to do interior doors this color, and I don't want to be 'dating' myself.  I do like the way it looks when opened into the bathroom!
We only have the bathroom, playroom, and door to the garage.  You can see at night how much more orange/yellow the floor looks.  However, I'm not sure white doors will be much better!  
I do love the idea of dark doors from a cleaning perspective, since my white doors upstairs are filthy from the kids.  Along with my walls, but that is a different story.  So, what do you think?
Next post, I'll be taking it outside!