Basement Family Room...

We have started another pretty big project...

 Our basement family room is getting a makeover.

This has always been our playroom/exercise/Junk room!

It has been a nice place to put all of our extra junk and it's been great for the kids to have a playroom.

Now a few of our kids are moving into their teen years and we have noticed it would be nice to have another area for them to "hang out".  

My husband and I decided we'd like our TV room back on the weekends.

These two agreed and helped my husband start this project...

DEMOLITION!

 They are actually becoming really helpful!

These two made a stage and were dancing to the song "Happy"!

This is when I started feeling "overwhelmed"!

It is amazing how removing the built-in really opened up the room.

It's nice not to come down the stairs and around the corner and feel like you're hitting a wall.

We are going to make this area a "TV" room and the other side will become the air hockey/play area.

We will also be adding a wall of storage.

I can't wait to have our family room be bright and fresh!

I did a post on family rooms that I loved from the Salt Lake Parade of homes last year.  If you'd like to see it, you can find it HERE.

Here are a few of my inspiration photos:

We will either do a smaller version of something like these built-ins...

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Or we will just mount our TV on the wall and put a buffet/hutch below it like this:

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Or this...

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Our wall in the play area will be used for storage.   

We will probably be using the Pax System from Ikea.

Here are a few beautiful ideas for that...

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We picked our carpet, couch and paint color.  Now we have to get to work!  

Why is it always so easy to "start" a project?
Then once there is a mess, you realize just how much work it's going to take to complete it and you run out of energy!

Hopefully, this makeover is a much faster project than our KITCHEN REMODEL!

Sharing with these blogs:
The 36th Avenue
Chic On A Shoestring

Rearranging Furniture...

It's sometimes crazy what triggers me to change things around in our home.  

Over Christmas break, we had a few family movie nights.
 It was after midnight when we finished,
"The Christmas Story"(one of our kids' favorite Christmas traditions).
I kept looking over at our sectional in our living room.  My mind started churning and I looked over at my husband and asked if he was ready to help me move some furniture? He looked at me like I was a little crazy, but luckily we are both night owls & we started moving things around.

  We moved our sectional into the great room, which makes more sense for watching movies...we all fit comfortably and actually have some space to lounge out.

Here it is in the living room.

It is a perfect fit in here, but it will definitely be used more in the great room.

The material always felt like it would be a better fit for a TV room.

Here it is in the great room now...

 At first, I thought it might be too big, but we are really enjoying it there.

It's weird, but when you are sitting in there, it actually makes the room feel a lot bigger than it did before.

 Now I have opened a can of worms figuring out where to put everything else.

I moved our black shelf into the kitchen...

I  really like how it matches our table...

My sister is going to buy my leather set.

Then I found my couch at Ashley Furniture for a great deal!
I actually found it in the classifieds from a wholesale store that was about an hour away.  

We went into the Ashley store closer to our house and they had the same set.
They price matched it and I saved another $250.00.
 I love a good deal.

I love tufted furniture!  

Now we have to find two chairs and a coffee table to complete the room.
Here are a few of my "inspiration" rooms:

Traditional Living Room by Plano Home Builders Shaddock Homes

Source  and Pinterest

Pinterest

They are both beautiful rooms and I like how this is going to look more "formal" for our living room.

When I started putting away our Christmas decor it started me on a major "clean out"!

It feels so good to get rid of junk.  I actually tackled this storage area we call the "pit".
It took me ALL day, but I had a whole car full of stuff for goodwill.
While I was unloading, the kid asked me like three times, "Is that everything?"
I know how to fill up my car... Lets just say it was a good de-junk!  

We hadn't touched that area in almost 10 years.  It was the space you'd feel with "stuff" and shut the door.  

I love getting organized for the New Year!
 We are off to a good start!

Today, my mom & I started on my sister's house to make room for her to take our old leather set.
She gave us treat on our way out and said not to come back ;).
Unfortunately, we don't listen too well...see you in the morning Clarece!
{UPDATE}
Click Here for the link to our Updated Living Room.
I'm sharing with these blogs:
SNAP
I Heart Nap Time
Chic On A Shoestring
Lolly Jane
Little House Of Four
Thrifty Decor Chick
Savvy Southern Style
Just A Girl & Her Blog
Magnolia Lane
The Best Blog Recipes
The 36th Avenue

Christmas Mantle/Family Room Decor

Here is our mantle this year...

I really like how it came together!

I filled my lanterns with little trees and used epsom salt for the snow.

Then I just added the greenery/berries to the top of them.

I got this cute metal bucket to place my tree in this year.

We are a family of "6", so it was perfect that they had printed "No. 6" on the burlap!

Here is a view of the whole room.

 I love my Peace, Love & Noel sign.  

The burlap backing also matched the burlap sign on the bucket for our tree!

I also added a Christmas pillow to the couch.

I love how cozy Christmas makes our house feel.

I'm thinking our dog Mickey feels the same way!

After getting all of the decorations up, I was ready to collapse on the couch too.

 I'm always surprised by how much work it is to get it all set up.

Now I'm hoping we can just relax and enjoy the Christmas season!

If you'd like to see more of our house decorated for the holidays, click the links below:

1- Christmas In The Kitchen

                 2- Red, White & Silver Christmas Tree

        3-Christmas In The Living Room

Sharing with these blogs:

Little House Of Four

Just A Girl & Her Blog

Savvy Southern Style

I Heart Naptime

The Girl Creative

Chic On A Shoestring

Dixie Delights

Thrifty Decor Chick

The 36th Avenue

Parade Of Homes 2014: Fun Family Rooms

There were so many of the homes that really made the family rooms a fun and spacious area.
Here are some of my favorites...

This was a family room from House #18.
I think it was so fun how they mixed of few different colors and patterns to create a bright, fun space!

It was so bright with plenty of natural light from the windows.  It didn't even feel like you were in a basement!

This was in one of my favorite homes.  It was a Hardrock Home and it was House #25.

It had the fun seating area, play area and an exercise room in the basement. 

I love how they are building homes where the basement is just as bright as the upstairs!

 This was a Bangerter Home and was House #24.
Behind this couch are windows that look over an indoor basketball court!

It was pretty amazing!

 This was a Tailor Built Home and is  House #27.
I just loved this idea of a little table with barstools behind the couch.
It was a great way to use the space!  You could enjoy a few snacks while watching a movie or game.
This was a Rainey Home and is House #23.

I thought the classic black and white looked beautiful and bright for a family room.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of some of my favorite family rooms!

If you missed my other posts from the Parade Of Homes 2014 you can find them here.

Parade Of Homes: Color

Parade Of Homes: Tour #1

I'm sharing with these blogs:

Just A Girl & Her Blog

Chic On A Shoestring

The Hankful House