Family Room Update

I mentioned in my recent spring home tour that I would be posting a follow-up on our family room makeover, so today I want to share more photos and info with you. This room hasn’t drastically changed, but there have been a few minor updates I’d like to share.

Shortly after we moved in, I whitewashed the fireplace. I posted more updates last year, and then left the room alone for a while. Recently, I made a few more updates, like adding some wallpaper to the backs of the built-in bookshelves.

I spotted this wallpaper at Anthropologie (the “Woods” wallpaper), but I certainly didn’t have an Anthro budget for this project. (You may recognize it from this post, by the way.)  So I did what any resourceful (aka “cheap”) girl would do, and I stalked the heck out of eBay. I didn’t need much — one roll ended up being plenty. I found out who manufactures the wallpaper (Cole & Son) and searched under that name too. I finally found it for way cheaper than Anthro sells it for (listed under “Birch Tree Woods Wallpaper”). I was a bit unsure of how legitimate the product would be, but it’s the exact same wallpaper. I also love that it has a bit of texture.

I didn’t want to permanently attach it to the bookshelves, so I opted to use flat white thumbtacks instead of wallpaper glue so I can easily remove it whenever I want.

A couple of other changes I made to the room was the addition of some abstract art I painted. (Not because I think I’m an artist, but again, because I’m cheap and it costs me nothing to make my own.) I just scrawled some designs on paper with black acrylic paint. I popped the paintings into some inexpensive Ikea matted frames because frames with mats instantly make any artwork look higher end.

The only other thing in the room that we splurged on was our sofa because we want it to last for many years in a house with 3 crazy boys. (It’s a sleeper sofa and it came from Bassett several years ago.) One tip that we learned when sofa shopping was that polyester blend fabrics are easiest to clean, so keep that in mind if you have kiddos. I liked purchasing at Bassett because we could custom design our furniture and choose things like the arm style, leg style, length, cushion firmness, fabric grade, color, etc. (This is not sponsored and they don’t know I exist, just wanted to share our experience.)

I also made some new throw pillows with fabric courtesy of Online Fabric Store. It’s Robert Allen Black Velvet Geometric print.

I love the quality of the fabric, and sometimes I feel that splurging on textiles is a good way to make a room feel more luxurious or high-end overall, even if you decorated on a budget everywhere else. The other black and white pillows on the sofa came from Home Goods, and the other pillow in the basket came from Ikea.

When we bought our sofa, we also got the matching arm chair. The pillow and throw blanket came from Ikea, and the lamp was a Craigslist find several years ago.

My goal for this room is to make it as calm and cozy as possible since we spend the most time in here, plus the rest of the house is always full of chaos. I chose a neutral color palette for the calming effect it has, but I wanted to add pattern and texture to make it less boring and more modern. Hopefully I’m accomplishing that, although there are a couple more things I’d like to do to the room at some point.

Oh, and P.S. I showed you our antique kitchen table here, and now I’m sharing a full tutorial over on the Minwax blog if you want to check that out.

So tell me, do you stalk eBay for deals too? What are some of your budget-friendly decorating tips? Please share!

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-Erin