Family Room Makeover (Part 8)

We had such a wonderful Christmas.  It FLEW by this year, which every year seems to go by faster and faster, but it was such a fabulous Christmas season for my little family.  I enjoyed more then ever, seeing family, spending time together, and really just watching my children enjoy the season.

We got the mantel done just in-time for Christmas!

I was able to clean up the room, roll the carpet back out, clean everything really well, and invite family over to enjoy the new addition to our home.

I want to get right to it so here is the before and after.

If you want to click back to where we started and scroll through the process

click HERE

And here is the same room with the mantel, new window, and opening into the sitting room.

Much brighter and I think the smartest thing we did, was open up the two rooms.  

It now seems like a spacious, open room.

And, to be honest...I LOVE IT!

Now obviously, we still have work to do and I have more in-store for this room.

This next weekend we are going to get working on it again.

Planked walls and Coffered ceiling are in the plans.

Until then, here are some more pictures of our work :)

Side view...I looove that I have a place for our favorite books and blankets.

And on the other side of the mantel is our reading and game nook.

I had a great time decorating my new mantel for Christmas. Bensen had to help and insisted that I put the Santa hat on top of the little fake pine tree that I found at IKEA.

If you like the sweater Christmas stockings I made, click HERE for the tutorial on how I made them.

And I don't want to forget my other favorite part.

I bought a fan kit for our fireplace, and Cory installed it.

Installation wasn't as easy as we thought it was going to be. Only because it was hard to get the 4 fans installed into that squishy, dark place.

But never fear, Cory is here!

That really is how I think, cause he figures out everything!

Look close and you can see the first installed fan.

There is a sensor that sticks to the bottom of the fireplace and once it hits a certain temperature the fans automatically turn on.  Then the hot air gets blown out by the 4 fans.

it's totally rad.

I really do hope your Holiday season was amazing and you made many lasting memories with those who are special to you.

Happy New Year!

Jill

Family Room Makeover (Part 7)

Week 7...

and I'm ready for this project to be wrapped up.  

Let's be honest. 

My front room has been a wreck since before Thanksgiving and I'm kinda ready for our family gathering place to be a place that we can gather again!

We are sooooo close.

We got the mantel on this week.

And it was no easy task.

We had to special order the molding, because Lowe's and Home Depot didn't have the look that I wanted. So we ordered it and when it came we tried it out.

Unfortunetly, it wasn't good.  I needed a bigger, thicker molding piece.

It just about took all the talking I had to convince Cory to wait and buy more molding (that would take 3 days to be delivered from Salt Lake) just to try out and see if it was a better fit.

Patience is not Cory's middle name.

But he agree'd and we stopped building and waited hoping it was what I, I mean we wanted.

We got the piece (delivered a day early!) and it ended up working out perfect.

(The brown molding piece is the piece we were waiting on)

 

Once we installed the mantel and agree'd on the way it looked ;) we leveled her out and installed it.

Next came the part that I definetly had been dreading and the part I know Cory wasn't so excited about.  

The Puttying and Sanding part.

Every nail hole, gap, and joint got a whole bunch of the putty on it.

Putty always leads to sanding.  Which means very dirty house and very sore arms.

 Still Sanding.

Once the sanding part was finally over.

PRIMER!

I knew once we got our first coat of Primer on, I would be able to see the vision come to life.

This vision.

This is after 2 coats of primer, and I couldn't be happier!

What do you think?

Yes I took all these pictures in the dark, so better pictures are to come.

But that will be next week when I do the big reveal.

Two coats of real paint this week and we are done with the mantel.

Can't wait to decorate this sucker.

Loves,

Jill

Family Room Makeover (Part 6)

We are starting to see the light at the end of the mantel, I mean tunnel around here.

We left off with the fireplace and surround looking like this.

Cory got to work and installed all the major pieces, or the shell, and in no time it was done.

We ended that day with this big, boxy, wooden enclosure. 

I didn't like it so much because it wasn't doing my vision any justice.

But in no time we started transforming it...

 

And finally ending up with the personality of the surround installed.

Have I mentioned Cory is AMAZING yet? My friend asked me the other day if he is "for hire".  When I brought it up with him, thinking he might want to make a little extra cash, he said...             "are you kidding?? no way."

I see lots, and lots, and lots, and lots, of puttying, and sanding and priming and painting, and then more puttying, sanding and priming in our very, near future.

Wish us luck.

Loves,

Jill

Family Room Makeover (Part 5)

Once again we have been quite busy and trying to get as much done on this makeover!
Here's the update:

We ended off with the window being installed.

Now that the window is installed, we needed to get the stucco repaired.

The stucco guys came over and did a pretty good job.

I have learned that stucco is pretty darn hard to match 100% perfectly.

We don't have a 100% perfect match, but I'll take what I can get and keep it positive ;)
(The gray color is not the final color...it is pre-color)

Asher took all these shots for me.  I think he did great job.

Once that part was over we could focus on the part I have been waiting for this whole makeover process.

THE MANTEL AND SURROUND!

When designing the room there were a few things that were really important to me:

1-storage

2-family friendly layout and usage

3- and of course attractability

I wanted lots of storage but didn't really want built-ins along the side of the Mantel for fear that it would look to busy.  I figured I would just find furniture that will double as storage for blankets, books, and games and all the other things that we will enjoy doing together as a family in this room.

Then I had a LIGHT BULB moment.

Why not add storage into the mantel surround?

Cory and I discussed the possibilities and if it was feasible and he was on board and we went for it.
On the right and left side of the surround there was plenty of room to build shelves inside the unit from the floor to the ceiling, without interfering with the fireplace and the requirements of         spacial safety.

So this is what we did.

When installed they will not stick out.
The shelves are deep enough to hold games, blankets, and books.

Cory decided to construct each box and then glue and nail them all together once we knew they fit.
Here they are with 2 coats of primer and a coat of high gloss paint on them.

This took a ton of work and patience on Cory's part and he did such an awesome job.
I can't say it enough about how lucky I am to have him be as amazing as he is.
He is a man with many talents!

 Front view of how they tucked in nicely.

He built shelves that go all the way up on the other side.
Lots of storage and an awesome addition to this space for sure.

We also were able to get the trim up around the windows.
(Yay for Thanksgiving holiday's and days off work!)

I am so happy it is December, aren't you?
I can't wait for my kiddos to be out of school so we can spend time together and play and visit family and friends and enjoy this amazing giving season!
Sending a little Christmas spirit your way :)

Loves,
Jill