I am super thrilled to have Courtney from A Thoughtful Place share her tips and secrets for how she pulls it all together. Courtney is such a beautiful lady that has impeccable taste in her style for dress and her home. I love how she incorporates both into her blog every week. Sit back and enjoy, you are in for a super treat.
Hi, all! I was so excited when Marty invited me to share one of my
rooms with you. I am a mom to two little ones and live in Southern California. I
am hoping to explain how I pulled it all together. I must admit this room has
taken shape over the course of a few years and has taken a while to grow into
it’s current state. This is probably my favorite room in our home because it’s
where we relax, giggle, snuggle, discuss life and truly enjoy each other’s
company.
While a sectional is not my go to when designing rooms, there
are some spaces that just beg for one. This was one such space. Our family room
is rather small and I need to make the most of the space. We LOVE to entertain
and often host parties with large groups. Because of that, we had a sectional
custom made to meet the exact specifications of this room.
Once the sofa was in place, it took me a while, but I fell in
love with the lead fabric pillow. It is Wilmington Covington and offers great
colors to pull from for the rest of the space. In fact, I pulled out the blue
for the slipper chairs. Those were another DIY
project and offer great seating. Don’t be afraid to place chairs in
front of a fireplace and away from the television. It makes the room that much
cozier and if you go with a low profile chair you do not lose the pretty visual
of the fireplace and mantel.
Because we have little ones, at the time I needed a very soft and
functional coffee table. This little number was only $100 from K Mart a few
years back. It’s been perfect for us. Great storage for table linens and the
softness allowed me to relax with my crazy toddler boy running in and out of the
room. Now that the children are 6 and 8 I am actually contemplating graduating
to a real wood coffee table {gasp!}.
To pull this room together I relied on some of the things that make
me most happy in design: a touch of glamour, bold pattern, color, comfort and
meaningful pieces. The bold stripe of the
rug is such an easy way to add a big impact in one shot! It also ties
into the black accent elements I have in the space.
The subway
art we have is quite meaningful to us. I made it using names of the
streets my hubby and I have lived on throughout our lives. It’s a nice
conversation piece and instant reminder of where we come from. I added gold
corners to the frames one night on a whim. I sprayed some duct tape gold
and wrapped each corner. To be honest, most of my DIY projects are just done on
a whim and I hope for the best!
I realized that while the room was coming together, I had gone
crazy with rectangles. They are everywhere! So I needed to break that up. I had
this mirror hanging near our piano and decided it was a much better fit above
the mantel.
Every space needs fresh greenery. I am a huge fan of it in all
rooms. We have a pretty magnolia tree out back that lends itself nicely to fresh
branches on the mantel.
I think the guiding force in any room I design is a lead fabric.
The floral fabric of my pillows really directs what I bring into the space.
Because it’s a floral it provides lots of color options but it also keeps me in
line. I am not going to bring home a hot pink pillow, despite loving that color,
as it does not go with my lead fabric. The
drapes were another DIY. I fell in love with the large neutral print and
knew it would blend well with everything in the space. It’s a tough room to add
drapes to so we had to get creative with the DIY rods. If you ever find drapes
that are too short, consider doing what
I did to make them work.
Mixing finishes, adding some glamour, infusing bold pattern and
meaningful art made this room finally come together. Thank you, Marty, for
letting me share our family room with you and your readers.
See what I mean, how she pays attention to all the tiny details and creates such beautiful DIY elements for her home. I love this room and it definitely looks chic, inviting and a place to come in and relax. That’s all you could ask for in a room and she pulled it together with such style. Thanks tons Courtney for letting me brag a little about you. Now if you don’t follow her blog, by all means, run over and click that follow button. You really don’t want to miss a thing.
I am joining the following parties:
Craftberry Bush , Posed Perfection ,
Katherines Corner , The Vintage Farmhouse , A Delightsome Life ,
Love of Family & Home ,Between Naps On The Porch ,
From My Front Porch To Yours , The 36th Avenue , Imparting Grace ,
My Romantic Home , French Country Cottage ,The Thrifty Groove ,
The Charm of Home , Chic On A Shoestring Decorating , Finding Fabulous ,
Rooted In Thyme , Jennifer Rizzo , Redoux Interiors
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