The completed Family room tour

I thought that I should take some photos of our completed family room ...that feels so good to say , completed! The kitchen is completed the powder room is completed and now the family room is completed. So many room are just not there yet. But these things takes time. 

 Drapes are linen from Ikea 2 pairs for fullness. The rug is from Home depot and is an 8'x10' synthetic sisal which we love. The fan is from Lowe's.

 I added book cases to the fireplace and added a marble hearth and tile to the surround.

 My daughter Mason and I added the chair rail moulding for her bring your kid to work day. The little side table is from Winners.

 All our soft seating is from the Ikea Ektorp collection. The lamps are from a second hand store. The frames are from Ikea. Most of the pillows I made from Tonic living fabrics.

 The coffered ceiling is my latest project which is the crowning touch this room needed. The coffee table is from Urban Barn.

And of course the 6" pine flooring finished in dark Kona stain and top coated with satin varathane, it is getting worn daily which is all part of the plan.

I hope you like my little tour ...thanks for stopping by.

The final and finished family room reveal

 We have finally moved back into the family room and we are loving it. I took a vote and everyone agrees the ceiling is the best part of the room followed by the floors.
I found a nice sisal 8x10 rug at Home Depot for $150 which was amazing, its synthetic because I have a family and pets and real sisal would not stand up to them.

 I moved the grey ektorp arm chair into the family room and we decided to leave the settee out of the room to keep it more open, we did lose seating for one but hopefully we will get that new longer sofa and we will gain back that lost seating. The room this way feels so much better now and all dressed for Christmas its lovely. You may notice I also changed out the lamps, I decided to try the dining room lamps and I love them with the burlap shades.

 Here is a good look at the floors I am so happy to have wood throughout this space now.

 I am so looking forward to my new coffee table, my hubby ordered it for me after returning that chair I mentioned earlier. Turns out another husband wanted it for his wife in time for Christmas and if we hadn't wanted it then he wouldn't have had it for her in time, so I think it was meant to be really.

So there it is as it is now, I will do a new post after Christmas with my new coffee table.
Merry Christmas...

here's a couple of before's for fun

unwrapping an early Christmas gift...

 I completed three coats of water base Varathane last night and thought it was about time to remove the plastic door and when I did and stood back in the kitchen to take it all in I must admit I was in awe of how beautiful it looked. If I may say so. After all it now looks like all those gorgeous Pinterest images I have been longing for for so long. Having the same deep rich flooring really expands and blends the space so much better. I just need to finish the quarter round and then wait a couple more days for the top coat to fully cure, luckily it is a three day cure water based Varathane then we will move some furniture back in. 

My opinion on decorating is that a room should always look beautiful empty, if you start with beautiful bones and character the less fluff you have to add and the easier decorating the room is. As well this is what adds value to your home, decor is nice and cute but it isn't there to stay like millwork. 

This project took me 16 days to complete which is a little bit shorter than the 21 day timeline that I wasn't sure I could even make. Now it did take me much of each day from 4-6 hours some days on average, I know 4 hours doesn't sound long , but working over head and on your knees for 4 hours is rough. I took two whole days off through the process I was on a mission. 

I am so happy to have that carpet gone, it was less than two years old and showing so much matting and crushing , under the sofa looked great but the rest was so shabby looking. 

Having a continuous flooring also means I can extend my table even into the family room a bit for large gatherings which will be a great option.

I have been looking for a nice rug for the family room, I mean I hate to cover the wood but the room needs an 8x10 area carpet.

If we didn't put in a rug the furniture legs would ruin the pine floors and the furniture would slide around which would be an incredible pain, plus it's just nice visually and functionally.

 I think I am going with a synthetic sisal carpet for now because of the price and wear and tear. I love real sisal but one dog barf incident and its ruined. I would love a more decorative option but we also need a new sofa so the sofa will come first as we can always upgrade our rug. As well I haven't found anything I love yet.

We are thinking the Ikea Hovas sofa would be the perfect choice for our big reveal... 

 I am happy to share I found some almost perfect wool 8x10 rugs for around $500 price at Home Depot which I think it pretty great but I still need to check out Homesense on a regular basis I suppose.

Life is about to get back to normal and Christmas is about to officially begin at our house. Happy holiday's!

If you would like to see how I DIY my coffered ceiling check it out here http://chriskauffman.blogspot.ca/2013/12/my-diy-coffered-ceiling.html

Happy news to share...the coffered ceiling is finished and I mean finished

 What a relief to say that the big ceiling project is complete. It took 9 long days which is more than a reasonable investment of time for such a great result. I am not excited to tackle another ceiling project any time soon but there will be one more biggie in the new year, the dining room. At least the dining room is a seldom used room , for now anyway. It won't put anyone out all to work on the dining room but that is for another day.

 Let's just let me take this all in , it's so pretty I can barely stand it . I painted it Behr's vermont cream  in satin which was as close a match as I could get to our existing paint color. Sorry it is so hard to take a good picture of the room with that plastic door in the way of a good shot , I will get a better picture soon.
 I am taking a day off from renovations tomorrow to recoup a little and to clean and get some errands done. I think I deserve a little break.

We have been talking about finally getting a new sofa after having the same sofa for at least 11 years and this one is the one I am thinking about. You never know how something really is that you see online until you see it in real life, right? so I must go check it out in person.
I love the idea of a sofa with a chaise, the sofa we have now is primarily a two seater so a three seater plus chaise for the family room would be perfect. I think a new arrangement is in order. Everything we have had in the family room is a mishmash and I am ready for a change, it would be nice.
We will see...I need to do a little more investigating before any purchases are made.

For now my mind must get back to the flooring that will begin on Thursday , I won't be showing any progress pics because I just want to install it and then reveal the completed room , well the completed empty room I guess. It's always a work in progress.

Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by.

1 Week coffered ceiling progress update

I'm just taking a breather from my crown moulding to give you a little update....
It is coming up on a week for the coffered ceiling project , well actually I suppose it is a week today that I started with removing the carpet and under pad and moved all the furniture else where so here is the 1 week update. Things have been going well , quite smoothly so far.
I chose a simple ogee  MDF crown moulding which is the same as is in our kitchen , nothing too fancy it is our family room after all.
Yesterday after sanding the joints smooth and priming I decided to tackle at least one square of crown moulding, Oh my I will be the first to admit I don't love doing crown moulding. I can quite smoothly install outside corners but inside corners I find quite frustrating, but I am getting it done, thank goodness for caulking. I will be needing over 300 feet of crown moulding for this project , which will cost me as much as the studs and supplies have cost up until now. It will add priceless amounts of style and character though so I am fine with the cost.
 Just FYI it would cost 10 times the cost to have it done for me.
I also ordered the pine flooring yesterday for the family room it has to sit for at least 4 days before it gets installed so that needs to get into the space at least sooner or later. I have decided on a design for the flooring I think it will add interest.
So here are my current pictures please don't judge my miters, its not at east as all those youtube videos make it out to be. Maybe I will try coping.

I am loving how it looks so far , but I am not looking forward to caulking and priming and then all the painting....it's a good thing I have most of my Christmas shopping done.
I better get back to work, so long farewell.

Coffered ceiling update day 3 and 4

 Things are moving smoothly so far. I was able to install all of the remaining side pieces to the studs yesterday. If we had not bought scaffolding than it wouldn't have been possible to do this part solo.

 There is so much priming then sanding then priming and more sanding...this is time consuming.

So glad we put up the plastic door, because this project is a huge mess maker, there is so much fine dust.

 So this project is pretty simple and straight forward. Just choose your placement , find your joists and attach 2x4's add double blocking , cut MDF prime and sand it (just one side and one end) nail those strips of MDF around the room at the ceiling and then sandwich them on either side of the 2x4's and then add a strip the same size as the 2x4 to the bottom of the blocking and then trim each box with crown moulding and then make sure all nail holes are filled and sanded also sand any imperfections and then caulk all the seams , easy right? then paint and paint and paint, get lots of massages you'll need them. This is a tough project on the back.

Here is how it looks as of 9:00 am today. I am going to get the rest of the bottom pieces in and then I am off to select a crown moulding.
I should really go get to work if I am going to get this done in time for Christmas....bye for now.

Coffered ceiling update day one and two...things are already taking shape

I spent most of Friday moving furniture out of the family room, it sure is nice to have big kids who can help move heavy things like sofa's, girls rock...when Daddy is working late. I ripped out the carpet under padding and tack strips and headed off to the dump all before dinner. Bright and early Saturday morning Todd and I were planning to get started. 

 We headed off to Home Depot for 2x4's and plastic and we picked up some small fold able scaffolding which has turned out invaluable, both of us can get up there and attach all the framing. Working over head is hard work for sure.

 So here we are now it's 8:00 pm and the coffered ceiling grid is framed and blocked , all the three sheets of 5/8" MDF have been cut down to 5.5" strips and a bunch of it has been primed and is ready for sanding and more priming before we can nail it all into place, this is getting so exciting. Placement of the studs and finding all the joists was very time consuming but I think the rest will go quite smoothly.
I'm thinking our arms will be sore in the morning.

My daughter would kill me if she knew I was putting a pic up on my blog of her , so don't tell her Ok, she is growing up into a beautiful young lady we are very proud of the person she is becoming she is a good kid indeed. I just thought she looked so beautiful the other night going to a high school winter dance. How time flies when you have kids, it's sad how fast.
Have a wonderful weekend...

It's happening I'm starting a renovation for Christmas

 I have been planning on getting the floors and ceiling done in this family room for a while now and the time is right. I want it done for Christmas, so this Saturday we will be re-locating all the furniture and then ripping up the carpet after that my husband and I will be attaching the 2x4 framing for the coffers. I am hoping it will warm up some so that ripping MDF won't be complete torture.

 I will then go order the pine flooring and have it delivered, yeah delivery.

I am giving myself 21 days to get it all complete so that I can then get up our Christmas tree just in the nick of time , I will most likely put another tree up maybe in our master bedroom we have done that before and it is lovely to have a tree in the master.
I look forward to how much nicer the family room will be , I will be able to extend our dining table from the kitchen into the family room when the flooring is all the same, it will be perfect.
Coffered ceilings and more dark pine floors I am so excited , I may be laying the floors in a unique way also, why not?
Check in often for tiny updates , they may just be silent updates I warn you as I am going to be a very busy person come December it's a good thing almost all my Christmas shopping is done.

My next big DIY project... Coffered Ceilings

 I have always loved coffered ceilings , they are so beautiful and a gorgeous feature to almost any room.
I added one beam in our last house to separate the smooth ceiling from the bead board covered ceiling in our family room ,check it out here so I know how to get a box beam installed I suppose but I have never tackled a large ceiling nor a grid pattern. It will be a big learning process. I am very excited to get this project going.

 I will be installing 4 beams total that will intersect. The depth of the beams will be 5.5" and 5 1/4" wide framed with crown moulding.

I was mapping out the placement of the beams finding the ceiling joists. I needed to work around the pot lights and the very large oscillating ceiling fan we have installed because that is not coming down , it was not easy to get up there.
I have measured out 53" in from each side of the longest wall and 48" in from the shorter walls. The room is 12' wide by 17' long. This will create one large rectangle in the center and one in each corner of the room.
I will use MDF sheets to make the box beams , I have found a lumber yard locally that sells extra long MDF 24"x161".
Here is the blank slate now.

We just need to move all the furniture out then I need to rip out the carpet and under pad and then get started on the ceiling. this may take a few weeks....wish me luck. After the ceiling is complete I will install the pine flooring and finish that then I will move onto the dining room ceiling and flooring in there.

I will be re-creating this style of coffered ceiling with bead board .

 As for the flooring in that room I want to try something special I have narrowed it down to one of these designs....of course mine will be wider planks 4" and dark stained red pine like the rest of the wood flooring.

For now I am going to focus on the family room to get that done in time for Christmas and if I start on the dining room it will be bonus but I am not putting any pressure on myself at this point.

So hang in there I will be updating along the process but my blog posts may just slow down a little.
Bye bye for now , thanks for stopping by.