Our Family Room

Well i didn't mean to take a bloggy break but we have been a little busy around here. I have been trying to upload these pics for this post for like a week and i think i just overloaded my computer or something because they would not work. finally after several separate uploads and moving the pics around i think i got it, beware there is lots of pics i had to show the whole process........

so lets start at the beginning

this was our living room when we first saw our house! yikes huh? the previous owners tried to build something on the wall it was a mess. the door on the left is our laundry room and on the right was a game room but is now our master bedroom (we had to remove a bar and a indoor BBQ grill in that room wait until you see that project!)

any way back to the family room....

so we took out the horrible pinkish carpet (that reeked of cat pee SICK!) and found like red stick on tile flooring. John ripped out all the stuff on the wall and it already began to look better {somewhat}

so there is the wall somewhat done it now looks SO much better right?

so here is the finished wall with our furniture and stuff in it. i love the TV on this wall but the TV looked so little on this huge wall and i never could decide to what to hang over the couch on this huge wall.

so in came some brain storming i wanted a entertainment center the size of the wall. John drew up a plan based on what i told him i wanted and begun this {fun} project =)

now this is a really large room and it has 8 large windows so lots of light. it also has french doors so where to place things can be difficult and the room can feel big (because it it) so i wanted the space to feel a little smaller and cozy since we do spend so much time in here.

John started by making this huge frame that weighed a million pounds, it was so hard to move because we have 3 ceiling fans in here (yes i know not very fashionable but it gets HOT in this room in the summer lots of light and 100 degree temps require ceiling fans) we had a hard time moving this thing.

in the mean time while building this (about 3 weeks since it was mostly done on the weekends) this is what our living room looked like

more pics of before

so here is the basic frame of the thing. it is very large and at this point i knew i would love it. doesn't it look better already?!

a up close of the thing, i love the bead board in the back it looks amazing!
and of course dad had lots of helpers in this project.....

ALMOST done! i mean a couple coats of paint and i could not wait to accessorize this thing.

and finally with the doors on! isn't she beautiful!!!

my husband made this and i love it!

the doors turned out so great too. i didn't want handles on them yet i may add them later but so far i like it this way.

here is one side. i ordered 2 prints from vol25
i am so loving these prints the quality is great and i love that i wont walk into someone elses house i know and see it on there wall. i like to mix personal items, cute decorative and various other things for decor.

Johnnie gave me a great gift card to pier one so i got a few things there including the candle holder with the hanging lantern looking things. My friend Tara gave me that clocks and my bf made me that crossstiched footprints print in the frame, i love that i see these things and think of friends.

the opposite shelf has this great big vase i got at pier 1 i am loving this color! Another print (oh and i put these in frames i got for $12 at wal-mart and on a frame holder from Kohl's that i got buy one get one free holla!)

A cute picture of Liz and a metal holder with decorative balls in it.

i also love to decorate with books and Nate Berkus suggested on a Oprah show a long time ago to always turns some books on there backs and some right side up for a neat look and i always do that now.

I put several different vases on there too the one on the top used to have a ivy plant in it and we got it when our son Matthew passed away from my friend Marissa's family (yes i remember random things like this) the purple vase was from my bf for my bday one year etc.

the spaces that are behind the doors are so large, i actually got some big canvas baskets from target last week and put a bunch of the kids toys in there which is nice because they aren't hiding under there beds anymore and they can play in here all together

i put the couch in the middle of the room to make it more cozy and a little closed in. and i also put my green chair on that wall to the left it is nice because we ALL can sit together and watch a movie or hangout. That coffee table is nice there because the kids can play or dance {haha} on top of it.

in the back corner of the room under the collage picture wall i brought in my zebra chairs from the formal living room (i will show that room soon i love it in there too) and threw some solid purple pillow on them. I used our old TV stand between them and put a couple of lamps on it makes a nice little corner to read at....
i put a all kind of pillows on the couch and i am really loving that. i us ally shy away from them because hello 5 kids and 11 pillows can cause a bunch of pillow fights and pillows that become napkins but i threw caution to the wind and brought every throw pillow i could find ;)
and something i decided IT IS MY HOUSE and i can mix whatever colors i want there doesn't have to be design rules for mixing things i love right?
the big pillow on the green chair is from pier 1 it is a floor pillow and was on clearance for $12 and change regularly prices at almost $50!

here is a view from the other direction. i still need to work on the desk on the right side but that is another day.

hope you enjoyed my LONG post sorry about that.

i am linking up to:

Making the World Cuter

Thrifty Decor Chick