Cassie Bustamante

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Our Color Blocked Family Room Reveal with Frogtape’s Paintover Challenge

June 18, 2020 by Cassie 30 Comments

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Our Color Blocked Family Room Reveal with Frogtape

Um, I’ve been keeping a secret.  If you know me, you know that I am really good at keeping private secrets that you don’t want shared.  However, when it’s an exciting surprise and it’s good news, I have a hard time… the last month has been a test of my willpower. We spent most of May working our booties off on our basement family room because I am competing in Frogtape’s Paintover Challenge this year with 14 other talented DIY bloggers!!!  EEEP!  I couldn’t believe it when they emailed me and asked if I’d be interested… where do I sign?! It’s been killing me not to share this space with you because we’ve been living with it now for a few weeks, and are just loving it!  Today is all about showing you the space, and will be heavier on photos and shorter on words. Nope, scratch that… I wrote that intro then wrote the post, and apparently I had a lot to say.(This post is in partnership with Frogtape.)

With the help of my family, we actually did several DIY projects in this space, and I’ll point them out in this post.  Tutorials will be coming!

Before I show you much more, let’s take a look at where this space started… These photos are from the listing, but trust me, we did nothing in this space before except add furniture.

#that60srancher fam room #that60srancher family room

Here it is at Christmas with our futniture:

Basement Family ROom

And now let’s get to some of these afters, because that’s what we are here for, right?

The project with the biggest impact was our color block fireplace wall, and you can find a bulleted how-to over at Frogtape now. You can also see the atrocity that this space was the begin with over there.  It was baaaaad. You should definitely go see for yourself. There was a reason you rately saw this room before. Now, it’s a space that we loooove hanging out together in and I am proud to share.

With this challenge, we were each given a $500 budget to recreate our spaces, and could not spend a penny over.  I am proud to say I was over $100 under.  (Jazz hands!) Of course, that also has to do with the fact that the thrift stores have just opened and didn’t have much, and Target’s shelves were pretty bare of home decor, so my budget was used on paint, DIY supplies, some planters and loads and loads of plants!  My theme was natural beauty, so I knew that I wanted to work with greens, whites, natural textures and elements, as well as plants, plants, and more plants. I used furniture I already had in this space, art I already owned, and many accessories that were already in my stash.

As you can see, the lighting still needs to be changed, but that would have put me over budget, so that will wait. We also removed the mantle for now, but I believe we will replace it with a new one.  I was just afraid that if it went wrong at this moment, I wouldn’t have time to fix it.  It’s a project I wanted more time on since we will have to mount it on brick.

Let’s talk about what we did do now!

Project 1: Paint the Fireplace

I am no stranger to painting fireplaces, and painted the one in our old house black.  I loved it SO much because it helped to hide our TV. In this house, we had discussed moving the TV from the fireplace to the side (where you see it above), so I was thrilled to use a color instead of black and settled on a dark moody earthy green.

I will have a post coming with all of the details on how we painted this fireplace as well as the color.

Project 2: Paint the Walls White

When we bought this house, this room had been painted a weird gray with lavender undertones.  I assume they painted everything light and neutral to sell, and they used this color in several spaces.  It photographed much better than it was in person, but I strongly disliked it. We’ve used white paint on several of the walls in our home so far and had plenty left to tackle the walls of this space.  It’s a rather large room, but we covered it with free paint, no problem! In addition to the “family lounge” area, it also has an alcove we have reserved for a game table.

Modern Boho Family Room

Game table nook in family room

Seeing our gray sectional against the white walls makes me so happy… that lavender gray was killing my vibe.

Modern boho family room in white and black, naturals and greens

Project 3: The Color Block Wall

Once the walls were painted white, we let that sit for a week, and the next weekend we tackled the color block wall.  If your eye is discerning, you can see that the color block is not the same green as the brick.  I wanted to add a little visual interest so I chose a shade a little lighter, and it was actually leftover paint from Wilder’s ceiling, so once again free to me!

color block next to fireplace

As I mentioned, you can find my little tutorial for this color block pattern over at Frogtape. Green and white modern color block

This room is long and narrow, so it’s hard to capture it really well, but I am so pleased with the outcome.

Modern Color Block Wall

To be honest, I wasn’t sure h ow color block would work on paneled walls, but I am glad I went for it anyways.  The lesson there is don’t let yourself be inhibited too much by pre-existing conditions!

Modern color block wall in family room

Project 4: Add Shelves

I knew that I wanted our TV to sit on top of the cabinet to the right of the fireplace, but I wanted to frame it out so it wouldn’t be such a honking eye sore.  I decided to singular shelves at a height just above the TV on either side for symmetry.

Shelves on either side of fireplace help hide tv

Again, I will have a separate post about these as well, but I love that they gave me more surface area to play with as well as a frame for our television. Plant Shelfie

Modern Green and White Living Room

Project 5: Create Large Scale Art for Hardly Any Money

The big blank wall behind our sofa was calling. I didn’t want to do a gallery because I didn’t own all the right pieces already, and I didn’t want to spend my budget on art.  Additionally, I like to gather special pieces over time rather than force it.  Originally the bison was hanging there, and the TV was on the fireplace, but I wanted to shift all of that around, leaving the sofa wall open.

Modern Boho Family Room Art

With a $5 drop cloth, Emmy and I created this piece of modern art for our family room.  I love that she was a part of it because it’s all the more special now.

Modern Boho Wall Hanging over sofa

I’ll have a full tutorial coming on this piece as well. 😉

Project 6: Accessorize!

As I mentioned earlier, we used furniture we already had, and we actually didn’t move any of it.  Every single piece was exactly where it was when this makeover started.

With accessories, I wanted to stick closely to me theme of natural beauty, and use several natural elements.

On the coffee table, I added a huge midcentury wooden bowl I found years ago at a flea market, antlers I painted years ago, and a plant in a planter I’ve had for some time.

Coffee table styled with natural things

Modern Boho Family Room in green, white, gray

Pillows were all pulled from my stash. I had actually purchased the green ones when we were staging our old home, and they were perfect with these new color block walls.

Green, black, white pillows

The cabinets were styled with my collection of design books, my record player and record collection, and plants. Cabinet styled with books and plants

Modern Bohemian Color Block Family Room

Vintage record collection

The shelves were decorated with plants, and art and vases I already had.  I did purchase a couple of white planters, though not the one below.Shelf styling

The table was set with a runner I purchased, a basket I already had, a new plant, and green candlesticks I’ve had for 13 years.

modern boho table styling

green glass candlesticks

I will be back next week with the start of the tutorials on this space.  Which project do you want to learn about first?

In the meantime, I’ll be over here chilling in my new lounge, and spinning some old tunes. 😉

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Filed Under: Bohemian Style, family room, Living Room, making our home, My House

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Comments

  1. Flecks of Lex says

    June 18, 2020 at 8:18 am

    Amazing job! I can’t believe you two painted that! Looks fabulous!

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      June 18, 2020 at 10:27 am

      Thank you SOOO much!

      Reply
  2. Jessica | Petal + Ply says

    June 18, 2020 at 8:32 am

    Wow! I love it so much. The green colors are perfect and I love the arched bits that frame out the shelves on both sides of the fireplace. You did a fabulous job, Cassie! What a beautiful space for your family to enjoy.

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      June 18, 2020 at 10:26 am

      Thank you! I am SOOOO glad it’s done and we can live here!

      Reply
  3. Linda Johnston says

    June 18, 2020 at 9:13 am

    Love the change and the earthy green. I sent photos to my daughter and DIL for inspiration.

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      June 18, 2020 at 10:26 am

      Aaaaw, thank you for sharing it!

      Reply
  4. Carmel says

    June 18, 2020 at 9:17 am

    I love it! The whole space is so fun and inviting! The color block looks incredible!

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      June 18, 2020 at 10:24 am

      Thank you SOOOO much, my friend!!!!! I can’t wait for your green office reveal! Love the art you made!

      Reply
  5. Erin Young says

    June 18, 2020 at 9:42 am

    Link to the clear table? 😍

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      June 18, 2020 at 10:24 am

      Mine was a super lucky vintage find, but this one from Wayfair is really similar and a great price!

      Reply
  6. [email protected] says

    June 18, 2020 at 10:03 am

    Alright, you totally outdid yourself and knocked it out of the park. off to pick my jaw off the floor now 😉

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      June 18, 2020 at 10:23 am

      Oh my gosh, you think so?!?! Thank you!!!!

      Reply
  7. Jane says

    June 18, 2020 at 10:04 am

    OMG! This is stunning! The green on the fireplace was brilliant! You are so creative and that’s a really cute pic of you.

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      June 18, 2020 at 10:22 am

      Thank you SOOOO much, Jane!! I really appreciate that! I’ve had one of those phases where I question my creativity, if it’s real, you know? So that comment means a lot to me.

      Reply
  8. Michelle says

    June 18, 2020 at 10:08 am

    I have never seen a green fireplace or color block around it but it looks fantastic. I love the bison picture and it looks great on the fireplace instead of over the sectional. Great job!

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      June 18, 2020 at 10:21 am

      Thank you so much, Michelle! I am really glad we moved it and that my daughter had the chance to create something for that wall!

      Reply
  9. Angie says

    June 18, 2020 at 11:35 am

    Your basement is absolutely stunning! That green truly gives it a lively vibe. I’d love to see a tutorial on how to paint on textured walls 😀

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      June 19, 2020 at 12:24 pm

      Thank you SO much, Angie! I will definitely put together a post about color blocking on paneled walls. 🙂

      Reply
  10. Ellen Shook says

    June 18, 2020 at 12:01 pm

    Outstanding job! This room would be right at home in the West and Southwestm too. The first thing I thought of –“Wow — Santa Fe!” (One of my favorite places) Your colorblocking and the art are wonderful.

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      June 19, 2020 at 12:24 pm

      Thank you so much, Ellen!!!I really appreciate that!

      Reply
  11. Heidi says

    June 18, 2020 at 5:13 pm

    Love it!! Has such a cool Cassie vibe! ❤️

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      June 19, 2020 at 12:23 pm

      Thank you SO much, heidi!

      Reply
  12. Shelley Westerman says

    June 18, 2020 at 6:00 pm

    This is just the coolest space EVER!!!!! You totally nailed that fireplace wall! The color of green and the color blocking is perfection. This was one heck of a secret!

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      June 19, 2020 at 12:22 pm

      It was SO hard to stay quiet. I needed tape on my mouth!

      Reply
  13. Tania says

    June 18, 2020 at 7:19 pm

    This makeover is GREAT Cassie! I love that color blocked wall and green fireplace!!

    Tania

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      June 19, 2020 at 12:21 pm

      Thank you SOOOO much, tania! I appreciate that so much!

      Reply
  14. Gretchen says

    June 21, 2020 at 9:43 pm

    This is such a fabulous space! I love that you did it on a budget, and I’m looking forward to the tutorials! Also, when we were selling our last house, we accidentally picked a gray with weird purple undertones as our neutral to cover up all our wacky paint choices, so…I empathize with the last owners. I’m better at picking out paint now.

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      June 23, 2020 at 2:45 pm

      Thank you SO much, Gretchen! Oh we definitely painted some rooms that I regret in our day, too!!!!

      Reply
  15. Deb says

    June 28, 2020 at 9:15 am

    Green is my least favorite color BUT I absolutley love
    what you did with this room.
    I didn’t even notice it was a paneled wall until you mentioned it. My family room is so similar with a brick
    fireplace and paneled walls ( built in ‘66).
    I did paint my walls white before I even moved in.
    But my fireplace has bugged me from day one.
    Now I see how an expert has made it into an artfully decorated wall.
    You should get a prize for not only spending so little money but thinking way out side of the box . I predict we are going to see a lot of fireplaces painted something other than white gray or black based on your wonderful room.

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      June 28, 2020 at 11:35 am

      Oh thank you so much, Deb! I really appreciate that!!

      Reply

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Hi, I’m Cassie!

I believe that you don't have to spend a lot of money to live a beautiful life and be your best self.  Here you will find budget friendly ideas to live happily, healthily, sustainably, and most importantly authentically.  We all get one chance at this life, and this ordinary girl plans to make hers extraordinary. How about you? Read more...
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Hi! I'm Cassie.

Mother, wife, shop owner, blogger, writer, incurable diy-er, furniture painter, coffee and wine drinker, friend. Seeking happiness and passing it on. Read More…

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