Summer Tour: Family Room

Hello, and welcome to the last interior summer tour in our home this year. You may have noticed you haven’t seen the kids rooms. There might be a reason for that and the reason might be that those rooms are frightening. At home, I keep the doors closed on them. On the blog, we’re going to keep those doors closed, too. Today, I am going to take you into our basement family room, which I exactly one year ago tomorrow. I am joining several other bloggers this week to share summer tours. If you’re popping over from Robyn’s cozy and layered home filled with so many yummy textures, welcome! Over the course of the past year, so much has changed in how we use our home. That seems to be the case for many with more people working at home. When we set up this space originally, we had a dining table and 4 chairs which were intended to be a family game area. Truth be told, we never sat there to play games. Instead, we’d haul games from the cabinet upstairs and play at our banquette. But there was something our house was lacking that I strongly felt it needed. Recently, we made a little change and I am excited to share it with you today. Let’s head into our living room. (By the way, I should mention with work and life, I had one day to shoot this space and, naturally, it was gray and rainy all day. I did my best with these photos with my limited time.) As you can see, our space is pretty neutral, but we brought in color with the focal fireplace wall. This room is pretty long and narrow, and we’ve tried to make use of every inch. On either side of the fireplace, we’ve a set of two Ikea Besta cabinets to store video games, books, puzzles, games and loads of batteries, plus piles of dead ones Sawyer likes to shove in there just to confuse me. About two and a half years ago, just before we moved, this vintage upcycled chair was for sale up in Maryland and my parents bought it for me as a Christmas gift. It’s the most comfortable thing in the world and gives us a little extra seating in this narrow and awkward room. Oh, hi. Objects in forefront appear larger than they are. But also, I have big feet. As this is our family room, there’s a big honkin’ TV. Of course, there is! This room is sometimes used for family movie night, often used for kid sleepovers and it’s also where Sawyer lives his gamer life, much to my chagrin. We did the best we could to at least not make it the focal point by setting it off to the right of the fireplace and adding a shelf above to help it blend. To give it a summer vibe, I added a seashell, an old photo of the teen gamer at the beach, and a vacation photo my brother took years ago. On the other side of the shelf, I added a fun vintage book, face out, because I bought it for the color and cover. Can you read it through the clover? What it actually says is Wildflowers of North Carolina. I thought it was pretty special. Next to the TV on the cabinet top, I added a printable I created years ago. I bring it out each summer because it has a a tropical lounging vibe. Our old house had the perfect hammock corner on our porch which served as my inspiration.

While there’s no other TV on the other side of the fireplace, I did create balance by a mirroring shelf. (Oh, and if you want to read more about the summer mantel details, you can find that here.) I added some simple summer touches over here as well. Again, I brought in a seashell, a summer scented candle and my toucan from Anthro a couple years ago. The baseball photo features my grandfather’s high school team, and the chubby little baby is Emmy. The little white rock is a piece of calcite from when one of my kids studied rocks in school. I loved how that one looked. 😉 On the cabinets over here, my design books stay stacked, but I did bring in some artwork I had that felt more summery.

Ok, by now you may be able to guess what we added here. The space in front of this cabinet is sort of like a nook off of this room as it isn’t as wide as the rest of the space. Does the mat on the floor or the rolled up yoga mat give it away?

I found this large exercise mat on Amazon and it’s just perfect. As you can see, we haven’t yet switched out the lighting, but we plan on it. I’m thinking about just some simple and functional black track lighting. I’d also like to add a barre bar like this one. I just have simple equipment: Bosu, dumbbells, yoga blocks and strap, exercise band, yoga mat, blanket (for yoga) and a foam roller, but it’s a great start. After not going to the gym for a year, I realized that I just didn’t miss it and would rather work out at home. The past few weeks, I’ve gotten up to run or walk at 5:30 in the morning, then I come home to this space and do a short yoga practice a couple days a week and a strength workout three times a week. And I try to foam roll once a week because it hurts so good. Last week, I did a lower body workout and my legs were sore for four days after. This little space doesn’t have a ton of equipment, but you don’t need much to get a good workout in.

It’s not the prettiest space in my house, but it’s exactly what I needed and I love it! Plus, maybe this will be the year I finally get a bikini body. Oh, did someone just say ice cream? Count me in! Who needs a bikini body?

The last area of our family room is the lounge seating. This poor sectional is on its last legs (thanks to a teenage boy who spends a lot of time here), but luckily the photos hide her bad angles well. We’re currently in the market for a new one. If you have one you love, please send us some recs! Not much has changed over here, but I did bring in some pillows with a summery vibe. I’ve had these green tropical print pillows for a while but I can’t quite recall where they came from. To keep it simple and cohesive with the space, I opted to pair them with classic black and white striped pillows. The wall hanging was created by me and Emmy (she painted it) last year. We’re all looking forward to bringing movie nights back into this space once we have a comfortable sofa again. Right now, it’s like sitting on a fabric-wrapped crate, if you can imagine that. That brings us back to where we started. We’ve made an entire 360 around this room. Thank you so much for taking the time to tour our family room today. Be sure to hop over to see Crissy at First Day of Home for some great outdoor summer ideas and visit all of the other tours happening this week as well.

This week I’m joining some of my blogging friend’s for the Bloggers Best Summer Home Tours! All week long we are welcoming you into our homes. You can visit each summer home tour by clicking the links below.

Monday’s Tours

The Tattered Pew / Stonegable / My Wee Abode

White Arrows Home / Fiddle Leaf Blog / Dabbling and Decorating

Tuesday’s Tours

The Flowering Farmhouse / Sanddollar Lane / Cottage In The Mitten

Up To Date Interiors / Bricks ‘n Blooms / Cottage On Bunker Hill

Wednsday’s Tours

Open Doors Open Hearts/ Pasha Is Home / Shiplap and Shells

A Blue Nest / Cloches and Lavender / Simply 2 Moms

Thursday’s Tours

Cassie Bustamante / First Day of Home / Midwest Life and Style

County Road 407 / She Gave It A Go / Robyn’s French Nest

Friday’s Tours

The Ponds Farmhouse / DIY Beautify / Follow The Yellow Brick Home

My Thrift Store Addiction / Tatertots and Jello / Sweet Pea

If you’re looking for anything from today’s post, try here: