Children's Rooms- Longevity

What do you think of the craze of over-the top theme children's rooms?  My opinion:  If you have the funds to replace it - great- but children grow up fast.  When this boy is 10 and his friends come over and tease him about his princess bed- he won't be lovin' it. 

Also- you should never have drapery cords right by a child's bed that way.  200 children die every year from cords like that.

On the flip side- here is a room that a child will not out-grow.  Take out the train table one day and move in an ottoman.

Take out the toys and 1.2.3 pillow- and replace it with a college pillow and books of his choice.  Your built-ins are timeless.

Photos from 1st option

Andrea's Family Room

I will interject in orange

Hi Christine,
I love your blog and now it’s finally my turn to ask a question. My husband and I are moving into our first house at the end of the month. We have next to no furniture and need a lot of decorating help- ideally fast, as I am also pregnant with twins! OK- so sorry- but I run months behind in my advice giving- you might be finished and have two new babies at home by now- sorry that I am not fast. Congratulations on your twins!!!! I always thought it would be cool to have two at once. I am sure it is also an amazing amount of work. This month we’re looking to buy a house, buy a second car and move. Crazy as all that sounds, I am just so grateful that we’ll actually be able to get settled before our family starts. I’m sure our home nesting will come grinding to a halt once the babies come though, so I’m hoping you’ll pick me for some help. I promise I will send before and after photos.

Although I would like your thoughts on almost every room in the house, I’m going to start with where we need you most- the family room. I’m attaching pictures from the real estate MLS listing and room dimensions, as well as my favorite home decorating pictures I have been collecting of what I love most in terms of style.
Our questions are: how should we layout the furniture in this room? BTW- it is a 15.4 x 19 foot room with the fireplace at the end of the room. Should the couches face the fireplace with a flat screen TV over the fireplace and built-ins along that wall? Yes- this idea would work great. It is always ideal to have just one focal point. Or is the mantle too high up for a TV set, This is a personal preference. Some people like their TV to be only four feet off the ground. Personally- I would put it above the fireplace and it wouldn't bother me a bit. I would be far more bothered by the lack of balance in the room. so do built-ins along that wall, but arrange the TV and furniture as the previous owners have done?

Our master carpenter connection may be moving away soon, so having him install crown molding throughout the house and some built-in is first on our list. Do you like wood to tie in with the kitchen? No. I would do a painted wood- to give you more contrast with the wood floors. I would probably do a white wood, with white crown moulding and baseboards. How would you design it and put a flat screen TV above the fireplace or not?I added a photo at the top of the post with a TV above the fireplace in a built-in design.

While the living room carpet seems to be good quality, I do not want to decorate around someone else’s vanilla style carpeting, especially since underneath are the gorgeous hardwood floors found throughout the house. Good move! I am planning on ripping it out, but will need something to cover the majority of the floor since the kids will be little and learning to walk eventually. Would you recommend a large rug or custom cut carpet? That one is easy- go with the large rug. Adding pattern with not only help your design of your room- but also help to camouflage the baby spit-up that will end up in your rug. On the far end of the room toward the stairs I would like to be able to put some of the twin’s things, like a changing table or a few simple toys. The study next to the living room will be their playroom and contain the majority of their things. It is open to the kitchen, what is best for colors to connect the two rooms? Your colors throughout your open downstairs area should all compliment one another. If you have the colors on little chips in your hand- they should all look good together. Start with something- like your rugs- or a favorite piece of art work- that will act as a unifier- and give you a color pallet to work with.

This is where my family will be spending the majority of our time and I’m hoping there will be some helping hands, so enough seating for us and guests would be great too. I want it to feel comfortable, cozy and really inviting. Basically I’m just looking to follow your suggestions and we need everything: furniture (I’ve always wanted a U or L-shaped couch,) accessories, rug, color, draperies and especially what to do with the built-ins. Any suggestions for a kitchen table and two stools for the kitchen island? I would go painted. You have so much wood in there with your cabinets and floors. Upholstery is also a good way to break it up. Although- the mom in me who has slipcovered kitchen chairs longs for the ease of cleaning... The set at the top of the post is from Maine Cottage. Can you imagine how fresh that would look compared to more wood tones?

Thank You!!
Andrea
P.S. If you are comfortable providing me with an address, home or work, I would like to send a little something as a thank you for saving another amateur home decorator one room at a time. : ) You probably wanted quicker service ;) But a note to anyone that wants to send me a thank you- I need some orange knee high socks for my daughter's Velma costume for Halloween- she wears shoe size 13- and the ones I have found are way too expensive. Perhaps there are some less expensive ones somewhere???? I found some fabulous purple boots for my other daughter at Nordstrom Rack - suede $130 boots for $10- I guess there's not a huge demand for bright purple boots. ;)

I wanted to discuss with you your furniture arrangement. You mentioned that you like the L and U shaped pieces. However- your room could maybe do a rounded piece like the one in this post- overall- your room does not lend itself to that at all. if your fireplace were on the adjacent wall- perhaps- but it is not. I would do something like the arrangement above- with the sofa facing the TV- or...

You have space for four chairs and a sofa- like this photo. I also wanted to draw your attention to the photo third from the top- in this photo the furniture does not face the fireplace. Frank Lloyd Wright said that the fireplace should always be the focal point of any room that has a fireplace- so I have always tended to agree- however- it is an option.

See how the L shaped piece needs the chairs to balance it- and you need your length in the other direction to pull this off. Your have equal space on wither side of your fireplace- balanced windows- it is really asking for a symmetrical arrangement.

You could also do two sofas like this room above...

The only way I would not have the sofa facing the TV is if you were to have an arrangement like the one above with two large chars that visually balance the weight of the sofa. If your chairs are smaller- have the sofa opposite the TV and the the chairs perpendicular to the TV- or at an angle.

Photos courtesy of Traditional Home

Lauren's New Home Part V

Here is one more post on Lauren's new home- I wanted to answer a couple more questions that asked- starting with this one:

What I want to do is to replace the counter top, maybe extend the island a little bit, so that I can get some bar stools in there. Put a table there but move it closer to the window.- How far should I extend the island?

Lauren,

I would extend the island as little as possible- which would be 12 inches- to use it as a counter bar. You do not have a lot of space here- you are going to want at least three feet between barstools and chairs. That is an absolute minimum. One thing to consider- is using a built-in bench on the window side- which takes up the least amount of space- like the photo below from Veranda. You don't have a nice corner- like in this space- but the built-in will still work. Give yourself at least three feet in front of your cabinet before starting the bench- and I would store less used items in that last cabinet- as access will still be a bit cumbersome.

I love how the table here is an antique. Antiques add so much character to a room. In your case- size is super important. Keep it narrow. I also like the use of the two slipcovered chairs on the ends- this would also work well for you- larger chairs on the ends- where you have more space- smaller stools where space is at a minimum.

You also asked if you should add crown molding, and replace your baseboards. Your baseboards look a bit whimpy- and crown molding is almost always a great idea- so- yes and yes. Unless of course- you would rather do something really cool on your ceiling like some beams- check out this post. Would I do a cultured stone? No. I personally don't think it will look that great with your floors. I would consider a mosaic- like the one I suggested on the backsplash. And then also wrap the fireplace with wood, that coordinates with your built-in for the media area... It is a small fireplace- and the small pieces would work well in that space. I think I tackled all of your questions- thanks for writing in,

Christine

Tiger Woods' House in Florida?

So many people are interested in Tiger Woods these days- I thought I'd show you what aspect of his life I am interested in. His house- of course. I'm less interested in his fidelity or lack of... It's funny- I saw many sources on the Internet- (and received an e-mail) showing this as "Tiger Woods' House". Then on Snopes- I learned that although he does have a beautiful home in Florida- this is not it. (The home at the very top is his- the one where the photo was taken in a helicopter.) Even The Insider had him living here. (Makes me question the validity of The Insider.)This is a vacation home in Maui- I thought it was too pretty for Florida- :) which can be yours for between $6750 and $8250/night. It sleeps 12 and has five marble bathrooms. I thought I'd show you the home anyway- (even though it is not Tiger Woods') because it is so amazing.

I see the indoor planter thing going on- and it makes me wonder if this couldn't be done on a smaller scale in a smaller home? (or will your house look like a docotor's office waiting room?) This shot also lets you see his hardwood in a larger area.

Here the architect is probably using Nana doors- or something similar. The infinity pool blending into the ocean is beautiful.

Built-in furniture can give you the perfect use of space.

OK- so what do you think? And who do you think decided to spread the rumor that this house was Tiger Woods'?