So, color-scheme in check, the next step for the parental family room makeover was what to get rid of and what to get. Unfortunately, after a little reality check, I couldn’t get rid of much. Well, at least what I wanted to get rid of, hehe. I had to keep the couch. I had to keep the TV. To make things more frustrating, I couldn’t move the couch much nor could I move the TV. The cable box to the TV is actually right in that corner, and I couldn’t move it without having all these exposed wires. The couch is so huge, placing it in any other direction would either not fit, or block the view of the TV, which I had to make sure you could still see it from the eating area and kitchen. What I could get rid of was the weird corner shelf, I could move the piano, and I could get rid of the existing coffee table and light. As much as I wanted to “re-design” the space, the actual layout ended up having to stay the same. But at least I could add a little color, and make it more cozy.
Time was of essence. I only had one weekend to pull this off because they were coming home on the following friday, and I knew I wouldn’t have time with the busy work week. I conned asked a friend to help and we were off. First stop was Home Depot to get paint. I chose a darker purple-grey ish for the wall behind the couch. Then off to IKEA, cuz I knew they’d have the most affordable pieces (since I was paying for this as sort of a mother’s day gift). I found this great rug that would definitely ground the space:
It was the perfect size and brought in the colors of the living room. I also got some lower sized BILLY cabinets , a new coffee table with more storage, and a larger corner tv stand. That blew quite a good chunk of my budget (I comitted to not spending more than $1000- so Trading Spaces of me huh?) but I still a little for accessories. By the way, I discovered quite quickly that there is a reason why there are proffessional piano movers. That piano was … HELL to move. Note to self. Don’t do that again.
What I also needed was something over the fireplace. I felt like I needed some sort of sculpture or something dimensional. What I really wanted was some sort of C.Jeré type of thing. But I couldn’t find anything locally. So, I got all crafty and made something. It turned out like this:
Sorry for the long post, I’ll have more details in the next one and the final result. To be continued…