Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Need Your Help! (Dark Wood-Beamed Family Room Needs a Facelift)

I’ve had issues with our family room since we moved in, but I became more frustrated with the space over the winter when it felt dark and gray all the time. So, I’ve decided to try to get on the HGTV show, Dear Genavieve and see if they’ll help us with the space! I LOVE this show, watch it faithfully, and am always inspired by what Genavieve puts together for people. But it’s one thing to watch a million home improvement shows and another to actually implement in your own place.

My dream is to paint the room and beams white to brighten the room, similar to my magazine examples shown below (and I have lots more examples ripped out of Pottery Barn catalogs, so you’ll have to notice the next time a catalog comes out – there are a lot of painted beamed ceilings). I originally got the idea to paint the ceiling from my friend Kelly L. and have been obsessed with it ever since. Ben is dragging his feet because we’re trying to save, not spend money, and he says he’ll miss the wood ceiling. And as I’ve said before, I would love to get a ceiling fan with a light at the top so we can have more light and help the air circulate more in there since it gets very hot and very cold, depending on the season. But that’s more $$$.

RenovationLiving Winter 06 p. 86

I don’t think I’ll miss it at all! See more examples below:

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I think this one is neat with the two colors:
desiretoinspire.blogspot.com 2

It’s a little embarrassing to post these pictures, because I realize it’s not very cute. But here is the family room in all of its glory – four mismatched lamps, poofy black leather couches, beige glider, Spiderman couch, baby swing, full bookshelves, toys galore…
DSC_8761DSC_8763 DSC_8764 DSC_8765

If you want to help my cause, check out my gallery on the HGTV site and give it a good rating (click on “Rate This” under the stars in the upper right part of the picture area). I figure the more views the better! (and it just takes a second – you don’t have to sign in or register with the site)

Thanks :) And let me know if you decide to upload one of your rooms too – I love looking at this stuff!

http://www.hgtv.com/dear-genevieve-detail/package/index.html?sortby=views&vw_arrange_order=DESC&vw_sort_order=MOST_RECENT&pn=23&pageref=Photo_Video-1025785

2 comments:

kell-bell said...

As the original Kelly L. who suggested it, I am still totally in favor of painting the ceiling white. I think it will surprise you how much it will lighten up that room, and make it feel more like the "sunroom" that it is. I love the contrasting beams photo too...but because you have smaller beams on your ceiling, i'm not sure that would work. Maybe we should photoshop your room and change the ceiling color??

Aimee said...

Good luck! I've been looking at home and design stuff a lot more since our remodel. I think a white ceiling would definitely look better, especially with the white walls. You could possibly keep the beams wood in colors, but as Kelly L. said, it might or might not work.