The Family Room Update

This post is an update to this post, and this post.

With the exception of a new flat screen TV we bought last year, this is how our basement family room use to look.

I think one of the things that bothered me about the family room was it always felt “busy” to me somehow.  In addition to the busy pattern of the old couches and different colors around the room, we had a lot of “stuff” down there like books, DVD’s and knick-knacks and not much room to really display things or store things properly.

It definitely wasn’t my favorite room in the house.

So back in January, when Papa Bear and I purchased new furniture for the basement, unbeknownst to PB, it was just the beginning of of how this room was going to change.

I really had no intentions of painting walls or making any drastic changes, I just wanted give the room a different feel and create more storage or shelves.

Here’s how it looks now.
Now I won’t deny it…we still have a lot of “stuff” in this room, but the fact that it’s mostly all in the brown color scheme certainly helps it seem more uniform.

Removing the old entertainment center and moving the TV over into the corner of the room really made the room seem much bigger.
I used some of PB’s old crates to create new homes for our electronics.

Building shelves out of old fence wood helped a lot with our storage and display issues.
Now PB has tons of space to put all of the books on military history keeps buying!

The bookshelves are actually individual boxes I made so they can be stacked or rearranged as needed.  I used old crates as a base since many of PB’s books are quite large.

Above the bookshelves I installed a black iron bar. One on each wall.   Eventually, when I find one, I’d like to get an old wooden ladder to help Bear Cub and I reach the higher shelves and having an iron bar to lean the ladder against might come in handy.

I tried to get the bookshelves and room finished before PB came home in March for our anniversary.   I figured while he was home, he could work his creative magic and decorate the walls with his “stuff”.

Stuff being his old tool collection.

And his collection of old fishing stuff.

I especially like how creative he got displaying his old fishing tackle on this piece of old wood.

PB ended up running out of time during his March trip so I ended up laying these old tools of his out.  It’s OK, but I’m not in love with the way it looks so who knows if they’ll stay here.
Thank goodness we don’t have any small children here at The Homestead or we couldn’t put these out.  I swear half of them could be used at weapons they’re so sharp!

Anyway.  Aside from maybe making some new pillows for the couches, I’d say that’s about it for updating the family room.
I think all three of us are pretty happy with the way it turned out.

Tags: bookshelves from old wood, home improvements, updating a family room, uses for old crates