How I Styled Snowberry’s Family Room

“Make your home as comfortable and attractive as possible and then get on with living.

There’s more to life than decorating.” ~ Albert Hadley

A few weeks ago I shared our great room renovation project.

The before, during and the unstyled after.

It was quite a transformation.

Today it’s all about the finished room.

Is a room ever truly finished?

Not really.

But Snowberry’s great room is finished for now!

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To recap, the room started out as a detached garage.

It was converted to a family room decades go, but the ceilings were low and dark paneling created a claustrophobic feel.

During our whole-house renovation, we pitched the ceiling and used a bead board treatment on the walls.

Lighter floors and white paint further lightened and brightened the space.

You can read all about it here.

When we finally moved in most of our new furniture had arrived to make life comfortable while waiting on the finishing touches.

THE FURNITURE

The thing really wanted for this room was a large, deep, comfortable sectional sofa.

If you’ve been around here a while you know I have strong feelings about sofas.

And, the horrors of an uncomfortable sofa.

Yes, I’ve had plenty of experience with both.

Jim will never let me live down the four sofas we went through in our Walnut Creek house before discovering the joys of Pottery Barn sofas.

Particularly their grand (deep cushioned) options.

This is not sponsored, by the way.

I’m just passionate about Pottery Barn sofas … their comfort, durability and price point.

I’ve had a few expensive, custom sofas that were so uncomfortable they had to go.

Painful experiences that I’ll never (Jim will never let me) forget.

Life’s too short for an uncomfortable couch.

I worked with Mary Ann of Classic Casual Home to create a floor plan to accommodate the sofa of my dreams.

In addition to a sectional, I envisioned a substantial coffee table, a cozy chair (preferably swivel),

a console table behind the sofa and an armoire or hutch for additional storage.

Oh, and we needed an area rug … big enough to accommodate all of the furniture with plenty of room to spare.

Mary Ann determined that 12 x 15 was the right size to accomplish this.

I chose an ivory and sea foam green wool carpet at Carpet One and had it cut to size.

This is a great option when you need a non-standard sized rug.

With the scale of the sofa I needed a substantial coffee table.

Preferably one with storage.

When I say substantial, I mean one that won’t slip and slide when I put my feet up on it.

This Ethan Allen coffee table works.

It’s heavy so it doesn’t slip around.

And it has big, deep storage drawers which come in handy for a magazine fanatic like me.

The surface area is large enough for a tray, books, and the occasional dinner plate.

It took months of searching to find the perfect hutch for the side wall.

By perfect, I mean the right width, height and color.

I plan to paint the interior walls of the upper section in a light bluish green gray.

Stay tuned.

I’m not a DIYer … but this is one project I’ll do myself.

I mean, Jim will probably do it (he likes to paint) with me offering helpful advice.

When we sold our Fidalgo Island house we sold all of the furniture too.

Other than the table lamp all of the furniture was purchased during the renovation.

 

THE FINISHING TOUCHES

Big sofa aside, the true jumping off point for the room’s design aesthetic is Thibaut’s colorful Mitford fabric.

I can’t remember where I first saw it … either in a magazine or on Pinterest.

It was love at first sight.

We decided to use it for window coverings … Roman shades.

I met Mary Ann at the San Francisco Design Center to order the fabric

and select other fabrics and trims for window seat cushions and throw pillows.

While we were there I spotted the perfect swivel chair, and picked out fabric for it too.

We ordered additional Thibaut fabric to make a square (20×20) pillow for the chair.

Trimmed in red and white striped cording.

While wandering the Design Center in search of pillow fabrics,

I spotted these already made blue and white (22×22) pillows with geometric trim.

They coordinated beautifully with my other fabric choices.

And, they’re perfect size to anchor the corners of the sectional.

Mary Ann’s drapery fabricator made the Roman shades, window seat cushions and chair pillow.

The swivel chair was made in the Lee Jofa workroom.

About five months later everything arrived.

Oh, happy day!

Here’s how the the room came together …

I just added this brass garden stool as a side table to the swivel chair.

A WORD ABOUT ACCESSORIES

Recently, I took Rita Konig’s interior design course on Create Academy.

Highly recommend.

One of the big takeaways … tables lamps and chairs, tables lamps and chairs.

According to Rita, one can never have too many tables lamps and chairs.

I’m more of a pillows, baskets, trays sort of gal.

Oh, and throws.

Most of the accessories in the room are things I already owned.

I don’t think I purchased anything new.

(Jim, are you reading this?)

I love books and have a lot of them … most are now contained in our library.

Paperbacks are always a conundrum.

Many are read and passed along or donated but others are worth holding onto.

What do to with them?

When we lived in our Walnut Creek house Mary Anne suggested I buy baskets for the

paperbacks and place them on shelves.

I found baskets at the Container Store.

Sadly, they’re no longer available … and it’s a darned shame because I could use two more.

And, finally … Jim’s wine bar!

It’s tucked into the back corner of the room.

We opted for a wine fridge with refrigerator and freezer drawers.

The wine section holds 86 bottles, plus a humidor.

I’ve wanted butcher block countertops for a long time.

A long, long time.

Jim was resistant. I have no idea why. He loves them now.

And, to hear him tell it they were his idea.

However, we got here … we’re both delighted with the result.

Cabinet color: Green Smoke by Farrow & Ball

Wall color: Chantilly Lace by Benjamin Moore

So there you have it, Snowberry’s great room.

Furnished, accessorized and done … for now!

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As always, I appreciate your visit and welcome your thoughts and questions in the comments below.

Cheers from Snowberry!

SOURCES:

Area Rug: Prestige Mills wool carpet, Habsburg in Mista

Sofa Sectional: Pottery Barn Sullivan Fin Arm Deep Seat Reversible Wedge Sectional in Ivory Performance Heathered Tweed

Swivel Chair: Lee Jofa Workroom Swivel Chair in Kravet, Everywhere in Spa

Coffee Table: Ethan Allen Cassidy Coffee Table in Terra

Sofa Table: Serena & Lily South Seas Console

Table Lamp: Serena & Lily Westerly Bone Inlay Table Lamp in Natural

Hutch: Arhaus Toulon Hutch and Buffet

Garden Stool: Arhaus Hammered Brass End Table

Roman Shades: Thibaut, Mitford in Beige

Window Seat Cushion: Thibaut, Ashbourne Tweed in Aqua

Throw Pillows: Custom pillows from various sources, details sprinkled throughout post

Flooring, paint, fixtures, hardware, and other building material details can be found here.

General Contractor: C Cubed Construction, Danville, CA

Interior Design Consulting: Mary Ann of Classic Casual Home

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