Colorado Home

MEDIA ROOM & ENTRY REMODEL

Cedar tongue and groove walls

Hurray!  At last our media room is complete, and I am so excited to share the reveal with you!  Remodeling this space during Covid was a challenge, and it really slowed our progress.  We had to schedule wood delivery to our home because local wood supply stores were closed, and lots of items were on backorder for months, like our doors.  It was a frustrating process, but hey we’re done!!  I have lots of photos and so much to share about this space… so grab a drink, you’re going to be here a while!

We previously referred to this room as a basement, I think because our realtor did, but now we’ve renamed this space to the media room.   The next photo is from the realtor website, and I remember looking at it being so confused what this space was.  Having a junky garage space right off the front door with a bedroom and bathroom behind it is weird.  Especially considering we have an attached garage and a larger separate garage on the lower level of our property.

Before I share the rest of the room how about some ugly before photos?  Sorry, they’re a bit blurry… I didn’t check my camera settings.

Brian and I both get PTSD looking at these photos.  Honestly.  This gross space was our bedroom for about 2 months.  I put down clean rugs and we had our mattress and boxspring on the floor while we remodeled the upstairs living room and our future master bedroom.  The front door was in bad shape which meant a TON of bugs, it definitely traumatized me waking up with things crawling around me.

Once we moved into our upstairs bedroom we cleaned out this space and installed a new wood floor.  I did most of the floor installation myself, it was a really satisfying project!  The original wall and ceiling texture was an uneven DIY job so we had the ceiling retextured and centered the light.  Then the room sat untouched for months until after the holidays.  We knew this room would be a workhorse and the details needed a lot of intricate planning.   We needed storage, an entry space, and coat closet, and we decided to move our washer and dryer down to this space as well.  A lot had to go into this small closet, all while dealing with the clunky furnace.

We were really happy with our cedar tongue and groove ceiling upstairs and decided on the same wood for this room’s walls.  Since it’s the first space people see, I wanted the room to feel warm and cozy and set the tone of the rest of the house.  Our home was built to be fire resistant, with cement siding and using all metal beams to frame the house.  The walls bend around the metal beams on this level, we can’t really do anything about that so we just had to work with it.  Luckily the new wood walls help to camouflage it.

Oh how I hate odd placed windows!  We’ve taken out windows before when they didn’t work with our space, but this one needs to stay for ventilation.  I stared at this wall for months trying to decide what to do with the small offset window, I considered a gallery wall or a large bold piece of art.  One day I decided to post on Houzz asking for advice on how to decorate around the window.  Big mistake.

I asked about the wall and instead everyone just started tearing down the room.  They hated my sofa, they said the room was too feminine, someone said my style of decor was all wrong, they hated my sofa pillows, the white baseboards and my favorite part… someone said I should decorate the room like a trading post and put fur on the walls.  It was at this moment I realized that I decorate my home for ME and honestly don’t care if other people like it.

I decided on floating shelves and a bold lamp to draw the eye away from the window.  I’m actually quite happy with how it turned out and now I hardly even notice the off-center window.

Off center window behind sofa

Now yes, the sofa is a little feminine for the room and unfortunately I didn’t think about the sofa buttons against the cedar wood knots.  Yeah, it’s a little busy, but this sofa is bought and paid for so we’re just going to work with it!  Haley has already asked for this sofa when she gets her own apartment in a few years so I’ll buy a sofa with cleaner lines at that time.  In the meantime I think the large pillows and throw blanket help the sofa blend.

Our media living room media

One day on Pinterest I ran across a photo of a wood stained room with white baseboards and trim and I fell in love.  I know white trim with wooden walls isn’t for everyone but we both love the contrast.  It pops!

Knotty alder doors

For a brief moment… and I mean brief we considered building a laundry room in the back of our garage and Brian was considering having a desk somewhere in this room.  Our garage is deep so there was plenty of room, but during the winter I realized I just couldn’t walk in and out of a dirty cold garage for laundry.  So instead Brian built an office for himself in the garage and we squeezed the washer and dryer down here.  The rolling cart is such a lifesaver for doing laundry and saves us so much space.

My favorite part of a room is always the little details.  I’ve always had a thing for the Restoration Hardware chandelier lamps but they’re just so expensive!  I managed to find a cheaper knock off at Overstock, I snagged a coupon and had some rewards to lower the cost.  I love the feminine lamps against the masculine wood wall, it’s the exact effect I wanted.

A glass coffee table has always been my favorite trick to lighten up a room and make it feel bigger.  They’re so easy to take care of and I never worry about spills, I just spray it down with windex and we’re done.

Details… just lots of little details everywhere that I love.

Restoration Hardware knock off chandelier lamp

Our media living room media

Space saving small entryway

Finally the entryway!  We managed to squeeze in a coat closet next to the utility closet.  We chose a double rod to maximize space and went with an Elfa door rack.  Elfa door racks always save the day!  The baskets hold all our weather essentials and the gift wrap attachment holds our umbrellas and hiking poles perfectly!

Elfa giftwarp door rack

Small entryway ideas

More hooks, ya know I love them!  Our entryway is small but it’s quite effective.  The entry shelf and hooks help keep clutter down and our things organized.

The metal S was hanging outside of our last house and over the years it developed a unique rusty patina.  It looks even better now!

Our media living room media

Our media living room media

I’ve always loved black and white photos and I think combined with the gallery frames it created a fantastic modern effect against the warm wood walls.  I love these photos of my kids, they we’re running around having so much fun.  I don’t frame a lot of serious photos, I’m drawn to the quirky ones because it feels more like a captured moment in time.

Our media living room media

There you have it, our media room reveal.  It serves as a great second living area for us.  I am so happy this space is done!  Our new back deck is also finished but I’m having the hardest time finding patio furniture.  Ugh… everything I like said it will ship out in 13-17 weeks.  So that’s holding me up a bit. I know how fun it can be to shop other people’s homes, so below I’ve linked everything below that I can find that is still for sale.

Read my sofa review HERE and my DIY wall art HERE.  Baseboards and trim are Simply White by Benjamin Moore.  Cedar walls are finished with Minwax Polycrylic in Satin.  Roman Shades are in Toledo Canvas, plain fold with a blackout liner.

Wood Floor | Sofa (Grand in Velvet Buckwheat) | Leather Pillows | Ivory Pillows | Teal PillowCoffee TableTrunk Side Table | Table Lamp | Gallery Wall Frames | Giant Metal “S” Letter |  Floating Shelves | Chandelier Floor Lamps | Entry Mirror | Entry Hooks | Black Media Console | Art TV | Candle Holders | Wooden Horse | Cage Entry Light | Room Light | Glass Door Knobs | Laundry Cart | Elfa Door System | Interior Doors 

Have a fabulous week!

Laura

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