What should I change in this family room?
llenox
11 months ago
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housegal200
11 months agolast modified: 11 months agoRelated Discussions
Should I paint the pine in my family room and/or my fireplace?
Comments (8)It won't be an easy job, but I'd leave the brick as is and paint the book cases, cabinets, and wainscoting, leave the FP mantel and back wall as is, and hang some kind of horizontal artwork on that back FP Wall, paint the crown moulding, leave the beams as they are, paint the walls a more saturated color, and paint the walls behind the book shelves a neat-o color. It would really brighten up the room, bring it up to more contemporary, but maintain the cozy rustic feel as well. Is this work you'd do yourself? wouldn't be easy. You have to sand everything first, then put three coats of BIN primer over the pine, and then paint. Knots in pine bleed right through paint, which is why you have to prime pine with BIN, three coats, before painting....See MoreWhat should I keep; what should I change?
Comments (15)Update - so it's been a few months and a lot of work but some changes have been made. Two of the three trees down the left/driveway side have been moved to the rear. I opted to leave the third since the city-supplied Acer on the left is not doing well and will be removed shortly. The Nootka cypress near the front door has been replaced with a weeping "Viradis" Japanese maple. The bed around the front porch has been expanded to wrap around the porch and includes a purple fountain weeping beech, as well as more rhodos, hydrangeas, pennisetum, liatris and phlox sublata. I'm still working on filling in this space with more of the same. I took Yardvaark's suggestion and incorporated the Acer on the right into the bed close to it. I also added some festuca glauca and campanula carpatica to the bed. The Nootka cypresses in this bed are also stressed after a very hot summer (most of which was while the irrigation system was being put in) so I'm not sure if they will make it. Any replacement suggestions? I did get rid of one of the "mouse ears" by adding it to the corner bed. I still intend to change the other side but that may be next year's project since the landscaping budget is scraping the bottom of the barrel for now....See MoreWhat color should we paint wood paneling in family room ?
Comments (25)NO to painting the fireplace. Look at it. See how deep the mortar joints are? Those joints will always be dark because they are recessed, so you will end up with a checkerboard grid that looks awful. Plus, it will be very tedious to paint those joints. Plus, plus, the joints are simply dust catchers. If you had normal joints, it would be different--you'd have a subtle variation in texture. This will look like a huge mistake. See the difference in this photo. Finally: That paneling is surely applied over wallboard. It probably pops off with little trouble leaving wallboard with a few small holes in it from the short paneling nails. Easy to patch and will look better than painted paneling (which, IMHO, is a very mobile home look)....See Moreshould I buy the house or is family room too awkward
Comments (15)If this is the only negative, buy the house. I think that if you painted the bit of wall on the right, that is under the overhang, as well as the farthest right cupboard doors (and wall and shelves just above) a different color (to disconnect it from the rest of the fireplace wall) you will see the room as more balanced - creating an optical illusion that can be aided by the way you use the shelves, and placement of furniture....See Moreeverdebz
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