Client Story: A Cozy, Comfortable Family Room

The client hired me to help her find an area rug for her family room...and depending on budget, maybe a new sofa and loveseat, as well.

She and her husband have a little boy who just started kindergarten and a newborn daughter. They wanted to create a more inviting family room that was conducive to hanging out, watching television, and doing homework. Her first priority was a rug because their daughter will be crawling and walking soon and she wanted a soft place for her to land.

Here are the "Before" pictures...




Things to keep in mind...

Normally, we would have taken into account the sofa when shopping for the rug, but the client was ready to replace hers and wanted me to consider the paint colors above anything else. She had recently had her family room, foyer and the adjacent dining room painted. She really liked the colors and didn't want to change them.

The dining room (which can be seen from the family room) is painted blue (somewhere between navy and royal blue). So this told us that our primary colors needed to be green and blue.

The client also prefers the "English Country" style...traditional, yet comfortable.

They also have this wonderful entertainment center that looks great in the room and offers a lot of much-needed storage, so it was staying. My recommendation was to remove the picture (on the right) and center the bookshelves on the wall, then spruce up the bookcases with books and pictures to tie everything together.

Here are the "AFTER" pictures...

After a lot of shopping, we found an area rug that met all of our criteria. The primary colors were green and blue, the design was traditional and the price was right!

Because we saved so much on the rug, we started shopping for a sofa. The client wanted it to have an attached back and deep cushions as she and her husband are both tall. We found this entire set for a steal and opted to buy the whole thing. Her husband wanted the ottoman, so we gave him his way! I like everyone to be happy.

As you can see from the picture, the sofas are brown and blue. Brown was our third accent color. The blue in the sofas pulled from the blue in the dining room nicely and also matched the matte in the picture hanging over the loveseat. We'll eventually add some throw pillows with a little bit of green in them to tie it all together, but for now, we turned to the entertainment center.

The client had a box of books in her basement, so we used the best ones. To make bookshelves look stylish and organized, it helps to remember this tip...1/3-1/3-1/3...meaning you want 1/3 of the shelves to contain books, 1/3 to contain pictures and accessories and 1/3 to be open space.

Here are some close-ups of each bookshelf. As you can see, you also want to try and use accessories that are similar in color, style and scale. It's easier than it looks, I promise. We did these bookshelves using only the homeowner's existing accessories and picture frames.




What's Next?


As you can see from this picture, the lamp in the corner is from the Arts & Crafts style and doesn't go with our new English Country look. It doesn't look bad, but it could look better, so we're currently shopping for another lamp that's more in keeping with the new style.

We're also looking for a new accent table. We'd like to find something round, but with four legs. A pedestal table would look great, but stability is going to be a big issue with a little one learning to walk soon and although pedestal tables look fabulous, they are easily turned over.

With the big items purchased, we're now going to work on accessorizing this foyer table. Check back to see how it turns out!

With this client, budget was of particular concern. She didn't want to spend more than $5,000. So far, we've spent approximately $3,000 and all we need to buy are accessories so I feel pretty confident that we'll be able to come in well under the client's budget and that makes the client (and me) very happy!

Creating Cornice Boards

Cornice boards can do a lot to maximize the look of a room and help you make the most of your windows and window treatments. They are the "master of disguise" for most designers because they can help make windows look taller, shorter, or wider dependng on how you choose to use them. They can also help you solidify the "style" of your room or help you coordinate a certain fabric in your room by giving it a place on your walls. Here are three examples...

Fabric Cornice Board

The homeowner loved this fabric when she saw it, but didn't love the price. It was pretty expensive. She wanted to use it in her master bedroom but knew that if we bought enough of the fabric to make a king-size bedspread that our budget would be blown before we ever even made it to the window treatments.

The solution? We bought enough fabric to make a custom dust ruffle and shams that would coordinate with a store-bought bedspread and then bought two extra yards to make fabric cornice boards. This helped give the homeowner a custom-looking bedroom at a fraction of the price.

To make a fabric cornic board...

(1) Measure the width of your window including the trim. If you want your window treatments to make your window appear wider than it is, add at least six inches on to either side.

(2) Next, determine how far you want your cornice board to come out from the window. I recommend at least six inches...any less than that and you won't have room for your drapery hardware.

(3) Cut MDF board to your specifications and put together using wood screws and wood glue.

(4) Using a staple gun, attach cotton batting to the board.

(5) Then attach your fabric. For a professional finish, fold hospital corners in the same direction. NOTE: If you are working with a fabric that contains a motif such as this one or a large-scale print, make sure you center it onto your board. If you are making identical boards for matching windows, take care to match the two.

Another challenge we needed to address with these windows was the street light outside. The client's husband wanted a drapery that could be closed every night because the streetlight at the end of their driveway shown right into his eyes at night...even through the blinds. We made drapery panels out of a much less expensive coordinating fabric and lined them with black-out lining and here was the final product.



Wooden Cornice Board #1

We opted for a cornice board in my daughter's room because it's a rear-facing room that doesn't get a lot of sunlight and we wanted to take care not to block any light if we could. We also wanted to use the existing blind, but wanted to be able to hide it. We could have gone with a fabric window treatment and still hidden the blind, but one of the beds sits very close to this window and I was afraid it would make that side of the room appear "fabric-heavy."

Wooden Cornice Board #2

We chose cornice boards for this room for a couple of reasons. First, this is a very traditional room in a Colonial Williamsburg home so cornice boards are appropriate to the style of the home.

Secondly, the window on the left sat closer to the entryway for the room than the other window did to the wall. If we'd gone with traditional drapery hardware, it would have appeared cramped and awkward...and even blocked the entryway somewhat.

The cornice board was the perfect solution to hide the drapery, yet still give the room the symmetrical appearance that Williamsburg Colonial is noted for.




We also chose to hang the cornice boards in this room higher up the wall in order to make the windows seem larger and more elegant.

To make wooden cornice boards:

Follow the steps above, but attach a crown molding of your choice. You can attach it to the top only or to the top and bottom as we did here. You will need a miter or coping saw for this project...or of course, you can hire me!

NOTE: In these examples, the cornice boards are decidedly traditional, but they can be made to suit almost any decor. If you prefer a modern, more streamlined appearance you can use anything from metal flashing to a simple wood box painted silver.

I have also done upholstered cornice boards with metal upholstery tacks and painted a faux leather finish that turned out better than I expected it would!