A Casual & Cozy Farmhouse Family Room – Design Board & Inspiration {Part 1}

Here’s a simple plan to refresh an outdated basement into a casual and cozy farmhouse family room.

Hello! Today I’m popping on here to share that we’ve finally decided that it’s time to refresh our family room. Yahoo! Trust me when I say that this room has been waaaaay overdue for an update and I’m so excited to finally get to it.

As you may already know, our house is a two-story split foyer. The family room is located down in our finished basement. It’s a fairly large L-shaped room, with the boys’ playroom located off to the right of the space. This is actually one of the things that I love about this space. It’s nice to have the family room with a connected space that’s totally dedicated as a playroom for the boys.

(Because the playroom is open and connected to the family room, it’s totally due for a revamp too! Click {Here} to see the major changes planned for that room.)

As it looks right now, the family room isn’t a complete eyesore, but the aesthetics of the room are just…meh. We do most of our living upstairs on the first level, and besides the immediate family, there’s no real need for anyone to head down to the basement. This makes it an easy place to avoid.

A little factoid to add here is that as much as I’m a type A personality, I can equally be a procrastinator.  Can you be both? Ha, I know I certainly can be! I knew that in order to update this room to my liking, it was going to need A LOT of cleaning, organizing, new paint, and some serious furniture solutions.

Just knowing that ALL of that had to get done, my inner procrastinator was keeping me from ever getting to it. Do you ever do that with projects too? It’s the ‘too overwhelming, so why bother?’ sort of a feeling.

Well, friends, not any longer…I’ve procrastinated for far too long! I’m ready to tackle this room and make it a fun and functional room that all of us can enjoy! Who’s with me???!!!

Family Room Before Pics

Like I mentioned above, it’s not totally horrible, but it’s not great either. In my opinion, the room looks dated and doesn’t reflect my current design style. The blue paint is driving me nuts-SO OVER IT! Much of the furniture is too dark and the wall art and accessories are not what I’m wanting anymore as for as decor.

If you look closely to the right, you’ll see that family room opens up to another room; that’s the playroom. You may have also noticed that I started painting over on that far right wall. I mention the color below and so far I’m really happy with the color of the paint.

So that’s the room in a nutshell. I wish I had more pictures to share, but these are the only ones that I have that show the entire room. At least you have a good idea of where this room is starting from. I think we can all agree that this room needs some love and attention!

Family Room Refresh Plans

In order to get started, I usually start with a design board. I’m such a visual person, that getting all of my ideas down and in one place helps me to capture the design elements and “vibe” that I’m wanting in the space.

*This post contains affiliate links. See my full disclosure here.

For the family room refresh, I’m craving a relaxed and cozy vibe with some farmhouse touches. I want it to be a place for snuggle sessions, Netflix marathons, and family games nights. Sounds so dreamy already!

Breaking It Down

Here’s the basic plan that I’ve sorted out to get this room updated:

1. Paint

This room needs new paint. BAD! I want to get rid of the icy blue paint and change it out with a pretty gray. I’m leaning towards Repose Gray by Sherwin Williams. (That’s the color you saw peeping through on that far right wall.) This will help to neutralize the space while lightening it up at the same time.

2. Rearrange furniture

The furniture is going to be moved around with the idea of hosting family and friends for future movie nights and football parties. As of right now, you can see that the wood bookshelves and the TV cabinet are in separate sections of the room. I’m going to combine the two and create a large entertainment center on the back wall where the bookshelves are located currently. This will also create a focal point for the room.

I’ve been tossing around the idea of painting or staining the bookcases and tv cabinet. I think a gray stain or even “driftwood” look would look awesome in here. Or, I might just leave them be. The wood grain might end up working after all and I’ll have a better idea once the new paint color is on the wall.

3. Restore the sofa and the chairs

The current furniture isn’t my favorite, but my budget for this space is small. Instead of buying new, I have a plan to restore the existing furniture, aka Project Sofa Restoration. If you have furniture that you don’t love, you’re going to want to stay tuned for this project! ??

4.  Bring in the accessories

I’d like to switch out and add in some new accessories. The room needs a new rug, curtains, lighting, throw pillows and some decorative accents. Being budget conscious, I plan on repurposing some old decor that I have in other areas of my house and bringing them down to use in this room.

I’ll probably end up buying a new coffee table (our is in really bad shape), rug, curtains and throw pillows. For me, this will help to give the room a new and fresh feeling even though I’m not totally replacing all the furniture.

5. Media storage solutions

Our media storage is seriously lacking in here. Currently, there’s ZERO organization for all of the DVD’s, video games, CD’s, and remotes. It’s a hot mess! I’ll be revamping the entertainment center and adding in some storage solutions.

Time to Get Started

Alright ya’ll, that’s about it for the family room refresh plans. I’m so excited to jump right into this project. I’ll be so happy to have a freshly updated family room for all of us to enjoy. I can hardly wait!

If you’d like to follow along and keep updated on the progress make sure to subscribe below. I’ll also be posting on my social media channels so if you haven’t already, make sure you connect with me there.

Also, drop me a comment below and let me know if your home has a separate family room.  What’s your design style for your family room? Anything you can’t live without? I’d love to know!

*****Update! You can check out the progress {HERE} as well as the finished family room {HERE}. *****

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