Vintage Geek Family Room

I would say my family room project is about 85% complete!  Hallelujah.  The other 15% will probably take another year or more to finish off, so I decided I might as well show off what I have to date.

What I call our “family room” is the “bonus” room of the house—right over the garage.  We’re a one-TV family (we’re not counting all the other personal electronic devices we have floating around here), and this is where it resides.

You’ve already seen the Vintage Geek Gallery Wall (which included the Green Dragon Inn Sign) and the Triple Printer’s Console Cabinet. 

The leather sectional was the big splurge for this room.  It replaced an 11-year-old La-Z-Boy sofa bed and loveseat.  I kind of felt bad getting rid of them, as they’ve actually held up remarkably well over the years, but I was so over the red plaid fabric I picked out and promptly regretted (“before” pictures at the end of the post).

The sectional is the Helena Sectional from Costco.  I had ordered a leather swatch last fall, but didn’t decide to order until January 1 (starting the new year off with a bang!) when it was on sale.  I was SUPER nervous about ordered it sight-unseen, but decided to risk it since I know Costco is so amazing about accepting returns, even months later.

Originally the shipper estimated that it would take six weeks to get the sectional here, and I was OK with that.  Imagine my surprise when, after only two weeks, I was told to expect it one week later!  I panicked and quickly got rid of the sofa/loveseat we had in the room.  Then we waited.  And waited.  And waited!  After waiting a full week, I contacted the shipper to say “what’s up??”  They didn’t bother to answer me, just changed the date back to reflect a six-week delivery time.  And that’s how long it took. We lived without furniture for three weeks!!  I’m still miffed about that.

As for the sectional, I’m quite happy with it.  The leather feels great.  The back cushions are perfectly cushy.  The seat cushions are firmer, but still very comfortable.  I don’t have any regrets!

I also showed off my IKEA hack to store my husband’s Lord of the Rings Lego collection.  Moving those Legos OUT of my bedroom was the jumping-off point for this whole room!  But my dear husband is not loyal to just Lord of the Rings…

…he’s just as crazy (if not more so) about Star Wars!  So in the opposite corner of the room, I built three floating shelves to hold the Star Wars Legos.

In keeping with the “vintage geek” theme of the room, I purchased three vintage-style Star Wars “travel posters” from this Etsy seller to go on this side of the room as well (over the piano).  If you’ll remember, I purchased LOTR posters from a different seller for the Vintage Geek Gallery Wall. 

Here are a few other elements in the room that I love.

I made the curtains myself from this fabric.  I consider it another splurge at $20/yard, but I love them SO MUCH!  They were perfect for the vibe I was going for.  Only drawback is that you can’t see that I added trim to the windows in the room!

I got rid of my dear husband’s big ugly recliner, but knew I needed to replace it with something.  I wanted a recliner that didn’t LOOK like a recliner, kwim??

I found this blue leather Barcalounger at Goodwill for…wait for it…FIFTEEN DOLLARS!  I was pretty stoked.  It may not be THE PERFECT chair, but for $15, it’s darn close. 

The little typewriter table sitting next to it has a story all it’s own (which I will have to share another time).  I refinished it to go with the industrial “vibe” of the room.

I bought these two barrister-style bookcases from an estate sale.  They are reproductions, not antiques, but they were a heck of a lot cheaper than antiques!  I love that they are seven feet tall!  Oh, and see the light saber on the top??  One of these days I’m supposed to mount it to the wall above the Star Wars travel posters.

So, wanna see what this room used to look like??

Here we are at Christmas time.  Plaid sofa and loveseat, big ugly recliner, IKEA rug, goofy kids…

Yes, I know the furniture is in weird configurations.  I moved it around A LOT while I was trying to decide what to do with the room.

Mismatched bookcases, IKEA console.  Nothing on the walls! (Plus the walls and the ceiling were a darker tan, making the whole room feel darker.)

I think I prefer it this way, how about you??

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Linking up here:

The Inspiration Exchange	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper
Friday Remodelaholic	The Scoop!
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off Miss Mustard Seed
Beyond the Picket Fence	Coastal Charm
Knick of Time	Domestically Speaking
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life

Nursery Wall

I have one of the best neighbors on the planet. Not only does she run over here on a moment's notice to give her opinion on any and all of the projects I work on, but she and her husband also helped a TON in getting me to the Spring Market a few weeks ago!

In return, she gets to shop through my garage once in a while. :-)

When she was looking for ideas for her daughter's bedroom wall, she discovered this mirror in my stash:


I painted it with Rustoleum Heirloom White for her, and then we glazed it with brown craft paint. Unfortunately...it was still a little too "creamy." So we tried glazing it with white paint next, and it worked great! It toned down the "creamy" and made it work better with the whites in the nursery. (I loved the white glazing so much I used it on a few projects right after that!)

Here's the wall space before:

And here's the beautiful AFTER!

The "L" was one of those gold "L"'s from Hobby lobby. I painted it pink, and then we glazed it with white to give it some depth. She already had the footprints framed, and we found a complementary white frame for the yellow temple picture she found on-line. I will claim the brilliant idea of using a plate for the 5th element, but she found the perfect bird plate at Pier 1 (there are other bird decorations in the room).

I never had the money, time, or interest to decorate a nursery when my babies were little...glad I get to live vicariously through my neighbor's baby now!

Be sure to check out this post for a giveaway! Ends May 2.