Bonus Room Refresh

I think a lot of people did some reevaluating of their homes after being quarantined in them for much of 2020.  We’ve wanted to revamp our bonus room for ages but have never made it a priority.  Finally in August 2020 we decided to do something about it and I reached out to a designer that several people have used to ask her to help us come up with a game plan.  We have had help in the past from designers that worked for a specific store we were purchasing furniture from but that’s always been complimentary.  I won’t get into all the details but in summary the process started with a very uncomfortable conversation about money (she charges by the hour so it’s quite open ended) after that initial convo I decided to not bring up her fees again and just go with the flow, trust in the process and fork out the dough (totally against my nature) which did indeed make the process much less stressful.  At the very end I did express a bit of hesitation about paying for her to accessorize the room which led to another uncomfortable conversation (even slightly heated) which tainted the experience a bit, but I’m still glad we went through with it and we’re overall very happy with the results.

 

Here’s our before picture…

Our first sectional

Our first piano 

Our first kitchen table

Leftover cabinets from under our kitchen bar 

Toys and Lego tubs everywhere

Still the flat builder’s paint on the wall

No window coverings

 

This weird wide angle shot shows all the stuff we had tucked behind the couch

And I’ll put in an after picture here just for dramatic effect…

It didn’t take long for the designer to come up with a plan.  She gave us links to all the pieces she recommended as well as a few alternatives.  I loved her ideas and we basically decided to go with all of her top choices.  

My only hesitation was the floral fabric which would be used on a few pillows.  I’m not a floral person and didn’t want the room to read pretty or formal in any way.  She spent some time (which meant I spent some $$$ coming up with some alternative fabric) but in the end we still went with the floral because it tied all the colors together so well.  We did add a geometric print for an additional pillow so I guess it wasn’t a totally waste of time and money – though I did learn that I should be more careful with what I say because it may end up costing me, literally – ha!

 

We painted the walls ourselves (Carly, Justin and me).  It’s supposed to be a light green, but like all paint colors in our house it reads more blue than green, but it’s still nice.  

Only one last wall to paint after we lugged that monster heavy piece of granite out of the room!

We also replaced our carpet which was LONG overdue.  I’ve dragged my feet on getting this done for years because the thought of having to move all of our stuff around was overwhelming.  It was a pain, but totally doable.  I knew the biggest headache would be moving the cabinets in the bonus room with the granite top.  Thankfully because we were replacing it we were able to move it to the garage until I sold it and didn’t have to move it back into the room.  We got a discount on the carpet by working with the company the designer uses so that was a nice perk.  

 

We carpeted the bedrooms first and moved everything into the bonus room – yikes!

Look at the nice new carpet!

We ordered the furniture in September, but it took until November for the first piece to arrive.  We ordered a super cool cabinet from Anthropologie.  Unfortunately it arrived with a small nick on the back corner.  Anthropologies’ customer service was INCREDIBLE.  They gave me the option to replace it with a new one or keep the current one with a significant discount.  They also offered to match the current black Friday pricing so in the end I got it for 60-70% off retail.  A total score and the damage is hardly noticeable.  

 

The bulk of the furniture was delivered on New Year’s Eve (over three months after we ordered it) – our new sectional is so much bigger than our old one and a much better fit for our large family.

I was totally not loving the color of the ottomans when they arrived.  I don’t necessarily love them with the color of the carpet and walls.  It helped when we added some pattern in the room, but I still wish we wouldn’t have gotten something so light and pastel.  

 

Artwork was probably the toughest decision for me.  The designer sent us several options which all worked great with the colors in the room, but none of them “spoke to us” and I didn’t want to buy something just because it looked nice.  After stewing over it for several weeks, and with the help of some friends, I finally decided to order a bunch of travel posters off Etsy instead.  It was quite the process to find posters that weren’t tacky and with colors that worked in the room and with each other.  I also had to ask a few designers to print custom sizes since sizing is different outside of the US.  I LOVE what we ended up with and our designer was shocked how well it looked.  Win-Win!

 

Before Abigail headed back to BYU she helped me figure out the best layout for the posters.  It took us hours!  Certain colors didn’t look good next to each other and the shape of the temple in Bali was too similar to the Eiffel Tower so they couldn’t be next to each other.  It was quite the process but in the end we nailed it!

The designer came on January 7 to deliver the pillows and hang the drapes.  I wasn’t expecting her to accessorize the room.  In fact the last time we’d spoken (the uncomfortable falling out) I’d told her that we’d pass on the accessories and just call it good.  She couldn’t let it go though and I’m glad she didn’t because when she brought us up to the room for the “reveal” we were blown away.  The accessories made all the difference!  She comped us for part of her time but we still paid for some of it but I never could have put the finishing touches on it so I have no regrets.  We ended up keeping most of the accessories so she really did a great job.  She also had her photographer come take pictures.  She portrays the photos as a “gift” to the client but it’s also great for her own advertising as well.  They’re fun to have I guess.

The photographer didn’t take any pictures of the full wall with the Anthopologie cabinet because we were still missing the chairs for the game table.  They were delivered on January 29.  I love the simple look of them and that they are made from a durable metal – and quite comfy too.  I finally sold our old oak table in March and now we can officially call this room DONE!  (Actually we still need to add something on the wall above the game table but I’m in no rush.)  

We love the room and spend way more time in here than we ever have.  It’s more “pretty” than I probably would’ve liked but I think we were able to find a good balance adding some fun personal touches and everything is super durable so it’s suits us well.  So glad to have it done!