Family Cave

Everyone always talks about wanting a "man cave." In our house, we have a family cave. I want everyone to feel at home and comfortable in this room.

Once again, here is the picture of how vast this space appeared when we moved in:

I was hesitant to try this, but we ended up dividing up the vastness with two different paint colors. I love "Rhino" by Behr (Home Depot). It is the perfect blue/gray/green color.

We only painted the two walls next to the fireplace in the rhino color, and all the other walls in the basement are "Sandstone cliff." 

Here is the fireplace before and after:

 Before: previous homeowners said they left the fireplace unfinished so we could either stain it or paint it. The wood was not stainable, so we added some decorative wood pieces, then I caulked it and painted it. 

After: I'm very happy with the way the white pops against the stone. I was scared of a giant mirror over the mantle falling off on the baby, so I bought two little ones and put a clock in between. Kirkland's is a great place to buy inexpensive mirrors, especially if you download a coupon! The lantern and candle holders were leftover decorations from our wedding. I still need to get a better fireplace screen.

The ugly speaker is courtesy of my husband. Our house was wired with surround sound when we moved in, so of course he had to install some speakers! I'm willing to compromise though because it is a "family cave." These fabric panels are from Joann's. the bolt was very wide, so I actually only had to get 1/4 yard pieces. This is especially nice if you are buying expensive fabric. Then, I ordered stretcher bars online. This was the most expensive part, but you can order exactly the size you need. you can order them here. I did not staple or glue the bars together, but you can if you want. I wrapped the fabric around and stapled with a staple gun. I saw this idea on Pinterest and really liked it. I needed some BIG art for our BIG walls! You can do all different sizes, wrap a canvas, or you can use all the same fabric instead of four different kinds. I liked that they are super lightweight in case Buddy pulls them off the wall on himself. 

This monstrosity of a couch was our Christmas present to each other when we first moved in. A sectional couch does a good job of defining a space and creating the feel of a room instead of vastness. This couch is really comfortable and once I sit down in it, I don't want to get up! Four of the seats recline. I am so happy that we got a leather couch that was wipeable! I can't tell you how many times our son spit up on this thing and we just quickly wiped it off. 

If you're wondering what that thing is coming out of the ceiling: It's my husband's childproof projector/entertainment center. Our baby used to get way too close for comfort to the TV when it was on the low entertainment center. We decided to take the plunge and watch all of our TV on a giant projector screen. I still haven't found a way to make all of it pretty. I say "TV" but we don't actually have one anymore. We have something called a "mini PC" and an "air mouse" which is hooked up to Hulu plus and Netflix. We pay $16/month for both of those services instead of over $100/month for cable. You can watch most of the shows not offered on these services from their websites directly. My husband gripes the most about it during football season, but we usually find a way to catch the games either at a restaurant, online, or at his parents' house :) It was great watching the National Championship game on the big screen, with surround sound, my feet up, the fire going, and then I fell asleep! I tried to stay awake, I was just too comfortable!

Reality. Some things in my house are very ugly. I do love watching giant TV though, especially since it's hard to go out to the movies with a toddler on the loose!

Two of my favorite things in this room are the end tables I found at a local consignment store. The shop is very small and I actually was there looking for something else entirely. Then, I saw these beauties:

I absolutely love birdseye maple and the vintage handles. The end tables have built in rollers and are easy to move in front of the couches as a coffee table.

Little buddy loves to play in the cabinets. They provide great storage! 

I love having furniture that can serve more than one purpose and that can easily be moved around the room. I also love the formica top on this so we don't have to use coasters!