My family room transformation {and the new coffee table}

To catch up entirely on my multiple posts about transitioning the family room click here and here and here.

BEFORE:
Here is where my family room started, almost two years ago. Hubby painted two of the walls a dark, suede brown to make the room feel more cozy {Shh, I'm waiting for him to leave town to paint them white again}.
We bought our brown leather sofa and chair at Z Gallery six years ago {pre-child} hoping that sturdy leather would outlast a child...well this set still looks almost brand new so it's not going anywhere anytime soon. The rest of our decor was/is dark with a lot of iron and dark woods.

You can see all of the gold accents in room {candles, lamp shades, artwork etc} which works well with the dark furniture, but I am on to white, gray, and light everything now. My first step was to paint and distress the antique hall tree that my parents bought me years and years ago. It was banished to the garage until I gave it new life and here it stands. Next to it you see the chair that I refinished last summer and posted about here.
Yes, they both stick out like a sore thumb but remember, this was just the start of the transition. Notice the white and tan linen pillow on the chair and the white ironstone bowl.

I was on a mission!

Whew, this is painful to show you, but here is the clutter. The bookcases are in hubby's office area/domain and yes, I know they could use some cleaning up, but all in due time. The fake plant (lower left corner) is now seeking refuge in the garage, the too small area rug has been replaced, the pictures have been moved around, the black bombay chest has been moved, the birdcage is no longer in the fireplace, and those wicker PB cubes have been replaced~ YAHOO! You see here I added a white birdcage and silhouettes of me and my daughter on the wall opposite the white hall tree to try to balance it. Notice the white stone pieces on the shelves framing our large painting. Here you can see my antique grain sack monogrammed pillows on the couch and the leather bench that I covered in tan muslin fabric.
AFTER:

Here is my family room today.
My new personalized large wall clock now balances the white hall tree. As you saw here, I recently found a fix for the gold beaded hanging lamp shade so most of the gold in this room is no longer. I moved the black bombay chest to the dark wall next to the dark couch so it blends much better here.

My two chairs now flank the fireplace and both have small distressed tables next to them.

Notice the new sea grass area rug. I love the way it feels, smells, and looks in this room!

Here is the view facing the fireplace. I hung the white octagonal mirror on the fireplace screen just to soften the black iron against my white linen chairs.

Here you get a better view of the side detail of my new farm style, aged elm coffee table (we found the table at High Fashion Home in Houston).
We love it! It lightens the room up quite a bit while still working with the big leather furniture and doesn't clash with the sea grass rug.


We decided that the wine tasting table wouldn't work in here due to the height and the fact that people wouldn't be able to reach it to set their drinks down. Hubby loves the pull out ends on this table and envisions our guests using them at our wine tasting event this weekend.

I love the rough texture of the table with the aged white mixed in.


Aside from cleaning up the bookshelves and painting the brown walls white again~ I'm very happy with our results.

The first year we lived here we rarely spent time in this room.

Now this is my favorite place to sit and watch tv with a glass of wine after a long day at work, and then beat some major bootay at Wii tennis~ watch out!