Our New Family Room!

When we looked at this house over 4 years ago, one of the first things we noticed was the potential to create more space by closing in the garage and turning it into a family room.  Our house is a tri level and the garage was right off if the playroom and a half bath/laundry room are also on this level.  The second level has a living room, dining room, and kitchen and the top level has 3 bedrooms and two bathrooms.  I loved the idea of having a playroom/schoolroom, but the children would drag their toys up to the living room so they could be in the same room as me.  Turning the garage to a family room would put us all on the same level and keep the toys in one space plus would add 600 square feet onto our house.

In January 2010 we began the remodel.  My husband did all of the work himself with some assistance here and there from me and the children and my dad helped put in new windows.  At the same time we decided to go ahead and renovate the garage, we had major water damage in the playroom that forced us to gut it and remodel it as well.  Having two rooms to do made it a bit more expensive and take a lot longer to complete, but it was so worth it!  Here are the pictures of the family room renovation.

It is not 100 percent finished yet, but it was done enough that we could move down there.  We did the floors in ceramic tile so they would be easy to clean and take care of and resistant to water damage (should that ever happen again.)  To make a soft place for Emelia to play on, instead of an area rug we used the same thick interlinking mats that we put in the playroom.  The walls are painted sage green.  The closet is in the process of being finished and the doors still need to be painted.  In the area between the two closets, Art is making me a long desk with an area to put my sewing machine.  I am still in the process of making curtains and hope to have them done in a day or two.

We love our new family room!  It is so great to have the extra space and have us be able to be all together.  The living room is going to be empty for awhile until we finish up some other projects and have the time and money to start a new one.