Overhauling The Hugh Hefner Den

before

Let’s get real for a moment.  When I first moved into my house and was sitting in my family room, I felt like I should have been lounging in one of Hugh Hefner’s bachelor smoking jackets sipping fine port, reading a paper and enjoying the pleasantries of a cigar.  The room was encased in a gorgeous stained raised wainscot paneling, decorative wood coffered ceilings and a wood burning fireplace.  It especially felt like the Hefner den at night when it was dark outside and the lighting in my house was minimal as apparently in the 80s, lighting wasn’t as adored as it is today.  Disclaimer: my 12-year-old daughter would tell me to quit being so dramatic right now.

It was just too much dark stain for me.  I wanted to walk into a white, soft, chic family room.  So, I had a choice to make.  Did I invest in a Redford cigar humidor or make some changes?  That was tempting as I love the smell of cigars and my awesome neighbor, George, is a cigar salesman.  However, I decided instead to throw in a little time and elbow grease and make some updates.

after

black & white for dramatic effect ;-)

(Yes, that is a Santa Claus on the mantle. We leave him up year-round) 

I think the black and white picture does it more justice as the lighting on my iPhone camera is about as good as the 1980s polaroid my grandmother had when I was growing up.  Time for a new phone 😉

Let’s get chatting about the current transformation as there is more to come.  When I first got to work on the family room, I had to tackle my least favorite thing in DIY work…wallpaper removal.  I would rather watch CNN’s update on the childish rhetoric between Kim Jong-un and Trump than to remove wallpaper.  It was a grueling process because it was original 1988 wallpaper and it was glued to the sheetrock.  Luckily with the help of my father, my great friends Mike, Melissa and their daughter Bree, a lot of sheetrock putty and many cocktails later, we got the wallpaper removed.  It only took about two weeks.

Once the wallpaper was removed, I went to work on transitioning the wood raised wainscot paneling, fireplace mantel and trim to white.  That was one of the most time-consuming processes of this entire home remodel.  I lightly sanded off the first layer of stain followed by three coats of Kilz and two coats of Benjamin Moore’s White Dove (OC-17) trim paint in a satin finish.

This process took months as I got a little overwhelmed with the girls wanting me to start and finish projects in their bedrooms at the same time.  Once I finally got the stained wood transitioned over to white, I painted the walls using Sherwin William’s Mindful Gray (SW 7016) on the majority of the walls.  Last minute I decided to add an accent wall using Sherwin Williams, Dovetail (SW 7018), but I don’t like it so I will be changing that wall to a white shiplap wall to brighten up the room even more.  

I will be adding dark hardwood floors, shiplap on the fireplace wall, curtains and other farmhouse chic décor to finish up the room.  See my plan below.

Most of the items pictured in my inspiration board have merely been plucked from Google so it’s going to be fun finding budget-friendly, real-life alternatives.

I’ve been waiting for a decent excuse to create a room with a chic farmhouse feel for ages now and am so excited about this!

Stay tuned as I post updates on changes to my work in progress, family room.