Which fabric would you choose? Which paint color or colors would you select? Tough choice so read on for my decisions.

As most of you already know, we converted the former dining room in our downsized last best next home to our TV/Den hang out room. In the original remodeling, these French doors were added to create an intimate cozy room semi closed off from the main entry.

Not only did these doors add a lovely design element, they also provided a welcome noise barrier with Bob being retired…you get my drift…:)

Below are the original images of the designated dining room which served the previous owners very well. We decided right off the bat we knew we would not keep this space as a dining room. Even though we have 3 levels that work beautifully for my studio upstairs and Bob’s man cave in the lower lever, we needed a room for just us to watch TV, read, or whatever.

See why the French doors were such a necessary element for our den? How could we feel warm and cozy practically being in the entry? This was construction budget money well spent as you can see in this image.

Construction of these wonderfully effective addition of the French doors.

Suprisingly, we love being our our living room watching nature unfold, entertaining, enjoying happy hour in front of the fire place, reading, working puzzles, or just relaxing. Having a TV in our “happy place”? No way!

The view from my upstairs studio loft.

Everything seen in this image shows what we moved from Kansas knowing that when the timing worked out, definitely an upgrade would happen. But you know what? I am a designer without my sources here in Ohio. Another challenge for me was not going to market due to the virus cancellations. Therefore, to source products took me much longer than I had anticipated.

Can you see why we love our hang out space even though not completed yet?

However, we designers are a resouceful bunch so I leaned on my trusted resources like Custom Coverings in Wichita with Joyce coming to my rescue.

I was fortunate to make a trip to Wichita where I sourced these fabrics and this wonderful area rug. Again, as most designers often experience, my original first choice fabric was discontinued. These fabrics shown were where Joyce was invaluable finding a substitution and I love them all.

Since this room is so small with very limited amount of elements along with working with Bob’s favorite glider rocker easy chairs, whew, finding this rug was not easy. I could not be more pleased. Jake happens to really appreciate not resting on our rather hard texture former outdoor area rug.

You all know that I am really adament about green design, repurposing, and using our treasures. This photo represents all three of my top goals. Green design is achieved when we are not adding to the landfills. Repurposing happens finding new uses for our possessions. The oak library table, green chairs, and bench were in Bob’s study, the longer bench is from our master bedroom. The pillows were in our upstairs TV area.

Finally, after much deliberation, the two paints on the left and the fabric on the right are my choices. The lighter paint on the far left will be above the chair rail and the middle paint color will be below the chair rail. I am completely confident that this room will be one of the favorites when finished. And of course, I will be sharing with you all!

Living and loving life together,

Mitzi

Mitzi Beach DesignSmarts Front Cover

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