Family Room Inspiration

As the to-do list indicated, I am planning on working on the family room first.  I am hoping to prime the paneling and paint before the middle of October to impress and make my friends bow down to the awesomeness that is me.  Nah, j/k.  But I do feel like I need to get on this job before the Mayan apocalypse.  Nah, j/k.  I just want to get started on a project!

I love the idea of a slightly Navy/Nautical theme.  Not only because the Navy is in my past, but also because I just love the versatility of it.  It can be sporty, classic, playful, or fun, or all of the above at the same time.  Here are a few of my inspirations:

The only shortcoming on this one is that we don't have crown or a tray ceiling.  We also have thicker carpet and probably wouldn't have the visual accent of a rug like that one.  Finally, our furniture is brown and I'd never make white slip covers for them.  PS - Do you think this room used to have a different purpose??  The light fixture is completely off center.

This one I really love.  I love the combination of the textures especially.  I love the coral.  This could work with a brown couch and some blue accessories...i.e. throws and some storage ottomans with tufted blue would be nice.  The only thing is don't like is the white walls.  But I love the cleanness of the white with the navy curtains.  We can make that work.  Anyone have that awesome coffee table?  Finally, I love the white & yellow print on the arm chairs.

Ah, now here is something I love.  BUT, I still don't think I'll get that rug.  We have a nice large brown rug that looks traditional and not as modern as this mood board.  BUT, I love the green instead of coral with the navy.  We also have a soft, round ottoman that is more feminine than this but is a green pattern instead of coral.  Hmmm....I'll have to think on this.  I was actually leaning toward green or yellow in the kitchen, which would look great with green/blue/tan tones.  We also have very traditional silver lamps that could be updated with the barrel lamp shade in #5.

This is a nice compromise with one navy accent wall.  We have a flat ceiling so it wouldn't look as interesting as this one, but I do think we could do this.  We had very "American" blue walls in our last living room and we loved it.  I love love love that coffee table.  Where When can I get make one of those?  We also have somewhat similar chairs in shape but that are more low leaning with a shorter profile.  Wonder if I could make those work.  Our brown couches and carpets would be similar.  I also think we could have the seating areas.  Limits are that we only have one sliding glass door as natural light.  And the blue CAN be dark sometimes.  Lighting would be maximized to make this work.  This could be my favorite feel; we could add in the green to make it our own!

And here is the green accent again.  Sigh, I used to have that coffee table.  Husband said it was a child safety hazard.  I guess fishing poles WITH the hooks in our living room at the last place while our daughter was a crawler/walker wasn't, but the glass topped coffee table just puts the safety hazards over the top.  I am still leaning towards a blue wall instead of brown.  I would like more exaggeration of textures and colors in our family room.

What I learned on my little inspiration hunt:

• I want at least one colorful wall, so it will have to be navy, green, or yellow (our carpets and furniture is tan so that is a no go)
• I would like one accent color in addition to Navy, and I'm leaning toward green (Kelly green).  You could also do a little bit of turquoise for some spice.
• I don't mind different tones of wood, but I like the mix of wood and fabric.  I have an upgrade to our own coffee table in mind!
• We can use our silver lamps but we'll need to upgrade our lamp shades for a less traditional feel.
• I like a large, interesting coffee table.  Could this be because I didn't have a coffee table growing up?
• Special lighting will be required.  I wonder if I can do that myself???  I do have an idea for the main lighting for the room!  See below...maybe without it being dropped as far.  I love how this is over the coffee table so people won't hit their heads.  I also LOVE the faux mantel.