BONUS ROOM REVEAL: A PLAYROOM GROWS UP

My bonus room makeover is finished! This room started out as a playroom for our young children. But a full decade has since passed, and they are now teens/pre-teens and no longer need a room to store their toys. Instead, what they really need is a room to hang out with their friends. So we turned this room into a second family room. That allows me and my husband to be able to have the family room downstairs all to ourselves while all of the kids are upstairs.

I didn’t want this bonus room to feel like a totally teen room though. I wanted it to be a room that my husband and I could still use to host our friends and it feel “mature” enough for adults.

I focused on a mid-century modern style with some industrial accents. Overall, I’m happy with how the room turned out. Even more important, my family is happy with how it turned out!

My goals for this room were:

improve the lighting
add comfortable and flexible furniture
provide storage for video gaming equipment, books and board games
alter the look of the outdated TV nook
create a casual comfortable feel that works for both teens and adults

So let’s see the before photos…

And here is what it looks like now…

Here are the changes I made…

the walls

I made some changes to the walls that made a huge impact and helped to set the stage for the mid-century modern industrial style in the room.

My husband helped me install the pallet wall at one end of the room. I have been a fan of pallet walls since they became popular years ago but never found quite the right place to add one in my own home. As soon as I began designing this room, I knew this was the perfect space to finally use one. I love how it turned it and it cost us next to nothing, but it did take a lot of time and work.

The TV nook got a complete transformation as I documented here.

I also brightened up the room with some new pale gray paint, and installed some trim above the baseboards for added interest.

the floor

My limited budget kept me from replacing the carpeting with hardwoods, but I did bring in a navy blue area rug to help define the seating area while also adding some color and pattern to the middle of the room.

the furniture

Since this room was empty to begin with, I had to purchase a lot of furniture pieces to fill it. I focused on finding comfortable flexible furniture.

I love the new mid-century modern chaise sectional, and I added some plain white console tables behind it to allow for storage while also pulling the sectional away from the sloped ceiling.

The nesting tables serve as a coffee table and are great for playing games, resting drinks and providing additional storage. The nesting tables, accent table and accent chair are small and light enough to be easily moved where needed.

The pub table and stools give a designated place to snack while also providing a place to play cards or board games. The stools could easily be moved in front of the TV for additional seating while watching movies or playing video games.

the lighting

One of the main problems with this room was the lighting. With only one window and one small overhead light in the middle of the room, there was very little ambient lighting and absolutely no task lighting.

I added a table lamp in the corner of the room behind the sectional and installed a pendant light over the pub table on the opposite end of the room. The room is now much brighter with layered lighting.

the window treatments

I dressed up the only window in the room with some gold and cream geometric curtain panels. I almost always try to hang my curtains as high and wide as possible when covering a window. This helps to open up the room and make the window feel larger. I used a simple black curtain rod that had small finials in order to hang the curtains as high and wide as possible in the tight wall space.

the decor and accessories

There were a number of different areas to fill with decor including the tables, bookshelf and TV ledge. I used a mix of mid-century modern and industrial accessories to fit with the style of the room. With the large navy blue rug in the middle of the room, I didn’t want to overwhelm the room with color so I purposely focused on mostly neutral colored decor.

But I love the retro patterned pillows I ordered from Pill-o-matic that bring some pops of color to the room.

the wall art

I made both artwork pieces on the TV ledge myself in order to save some money.

I painted an abstract piece on canvas that coordinates with the color of one of the pillows. Then, I used leftover wood from the pallet wall to create a wood sign with stenciled numbers on it which represents our wedding anniversary. I already had the acrylic paint and wood stain on hand so this piece ended up costing me only $5 (the price of the stencil)!

the source list

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