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Family Room Decorating Ideas: Blue Living Room Makeover

After five years of wear and tear by my four kiddos, our living is in need of a refresh. Explore our kid-friendly family room decorating ideas below.

Living room colour ideas and design plans for a kid-friendly modern coastal room. color schemes for living rooms with brown furniture.

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It was almost exactly five years ago that I first stepped into our current home. Immediately it felt familiar and I quickly realized that the walls were painted in the same colour palette as the ones I had painted in our previous home.

I still love this colour scheme: the warm toned walls make a welcoming and bright backdrop for the dark oak floors, our eclectic furniture and of course, all.the.kids.stuff! Over the past five years these wall have become the kid’s canvas: they’re marked with crayons, markers, clear tape and chocolate finger prints. Now that our littlest is past the toddler stage, repainting the living room has been high on our to-do list.

We were keen to put Canadian Tire’s top-of-the-line Premier Infinity paint to the test in this high-traffic room. This paint is listed as stain-resistant, easy to wash, having zero VOCs (prior to the addition of colourant) and providing one-coat coverage. Well, we’ll see if Premier Infinity stands up to my four little monsters’, I mean artists’, wear and tear.

Our living room is getting a kid-friendly makeover! We’re partnering with @CanadianTire to give this space a much-needed revamp. Over the past 5 years these wall have become the kids canvas: they’re marked with crayons, markers, tapes and chocolate finger prints. ???? So, we are putting the top-of-the-line Premier Infinity paint to the test! We’ll see if its zero VOC formulation, one-coat coverage and durability stand up to my four little monsters’, I mean artists’, wear and tear. Check out our Instastory and swipe through for our before photos and colour sampling. Stay tuned for our full design plans for the room as well. #PaintWithPremier #canadiantire #homeinspo #momlife #ad ⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ #momof4 #momoffour #livingroominspo #livingroom #livingroomdesign #wallpaint #yourinspireddesign #blue #bhg #bhgathome #abmathome #thehappynow #sodomino #sustainmycrafthabit #decorblogger #craftblogger #canadianblogger #cdnblogsquad #currentdesignsituation

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We’ll be painting the room in the coming weeks. You can follow along our progress on Instagram as well as the final reveal in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, I wanted to share with you my family room decorating ideas to make the living room kid- and family-friendly.

Family Room Decorating Ideas

We have a very limited budget and time to complete this makeover. So we’ll be keeping the main pieces which already exist in the the room: the couch, rug, window blinds, piano and bookshelf. Here are similar pieces to those already in the room (clicking on the images will take you to the sources).

I love our brown sectional sofa: there’s plenty of room for everyone. However, if I was to replace it, I’d get a couch from which the pillows don’t come off. The sofa’s back cushions are always all over the place! The kids can’t seem to see them all nicely in place.

Living Room Paint Ideas

In thinking about the design of the room, I was hoping to bring a bit of the Lake to the City :). We have a family cottage along the shores of Lake Huron, Ontario. Over the last several months we’ve been renovating the two-bedroom bungalow. You can find the completed rooms here:

I wanted to bring these coastal colours into our new living room here at home and found inspiration in the colours from this photo I took this summer:

Coastal family room decorating ideas inspired by colours from the lakeshore by Sustain My Craft Habit.

So I knew I wanted a wall colour that was on the blue-gray side with a deep blue for accents. I tried several samples on the wall (you can buy small sample cans to test with). In the end, we are going with Grace Gray as the primary wall colour, accents in Northern Blue and trim in Daylight (note: pictured are Mystic Blue, Light Summer Blue, Grace Gray).

Paint samples for family room decorating ideas

Ours walls take a lot of abuse, so I’m looking forward to seeing how the Premier Infinity paint holds up over time. We’re going to institute a no-tape on the walls rule as well!

Coastal Farmhouse Wall Decor Ideas

I’m going to keep our over-sized farmhouse-inspired clock above the piano.

Around the large window I plan to hang deep blue drapes to provide some interest to the wall.

There’s a couple of wall areas on either side of the fireplace which will need some art. Currently our rustic pinecone wall hanging is above the couch, but I’d love to put in some coastal-inspired art such as these pieces:

Lots of Storage Solutions

I should say “Lots of places to hide the kids stuff”! No matter how hard we try to keep the room clutter-free, toys, books, shoes, etc. always find their way back. These storage baskets from Canadian Tire’s CANVAS collection will be great for corralling all the things and keeping them out of sight. Not only are they beautiful, but are made from natural materials. This is great as I’m trying to minimize the amount of plastic we bring into the house.

Lighting

We currently have a lovely large ceiling fixture, but I’d love to put in this piece, also from the CANVAS line.

Warm and Cozy Accents

We can’t talk about family room decorating ideas without some comfy and cozy accents for our cuddle time together.

The kids love spending time on the floor, so the cushions and pouf will make it a little more comfy.

Well, these are the plans so far! What do you think of my family room decorating ideas so far? We’re planning to paint the room in the coming week. However, a cold has hit our household and we’re all moving kind of slowly. So we’ll see how quickly it all comes together. I’m looking forward to sharing the completed room with you soon.

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Michaela Kenkel

Monday 25th of September 2017

I am LOVING those blues and greys!! Right up my alley!

Shelley @ Two Healthy Kitchens

Friday 22nd of September 2017

These are great ideas! I know exactly how you feel, transitioning from a home with kids' artwork taped everywhere, and all the "disorganization" of toys and childhood ... to a more grown-up home the whole family can enjoy! I especially like the idea of comfy things for hanging out on the floor - I think a lot of times people forget to plan for that. Thanks for the inspiration!

Jane and Sonja

Saturday 23rd of September 2017

Hi Shelley! I like to believe that we're transitioning into a more grown-up home but the littlest is just 3 LOL. Maybe it'll be the fresh slate we need to re-set some ground rules. We'll see... ;) Thanks so much for stopping by!

Angela

Friday 22nd of September 2017

I LOVE the colors you chose! We have a lot of blues and grey in our house and they really are warm & cozy yet bright at the same time! The accent pieces are just perfect as well! Really love it!

Jane and Sonja

Saturday 23rd of September 2017

Thank you so much Angela. I love blues and grey - they're such a fresh and clean back drop for all kinds of accents. Thank you for your kind comment!

Rachel Teodoro

Friday 22nd of September 2017

So many elements I love in this room! Those baskets and the lights!

Jane and Sonja

Saturday 23rd of September 2017

Thanks Rachel! Aren't those pieces great? It was fun to "virtual shop" for the room.

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