Our New Hampshire Home: Family Room Reveal

This post has been a long time coming, but it’s finally here! The first room of our New Hampshire Home has been updated!

When talking renovations and re-dos, Ryan and I agreed that the family room needed to be first. We spend a lot of time in there and with its vaulted ceilings and tall walls, it seemed like the perfect first project.

Boy, did this room require a lot of prep work. I’m giving Ryan the credit here- he stripped the chair rail and trim (which was nailed to the floor) before patching, sanding, and priming all the areas so that we were ready to paint. Listen close folks- you CAN’T just slap paint on a wall. Ryan made me watch this painting video before we got started and I implore you to following the steps suggested. Your room will look SO MUCH BETTER if you do.

It is amazing what a fresh coat of paint will do. We selected white for the walls, off white for the trim, and originally black for the windows themselves. However, Home Depot was out of black paint and didn’t even have it in stock when a new shipment came in a week later. That being said, we’re actually glad we were forced to go with off white for the windows. Keeping all the (originally) wood areas consistent looks great now. Also, as you can see in the progress photos above, black windows would have been a substantial contrast. Now, everything blends seamlessly.

The biggest challenge of this room renovation was actually the sliding glass door. Ohhh boy, did we bite off a bit more than we could chew. Just the other day we were finally finishing replacing the weatherstripping (an incredibly frustrating task.)

Sliding doors are expensive, so if you can restore yours, I would suggest it. However, take close note of what pieces go where, what hardware fits where, and know that you may have to adjust things after your paint has dried and changed the size of your door (even if it’s slight!)

Overall, we’re very pleased with how our family room came out. Ryan mounted the TV and sound bar and now walks around saying “doesn’t the TV just look so clean” at least once a day. We do need some picture frames on the walls, because they are so big and empty. We would also love to replace the carpets (but if we’re getting a puppy next year, fingers crossed, that has to wait.)

Our family room is now brighter, warmer, and all around our favorite room in the house. Ryan keep saying “now people can see what the whole house will look like… eventually!” We’ve certainly got our work cut out for us.