Sunday, December 28, 2008

Before, During, And...

I've blogged about our media room, but it's been awhile. First a bit of history. We moved into our house, built in the mid-80's, exactly a year ago. The house has about 2600 square feet and sits on a lot slightly larger than half an acre. We really do feel like we have a little slice of the Texas hill country.

We were drawn to the house for several reasons. We loved the spacious living room and kitchen and the flow between the two rooms. Also, the house had been completely redone by the former owner, so it was nice to move in and not feel like we had to start redoing anything right away. We didn't love everything about the house, though.

One of the things that almost deterred us from buying the home was the garage conversion. On the outside, the conversion is seamless. Pulling up to the side of the house, no one would ever know where a garage door once existed.

Inside, the former garage housed the washer and dryer, and when the garage was converted into a room, the washer and dryer hook-ups stayed. The little concrete lip that all garages have was also left as it was. Those two features made the room very awkward and not completely functional as a media room, which is what we had decided to do with the space. This photo shows the east wall with the washer/dryer area. The hot water heater is in the little closet on the adjacent wall on the far right of the photo, and the door just to the left of that leads to our kitchen.

The previous owner installed new carpeting in the room, and while the carpet was new and pretty, it was not practical in a room with so much water. In fact, we had washer problems and flooding shortly after moving into the home.

Over the past year, we've been making a few changes to the room. In order to camouflage the concrete "lip," my handy husband installed 15' of unfinished, stock cabinets.



We are in the process of painting the walls, installing the countertop, and building shelving to sit on top of the cabinets. We removed the carpeting and simply painted the concrete floor. We are considering installing self-stick vinyl tile, but there are some concrete repairs to be done first. I'll show you more pics as we make a little more progress. We're hoping to have most of the work done by the end of next weekend. Once the room is finished, we'd like to get a roomy, yet space-saving sectional sofa. What do you think? Are we on the right track?

18 comments:

Becca Watson said...

Its looking good.. Sounds like you got a good plan laid out.

Louise said...

Of course you are on the right track, oh design genuis! I can't wait to see more pics as progess develops.

Penny from Enjoying The Simple Things said...

What a great idea! Those cabinets to hide the raised section of the floor. I love that! It looks like it will be a great space. I can't wait to see it finished...
Penny

Lisa said...

Um, my first thought is "Can I have the leather sofa and chairs?" ;-) A sectional, huh? Well, okay, I guess that would be functional but I love your sofa and chairs in there!

I love what y'all are doing to this room, Sandra. (I've been to Sandra's home so have a good visual now!) The cabinet wall is going to look so great and be so functional.

Looking forward to seeing more pics after you get the counter and shelves finished!

Antiques and More Blog said...

Hi Sandra, looks like you've been busy...wish I could makeover my garage, but unfortunately it's full of a bunch of "junk"...good junk though. Best wishes with your beautiful room! Be sure to post the finished product.
Hugz,
Lisa

Rhoda @ Southern Hospitality said...

Sandra, I don't remember seeing this room before, but it really looks like you're making some good progress. It's gonna be a wonderful media room when you're all finished! Great idea on adding the cabinets.

dec0r8or said...

Oh, yay, another makeover! I LOVE makeovers! I'm loving the wall of cabinets idea, Sandra...great solution, and practical too! Hey, what furniture is Lisa talking about? Is this like The Emperor's New Clothes or what? lol

sandra/tx said...

I may not have shown this room, for good reason, don't you think? It really is an awkward space. Once we finish with the wall of cabinets, we need to address the laundry area.

The current furniture includes the leather sofa that had been in our Amarillo living room. I like it fine, but it's such a space hog. There are also a couple of mossy green chairs that are okay, but two chairs and a honkin' sofa just take up way too much room.

I mentioned that we hope to have the room finished by this weekend. That's a bit of a stretch. We should have the wall of built-ins completed, as well as the wall paint. We'll still have quite a bit of work ahead of us after those things are done.

Linda@ Lime in the Coconut said...

Ooooh looky how cool that will be! Great storage!! Do you not have a garage now?

And...is that lovely snowy header your yard? Didja get snow??

sandra/tx said...

Linda, no the header is not my yard. It's just my wishful thinking. :-)
When the attached garage was converted, the previous owners (years ago) built a detached garage.

Anonymous said...

great great use of an awkward space. We are painting concrete floors this next week also !

Devonia said...

Ditto, Sandra, can't wait to see "finished" photos! Good planning and a handy hubby pays off. :)

Mindy said...

Wow! I see the transformation happening and I like it. Sounds like the finished product is going to be just what you want. Nice! ~Mindy

Julia @ Hooked on Houses said...

What a fun "bonus space" to have! I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Hope you had a great holiday week, Sandra. Happy New Year! :-)

cotedetexas said...

Yes - you are on the right track!!! I love the outside of the garage - it's so Austin looking!!!! the cabinets are perfect. YOu can make this such a wonderful space - how about vinyl squares in two colors like taupe and white or gold and white or something fun black and white? and check out Ikea's slipcovered sectional - it's wonderful and very comfortable and inexpensive too!!! a dream would be Shabby Chic's sectional - I think it's on sale right now - it's to die for!!!

The Stricklands said...

I can't wait to see all of the improvements - we should be heading your way in 2 days!

sandra/tx said...

Joni, I totally forgot about Ikea's sectional. I have two of their slipcovered Ektorp sofas in the living room.

A two-tone floor is a great idea. I love that you're a professional designer! :-)

Lee (Mary), I think we're going to San Antonio to see y'all this weekend. Can't wait!

Amber Cargile said...

Having been in this room, I can say it is a great use of space! I think it's coming along brilliantly!