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Family room update: getting rid of the ugly

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My $100 family room makeover is moving forward at light speed.  We’re three weeks into the four week challenge now which means crunch time!

I’ve been slowly chipping away at the multitude of eyesores in the room.  Last year I painted our sliding glass doors to hide the ugly aluminum frame.  Last week, I added a new statement-making mantel.  This last week I took care of two things that I have hated about our house since we moved in eight years ago.  Seriously.  This stuff was long overdue.  These updates may not be as splashy and pretty as a new piece of art or other decor, but they made such a huge difference in the room.  And unlike a cute bit of DIY decor, this stuff is going to be here a long time.  (Rather than a few months until I get a wild idea to rearrange everything!)

So what did I do?

First up, I finally added trim to our built-in shelves.  There’s a long bookcase under the peninsula that separates our kitchen and family room.

before of shelves with toys

It’s great to have a bit of storage there, but the shelves were so ugly.  I painted them white soon after we moved in but that didn’t hide the fact they looked a lot like kitchen cabinets without doors and not at all like actual built-in shelves.  Fixing them up wasn’t hard, just tedious.  I removed the trim and facing that was previously there and replaced it with new trim that covered the old toe kick – one of the main features that screamed cabinets!

filling in the toe kick of cabinets

 

Then I added baseboards and shoe molding around the entire peninsula.  Smoothed out all the holes and rough spots with wood filler and caulk and gave it a fresh coat of bright white paint.

kitchen cabinets to built in shelves

I don’t know that pictures adequately show the difference this made, but it is night and day.  The whole room looks less tired and worn down and much more bright and fresh.   And I am just itching to get these babies loaded back up – but in a much more neat and orderly fashion!

 

My second project this week was even more exciting.  See that big 1970s intercom in the middle of the wall?

intercom on wall

I hate it.  There are at least a dozen speakers scattered throughout our house which means there’s a nice eyesore on the wall of every single room.  (And really our house is a 1600 square foot ranch.  You can pretty easily hear someone from side of the house to the other.  Why the need for intercom speakers every five feet?)

As you can see, it used to be even worse.

family photo wall

That huge box under the main intercom?  That’s a pull-out 8 track player.  (Sadly it was broken).  A few years ago, I removed the 8 track player and painted the intercom to match the walls in hopes of camoflauging it.  It was an improvement, but the intercom was still pretty ugly. Well, I decided I couldn’t take it anymore.  That intercom was coming out.  Now I’m not an electrician so I’m certainly not going to try to provide a tutorial on how to remove your own ugly intercom.  But I can say that if you do, you won’t be sorry

removing the intercom

Of course, once I had managed to get the thing out, I was left with a big hole in the wall.  Not necessarily an improvement.  But our walls are old 70s wood paneling painted white.  And while the white paint is a vast improvement, I still want to replace them with drywall at some point.  So for now, the hole is totally covered by an awesomely huge piece of art.  (Can’t wait to share it next week in the big reveal.  It’s actually an oldie that used to be in a different spot in our house years ago and is absolutely perfect for the big white wall over the couch.)

And there you have it.  Two major improvements to my worn out family room.  Not the most glamorous DIY projects, but two that were totally worth it and totally elevated the room.

So here’s how the budget is looking so far:

Bookshelf trim: $25.50

Paint: free, leftover from other projects

Removing intercom: free

So when we add in last week’s $53 mantel, the total so far is $78.50.   And funny enough, so far my entire budget has gone to wood for various projects.

Next Wednesday is the big day.  Reckoning day!  I mean reveal day!  Where we all get to show off what we managed to accomplish in only four weeks for $100.  I’m super excited to show off my own room and I definitely can’t wait to see what everyone else manages to pull off!

See everything related to my $100 family room makeover right here:

Week 1: Before pictures and plans

Week 2: DIY rustic fireplace mantel

Week 3:Getting rid of the ugly

 

In the meantime, check out everyone else’s week 3 updates at the link below!


 

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Comments

  2. Wow!!! What a difference you made with the room divider! I love it, and I think I’m going to steal the idea for my built-in cabinets in my family room!! Thank you for sharing the project Carrie!!

    Reply

  5. Your shelves look amazing now! My grandma had an intercom in her house with speakers everywhere for music and I loved it. I’m always trying to talk my husband into adding a system to our house. ;) I don’t blame you for getting rid of it though. My dad has one in a very small home and it doesn’t even work.

    Reply

    • Thanks Emy! For awhile I did consider keeping the intercom and trying to stream digital music to it somehow. But in the end, it just wasn’t worth it. Love that you have those memories of your grandma.

      Reply

  10. Wow! You completely made those shelves look updated and I can’t believe the difference! And the intercom system just makes me laugh. My hubs is a real estate agent and whenever we go in a house with one, I say that I wish we had one!! I love your progress so far and can’t wait to see the reveal!

    Reply

    • Thanks Melissa! I thought the intercom was kind of cool when we first moved in, but we never ever use it. And the speakers in every room always seem to be in the worst places!

      Reply

  12. The peninsula area looks SO much better. I can’t believe the difference a little trim and .paint made! As for the intercom, I think they must’ve been a “thing” at some point. My parents have them all over their house too, and I just don’t get it. I’m excited to see the art piece you used to cover it… Yea for reveal week. Can’t wait!

    Reply

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