Jaw-Dropping Media Rooms

Turn a ho-hum movie night into an Oscarworthy event with a dramatic and welcoming media room

Countless hours are spent around the TV with family and friends. If you are lucky enough to have a home theater or media room, why not make movie night a showstopper? These 10 designer tips will give you the tools to help your media room steal any show.

Meeting of the minds

 Why not have all of your favorite books and movies in the same room? Simply install decorative shelving for that distinguished library feel right inside your media room. Then you can choose a classic book or a classic movie all in one place.

Painted scene 

Channel your inner Michelangelo and paint the perfect illusion of a blue sky on the ceiling of your media room for an ethereal effect. It’s an ingenious approach to creating the perfect outdoor movie night with all the comforts of home.

Unscripted style

 Replace all of your traditional media seating with with an oversize platform bed that allows viewers to totally relax by laying down. Your friends and family will never want to leave.

Behind the scenes

 Add texture and style to your media room by hanging curtains to act as a divider between the game room and movie room. Just draw them shut when either side needs privacy.

Quiet on the set

Cover the walls of your media room with upholstery tufted in your favorite fabric for a wall application that creates the proper acoustics.

Movie under the stars

Add an enchanting cosmic delight to any home theater experience by installing fiber optics into the ceiling. Sit under the glowing night sky while watching your favorite movie.

Sound check

 For a commercial-quality surround-sound effect in your theater, try an acoustical ceiling.

Hollywood royalty

 Achieve old-time Hollywood extravagance by cladding your entire media room in a plush red palate of shag carpet, velvet walls, fabric-covered ceilings and overstuffed furniture.

Oscar-winning performance

Help your media room double as a living room when not in use. This contemporary yet comfortable space is perfect for entertaining with or without a movie.

Of stage and screen

 Give your media room’s screen a stage that commands attention. Add lush draperies, dapper moldings and sconces to accentuate the stage and create a full theater effect. Bravo!

Set an Eclectic Thanksgiving Table

Think beyond orange pumpkins and leaves for your Thanksgiving decorations this year!

With Thanksgiving this week, many of us are in full-scale dinner-planning mode. Along with menu coordination comes table arrangements. I’m a firm believer that holiday tablescapes can take a nontraditional route. I think the holidays should be what you want them to be, and if that means blue and white for Thanksgiving and pink and green for Christmas, I say go for it! I’m all about eclectic holiday decor.

White pumpkins appear to be all the rage this year, and I’m digging it. They’re fresh, modern and monochromatic, but still festive. I’m loving this pairing of white pumpkins, candles and dishware with a chic, subtle play of patterns in the linens.

Personalize your pumpkin decor with stick-on embellishments. For the dinner table, I would take this same idea and apply initials to small gourds for seating assignments (and easy party favors – who doesn’t like a cute takeaway?). The striped tablecloth and splash of green enliven the look.

Try an alternative to natural pumpkin colors: Spray-paint pumpkins and gourds to your heart’s content! Bring these elements to the dinner table with simple white plates, wine glasses and a few candles.

 

Et voila! This tablescape takes on a neutral look, with gold and patterned accents.

Z Gallerie

Antique Mercury Pumpkins – $39.95

Not the DIY type? Buy pre-foiled pumpkin accessories to effortlessly glam up any table.

You can’t go wrong with greenery. Plants of any kind, whether it’s a bouquet or potted, will enliven any tablescape.

Amazon

Succulents In Rectangular Wound Rope Pot – $24

Succulents are a (nearly) fool-proof go-to plant for those lacking a green thumb, but they are more than just an easy-to-keep-alive plant. They’re plump, bright and highly textural, which brings a whole new dimension to table settings. Use a single collection of them as a centerpiece …

VivaTerra

VivaTerra – VivaTerra – Succulent Cube Garden (set of 3) – $79

… or scatter a few small bursts of succulents along the table. Another nice feature of these durable plants is that you’ll have them long after the party’s over!

It’s not a tablescape, but you can take inspiration from this beautiful vignette. The flower arrangement provides a delectable mix of colors and textures, but the sculpture and sketch bring in additional layers that could easily translate to a Thanksgiving table.

More ideas for fall floral arrangements

 

This table has a wonderfully warm mix of glass, florals and textiles.

The pattern of this tablecloth is offset by the solid blue plates. Matching napkins with coordinating rings and simple flowers makes this a beautiful — yet approachable and comfortable — holiday table dressed to impress and to have fun.

Like succulents, natural accessories, like branches, are appropriate decor for all kinds of parties (or daily life)! When the party’s over, move the centerpiece to a console table or bookcase. If you eventually tire of its look, reinvent it with a coat of paint.

Tall branches with the occasional bud make a sweet but profound centerpiece.

Clayton Gray Home

Willow Tabletop Decoration Coffee Table Centerpiece – $75

For a small table, one of these will get the conversation started. For a larger table, cluster a few in the center, or spread them out.

Blooms & Branches

Exotic Grapewood – $19.35

A sculptural element is not only eye candy, but also a conversation-starter. Real or faux, branches (or branch-like accessories) give a table depth and excitement. While it makes a statement all it’s own, it also plays well with others; combine it with a pared down look (white table cloth, tea lights, simple napkins) or dress it up with patterns and colors.

Buffets or serve-yourself-setups don’t have to mean plastic cutlery and paper plates; this table is ready to party with simple elegance.

West Elm

Perforated Metallic Tealight Holders – $10

I do love to mix metals. What’s more romantic than perforated tea lights that scatter dappled light around a low-light, high-energy dinner party?

More: Make the Kids’ Thanksgiving Table Fun
Make Room for the Thanksgiving Crowd

Special Thanks to Killy Scheer a HOUZZ Contributor

Make Room for a Thanksgiving Crowd

Give your guests a place to dine, drink and mingle with new uses for your space and furniture

Thanksgiving is days away. You’ve decided on your tablescape, the menu is set and you know what you’re going to wear. Now where are you going to put all of your guests? Whether you live in a spacious dwelling or a small city apartment, it’s time to space plan. But don’t stress: This task just requires a careful observation of your space, so you can utilize what you have, whether it means simply moving some furniture or getting a bit more creative. Read on to learn how to maximize your entertaining space.

More: Thanksgiving tabletops and decorating

We all wish we had spacious dining rooms with long, accommodating tables like this one. If you’ve got one, you’re all set. If not, there’s still hope. Read on, party planners.

Adding a leaf to the dining table is old news. But what about adding a table to your kitchen island? The centerpiece of this kitchen is its custom island and drop-leaf table that converts from a casual family dining area to seating for 10 to 12. You can plan a feature like this for your next kitchen and, for this year, bring a counter-height table up to your island for a similar effect.

Here’s a shot of the table with the drop leaf in action.

For many of us, especially city dwellers, our kitchen and dining areas are much smaller than our living rooms. Take advantage of that living-room space by moving your dining table to the living room for the occasion. Maybe there is space behind the couch, or maybe you need to remove a few chairs. Using the largest room in your home for a sit-down dinner will give everyone breathing room — and open up your dining area for the buffet.

You’ve moved the table to the living room and realized you don’t have enough chairs for the masses about to arrive. Easy solution: Incorporate your living-room furniture. As long as everything is a comfortable height, your guests will love your creative, eclectic vibe.

Look around the house to see what other nooks and crannies you can put to use. Have a window seat? Pull up a coffee table (maybe the one you had to remove from the living room) and flank it with a few extra chairs. Voila, the kids’ table!

Is your dining room credenza too small to hold the entire buffet? Instead of piling it all on haphazardly, create your own buffet table using sawhorses and a large plank of wood. Perhaps it’s an old door that’s not being used, or something you find at a flea market or wreck yard for cheap. If it’s unsightly, cover it with a tablecloth.

Set up a bar somewhere other than the kitchen. This will alleviate overcrowding one space with thirsty guests. Don’t put it near the front door: You don’t want to have a bottleneck situation as soon as people arrive.

Make your bar even more self-sufficient by placing it near shelving. Replace your knickknacks or books with martini glasses and cocktail accessories. If you have a built-in desk, even better: The desk can act as the bar.

While you’re at it, look around your house to see what else can be repurposed for the evening. A table behind a couch could become a holding ground for hors d’oeuvres.

Once you know where people will sit for dinner and the other places you’ll use for extra bar or appetizer spots, observe the space as a whole to be sure it allows for a good traffic flow. When there are a lot of people in one place, you want them to be able to move freely about. If it’s still feeling cramped, remove unnecessary furniture.

In your family or living room, arrange the furniture so it accommodates groups of people for conversation. If you’ve got the space and enough pieces, create several different seating areas to keep everyone engaged.

Before everyone arrives, do a final swoop to be sure you got rid of all clutter. With that many bodies in one home, extra stuff will make the space feel that much more constricted.

It’s likely there are areas in your home that you don’t want your curious guests to wander into, like a private office or the upstairs. It’s unlikely you have a door blocking your staircase like this example does, but you can still politely direct traffic elsewhere by placing the buffet table in front of a closed office door or creating beautiful flower vignettes on the stair landing to prevent access.

Remember all that furniture we’ve been talking about moving away? All this time you’ve probably been wondering where the heck you’d put it. Here’s a suggestion: the garage. Not only does it make room inside, but it also creates an additional furnished space. You’ll have a spacious interior and a space for the kids to hang.

More:Arrange Your Furniture for Entertaining
Arrange Your Furniture for the TV and People, Too

Special Thanks to Shawn Gauthier a HOUZZ Contributor

The 4 Stages of a Remodel: The Honeymoon Phase

Prepare for the fast-paced progress of demolition — and the potentially jolting slowdown of structural issues

As with anything in life, a remodeling project can come with its ups and downs. Certain phases seem to go a mile a minute, while others feel like they’ve lasted a lifetime and a half, all while it looks as though nothing is being completed. Fear not — this is pretty typical. And, while every project is different, a good portion of renovations have four major phases, what I’m calling the Honeymoon, the Mid-project Crisis, the Renewal of Vows and the Happily Ever After.

For now, let’s take a closer look at the Honeymoon phase of renovating.

After weeks of searching for a remodeler in your area, calling references, checking out their Houzz profile and working toward an agreeable price, you say, “I do,” sign the contract, finalize the design and begin work in two weeks. There’s a little nervousness in the air, but as you enter the Honeymoon phase, the mood is mainly one of excitement.

Demolition Begins

A couple of weeks go by, and the day comes for work to start. Protective products are placed, and demolition begins. Demo, sweet, demo. Normally one of the quickest moving stages of a remodel, demolition makes it look as if a lot of work is being done practically overnight. Cabinetry is removed, walls are torn down, appliances are taken away and, in a matter of days or weeks (depending on the size of your project), you’re staring at a blank canvas.

After that, any necessary framing and structural work will begin. Framing usually isn’t as exciting or fast-paced as demolition, but still, there is visible progress almost daily. At this point, you and your partner are walking on air. The rate of work is astounding, and you’re still very excited (although maybe a little less nervous now) about the entire project.

 

Speed Bumps Ahead!

However, like a delayed flight on a real honeymoon trip, there are obstacles that can slow down this phase, specifically during demo. If you’re living in an older house, there’s the possibility that when your walls are opened, asbestos or lead could be discovered, which will need to be dealt with before work can continue.

Another common speed bump is building permit delays. Going through government-mandated processes can be tricky sometimes, especially if you or your building professional don’t have everything you need to get the green light from your municipality the first time around.

More holdups can come from structural elements that become apparent after demolition. For example, say you were going to move a door to another wall in your dining room. Once the demo crew opens up the wall where the new door will be installed — surprise! — there are plumbing pipes running the height of the wall. Reconfiguring design to meet these new requirements will add time to the demo stage.

Don’t panic. These delays happen often, and it’s worth accounting for and accepting these hurdles before you even begin to think about renovating.

See more on building permits
See more on tearing down a wall

 

To help your honeymoon run more smoothly, here are a few tips I’ve learned from witnessing hundreds of remodels (and even surviving a couple myself):

• Embrace change. Really. Give change a huge hug. Get to know it on a personal level. Because no matter what room you’re touching (whether it’s the kitchen or a teensy guest bath), it’s likely that you use that room daily. The sooner you accept that this room (major or not) will be unavailable for a period of time, the sooner you’ll be able to adapt your daily routines to fit around it.
• Love your microwave. This applies to kitchen remodels specifically. As soon as demo is done, your primary cooking and eating area will be gone. Before your project starts, find an untouched room in your home to create a mini kitchen that will include necessities such as a microwave, toaster oven and coffee pot. Think of it as the mini kitchen you had in your dorm or apartment in college and revel in the nostalgia.

• Don’t worry too much. I know this sounds hard — OK, really hard, especially for control freaks like myself — but trusting your building professionals to know what they’re doing (even if you do come across one of the aforementioned speed bumps) will really help you keep your head on straight. And if you do have questions or concerns …
• Communicate! Communication has proved time and time again to be one of the biggest parts of a remodel — and a successful marriage. I cannot stress it enough. Talk with your contractor, talk with your significant other — talk, talk, talk. Ask framing questions, bring up budgetary concerns, muse over paint colors. Whatever is on your mind, getting it out of your head and into the air is beneficial for everyone involved (especially you).

And remember: The Honeymoon phase of a remodel is definitely one of the high points in a process with numerous peaks and valleys, so try to enjoy it. No matter what you may encounter during demolition and framing, it’s likely that the mood of everyone on board — you, your contractor, your family and even your pet — will be very positive.

You’ve just embarked on a new journey, and the excitement of watching the image of your new home come into focus just adds fuel to your fire. Revel in that post-contract-signing bliss and maybe enjoy a glass of your favorite beverage with your significant other while you two imagine the new space that will be formed in your newly torn-apart home. Enjoy it, because what lies ahead is a bit uncertain.

With that in mind: What happens when it feels like nothing is happening? Is there still work being done? Are we still on schedule? Is it OK to freak out a little bit? Read more in the upcoming article in this series, “The Midproject Crisis.”

Your turn: How have you weathered the Honeymoon phase?