We all dream of beautiful homes that are comfortable, welcoming and deeply personal yet, ironically, creating a home that is easy to live in can be at times a daunting process, even for those of us who happen to do this for a living. If you’ve been following Cafe Design for some time, then you may know that our family room has been the main object of my efforts since we bought our cottage three summers ago. We began implementing changes slowly over time and it’s taken me the better part of the last three years to bring the family room to a place where it makes life in our house considerably more pleasant and comfortable. It has also required every ounce of patience on my end, but we’ve recently completed the final steps of this renovation and I’m excited to share the finished room with you!
For those of you just tuning in, our house is a Cape Cod style cottage in a small New England college town. At a little over 1,200 square feet, the house sits beautifully within the landscape and had been loved and cared for by previous owners. Our goal was to be respectful of the home’s inherent charms yet improve the floor plan and create a stronger indoor-outdoor connection by tucking in windows and French doors wherever possible. The first item on the project list was transforming a small bedroom on the ground floor into a family room / home library with access to the garden. You can read more about our house and our renovation plans HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.
What is now our family room used to be a small bedroom next to our living room, a bedroom that soon after our move became a storage space for books and boxes, and shelter for the occasional overnight guest. Since the room shared a wall with our living room and offered the best views in the house, we decided to connect the two and create a larger living area with a way out into the garden.
This is how the room looked like when we first moved in. It was cozy and warm but we knew we wanted the floor plan to be a bit more open and symmetrical. To that end, we closed off the original hallway entrance and had a pair of 48” wide French doors from Home Depot installed. The French doors alone made a ton of difference and allowed us to enjoy more of our living spaces. The old bedroom became our media room and our plans started to take shape.
Beadboard paneling, a pair of new, centered, double-hung windows and floor-to-ceiling bookshelves were installed during the difficult pandemic years of 2020 and 2021.
But the final two pieces of the puzzle came together this winter, when a local carpenter named Chris Fedora helped us install ceiling beams that align with the ones we already had in our living room.
Soon after, our trusted contractor, Oscar Saravia and his team, installed a pair of French doors that open into the garden and finally turned this TINY 10′ x 10′ former bedroom into a proper garden room. The closet used to hold a washer and dryer, which we relocated to the basement. In their place there’s a builtin desk and shelving for my many fabric and paint samples. It’s my home office during the day, our family room, garden room, occasional guest bedroom, and just a lovely space for us to entertain and live in. The pillows are always changing as I’ve been having lots of fun with my sewing machine lately and I’m always experimenting with new fabrics and patterns. Here are some before, progress and after images that can give you a better idea of all the changes. Hope you enjoy!
And here’s a view from our living room into the family room, before:
…and after. The hellebores were a Big Y find and lasted all through December!
To give you a better idea of the architectural changes we’ve made so far to increase the sense of space and improve the flow, here’s a rough sketch of our living room + spare bedroom floor plan when we embarked upon this renovation:
And here is the reworked floor plan, three years into our move:
And do you remember this old chair I got from Facebook Marketplace last summer? Well, it’s been reupholstered – I took your advice and added brass tacks on the edges for a little extra pizzazz – and it’s incredibly comfortable, a pretty addition to our family room.
The rug is a Turkish kilim I found at the Brimfield Antiques Flea Market last April and has settled in really well with the rest of the room.
That’s all for now… Thank you for stopping by! Wishing you all a peaceful rest of your week.
So lovely, charmingly warm, classic and traditionally inviting. Take a bow, you’ve done a beautiful job and being able to look out onto the greenery makes it so complete.
Author
Awww, thank you so much, Sherrie!!!!
You’re very kind!
xo, Eva
What a beautiful transformation Eva. It turned into a nice, cozy room.
Author
Thank you so much, Maureen!!! Hope all is well!
xo, Eva
What a lovely comfortable space! We too live in a Cape Cod and I enjoy decorating the smaller spaces. Our south facing living room got a coat of navy and I love how it looks with the sun streaming in through a small bay window. Cozy!
Author
Thank you so much, Barb! I ADORE Capes, and the decorating challenges they bring sometimes! Your south facing living room sounds wonderful! I had looked at navy for our family room, but because the room faces north and is surrounded by trees – everything blue or green looked kind of gray.
xo, Eva
Cozy always wins for me and you have achieved it 100%. Congratulations on your transformation to a wonderful space for you and your family!
Author
Aww, thank you so much, Pam! That’s so sweet of you!
xo, Eva
Beautiful, Eva! I’m sure those french doors leading out to the garden change the feel of the entire house. You must get such wonderful light in the family room during the day now.
Two questions: Can you share more about how the room transforms into a guest room? I may have asked this question before and if so I apologize. 🙃
In the picture of the exterior french door progress it looks like the room has hardwoods but in your after pictures it looks like you opted to install carpet. Is that correct or are the hardwoods just not visible from the angles of the after pictures? If you did opt for carpet what does that transition look like going into the living room?
One bonus question: how many bedrooms is your house? My house has a similar amount of square feet and we are also a family of three. I appreciate you giving us this sneak peek into your home and how y’all live!
In scrolling back through this morning I found your previous answer to the bed question. 🙂 Also I wanted to add I have never seen someone make remote controls look so chic in a room before! It feels like so many people are desperate to hide the bits and bobs that make our homes lived in. Choosing to photograph those was a nice touch and makes your space feel extra homey.
Author
Dear Lauren,
Thank you so much for your kind comment and for being interested in the design details! I must warn you, though – once I start talking, you’ll have to shut me up 🙂
To answer your question about the floors: the hardwood floors are still in place. I did not want to install wall-to-wall carpeting in here because I was afraid that the gluing process would damage the floors, but I also wanted the cozy feel of wall-to-wall carpeting. Since the living room and family room are connected through the interior French doors, I bought a large natural fiber rug (same as the living room one) and had it cut to fit the size & perimeter of the room. So it looks like it’s a wall-to-wall but is in fact free standing, held in place with rug pads and double-sided tape.
About the guest bedroom situation: There is just enough space for a twin bed (if we remove one of the wingbacks) and we have a twin frame and an air mattress in storage, ready to be used when needed. My initial plan was to get a sofa bed but I could not find anything that I liked and / or fit the budget so I compromised at the expense of our future overnight guests and their comfort 🙂
It was very observant (and sweet) of you to notice the remotes! Thanks!
xo,
Eva
Gorgeous! Lots of work but so worth it.
Author
Thank you!!!
xo, Eva
Gorgeous! I’d love to see a wider view of more of the room though!
Author
Thank you so much, Elizabeth! I’ll try to take a wider angle and update the post!
xo, Eva
Such a charming room–what a transformation! You are so talented, and I wish you many years of happiness in your lovely home!
Author
Awww, thank you so much, Diana!! You are very kind!
xo, Eva
It looks great!
Author
Thank you so much!!!
xo, Eva
So inviting!! Love this room!
Author
Thank you so much, Janet!
xo, Eva
This is beautiful, Eva! How fun to see. You are beyond talented. Thank you for sharing with your readers!
Author
Thank you so much, Betsy! You’re very kind!
xo, Eva
Eva, this looks incredible! I always enjoy these transformations so much more than seeing a professional crew swoop and completely transform a space overnight. Rooms like this actually FEEL like they evolved with time, with such careful consideration of each piece as you found it and made it your own. You did a lovely job with this — just incredible!!!
Author
Thank you! Thank you, Linda! Your home is such an inspiration to me!!!
xo, Eva
You did a wonderful and thoughtful redesign on your room. It is more full
but opening it on both ends has made it look much larger. Kudos for being brave enough to opening the door to the outside also. We moved into a 1941 home during the pandemic which is also 1200 square feet. While all the mechanicals had been tended to, nothing had been done internally including floors and paint in 37 years. We lived with subfloor in the kitchen until November.
Author
Thank you so much!
Living with subfloor in the kitchen must have been rough! The things we suffer for our homes… Wishing you all the best with your renovation!
xo, Eva
Oh my! This room is packed full of great ideas and is so charming. Congratulations on bringing it all together! Love your blog.
Author
Thank you so much, Anne!
xo,
Eva
How charming! You are to be applauded for your patience and eye for detail.Your blog is so heart warming.xo
Author
Thank you so much, Annette! xo, Eva
Wow, Eva! The cozy charm just exudes through the screen. It’s such an inspiration! Thank you for sharing!