Creating a magazine worthy media room for my family

Spending time as a family is super important, creating the perfect media room is at the top of my DIY list.

Our family loves movies and we’re huge Disney and Harry Potter fans.

We also realized how much we just enjoy watching TV and movies at home as a family.

When we moved into the new house, we made a pretty big decision to not add a TV in our main living room.

I wasn’t a huge fan of having an upstairs, but for this particular house on this particular lot there was no getting around a second story.

As a way to compromise, we decided upstairs is where the main TV for the house would live and also be a way to get people to use the upstairs.

Upstairs is also were the Cribbs Style headquarters lives, which is perfect keeping it all out of the main living area too.

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The plan for the perfect media room

Of course I started doing field research as well as asking the family what they would want in the media room.

I found this post from Black Goose Design Co and knew I wanted to create something very similar.

• We all agreed we wanted it dark, very dark, to mimic a movie theatre.
• A ceiling fan is a must, but it needs to be aesthetically appealing as well as small since the ceilings aren’t all that tall.
• A place for snacks and drinks because no one wants to have to run up and down the stairs.
• Using the puzzles we made during quarantine shut down.
• Comfortable seating.
• A lot of blankets.
• Very large TV to make it truly feel like a movie theatre.

Dreams come true and paint partnerships are made.

While I was planning this media room makeover, I was approached by two very cool companies.

I applied over the summer in 2022 to be a part of the American Farmhouse Style Magazine brand ambassador with this furniture makeover.

Unfortunately I wasn’t selected to be an ambassador, but they did ask if they could feature my home in their magazine!!

DREAM. COME. TRUE.

At the same time I was also approached by Romabio Paints to try out a new paint finish they were rolling out, Velatura Mineral Paints.

Then I had an amazing light bulb moment, what if I did this media room makeover with Romabio for the American Farmhouse Style Magazine shoot??

Everyone was on board and I was literally giddy with excitement!

What if a ceiling light and a fan had a baby?

I’m sure by now you may have heard a term floating around called a “fandalier”.

To be honest I had no idea that word even existed, but I can attest that I found exactly just that, a ceiling light fixture that has a semi hidden feature of a ceiling fan.

The fandalier that I found looked to me like a vintage movie reel, came with a remote, and I knew it would be perfect.

Snacks

First order of business was to find a refrigerator that could hold cold beverages not only when we’re watching TV, but also when I’m working upstairs.

Since I know I’m working under a tight deadline, I have plans to later add additional storage and a place to keep more snacks.

Meaningful artwork

One of the things we did to pass time during quarantine shut down was put together puzzles as a family.

On one of our many trips to Disney we picked up a few puzzles from a Disney artist, Darren Wilson.

I loved the muted colors and the fact that we found all of our family favorite movies through the years.

I had been holding on to the completed puzzles we glued together, all they needed were some frames and lights to make them look like movie posters.

Rug

I wanted to break up the boring builder carpet as well as make the room feel more connected.

While many people may be apprehensive about putting a rug over carpet, I’m a huge fan especially to add texture and tie the room together.

I found this beautiful Loloi rug on Amazon.

Comfortable seating and lots of blankets

If there’s anything our family loves is being comfy and warm.

We already have quite the collection of blankets and a sectional sofa we had in our last home.

But the sofa would be the jumping off point for the colors I wanted to have in the media room.

Of course I had already built the sofa table that lives behind our sectional sofa, such a great addition.

Large TV

Since we decided we didn’t need a TV in our main living room, we decided to combine the money we would have spent on two TV’s and buy one really large TV.

I have never been more thankful for a Costco membership and a good sale than I was when we first moved.

We found an 86″ LG smart TV and I am absolutely in love. (Here’s a similar TV)

What’s next?

Romabio was gracious enough to send me three different colors of their new Velatura Mineral Wash.

You’ll have to follow along as I narrow down my paint selection, try out the Velatura Mineral Wash technique, and get read for my very first magazine appearance.