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Rachel Bauer Design Week #6: Media Room Reveal

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It’s time for the reveal of my newly revamped Media Room.  For the last six weeks, I’ve been working like the energizer bunny (on and off) to get this space transformed.  If you have more time than sense :),  you can catch up on all the progress so far for week 1, week 2, week 3, week 4, and week 5.  But I can catch you up quicker with these reminders of the Media Room before I started this project (beige and boring):

Current messy situation under the screen.

Before: messy situation under the screen.

Before: Media Room theater seating

Before: Media Room theater seating

Before: Half wall that cut the Media Room in half and served no purpose.

Before: Half wall that cut the Media Room in half and served no purpose.

Now let’s get right to the reveal.

Half wall is gone and we have room for the chaises and the theater seating.

Half wall is gone and we have room for the chaises and the theater seating.

Don’t forget that the chaises used to look like this before I dyed (and went to DIY heaven) their slipcovers:

Ektorp chaises.

Ektorp chaises.

 

 

I've reused our Ikea Expedit shelf unit under the screen. I plan to extend it on each side to house the media components, but I didn't quite get that done.

I’ve reused our Ikea Expedit shelf unit under the screen. I plan to extend it on each side to house the media components, but I didn’t quite get that done.

You can see in the above photo how my theater curtains turned out.  I think they frame the screen wall nicely.  I intentionally kept all the other art and the sconces at the back of the room, so as not to detract from the screen when you’re in here watching a movie.

The Expedit unit started in our Family Room, which I redid for my last ORC.  You can see it here in the before picture:

TV cabinet - before.

TV cabinet – before.

And how that part of the Family Room looked in the reveal:

View of new Tv cabinet and armoire wall.

View of new Tv cabinet and armoire wall.

The Expedit store popcorn and snack options on one side and playstation remotes and headphones on the other.

The Expedit stores popcorn and snack options on one side and playstation remotes and headphones on the other.

I added acrylic and brass hardware from Hobby Lobby ($2.50/each with their half-off sale!) to the Expedit drawers and doors.

I added Expedit drawers and doors and embellished them with acrylic and brass hardware from Hobby Lobby ($2.50/each with their half-off sale!)

I added movie posters of some our favorites along the back wall.

I added movie posters of some our favorites along the back wall.

For my husband.

For my husband (my dude.)

For my daughter.

For my daughter.

If you read my ORC where I redid our downstairs Guest Room for our cat Poe, (what, doesn’t everyone dedicate a guest room for their cats???) you’ll know that his entire room was inspired by Breakfast at Tiffany’s.  Here’s a image of the after:

Poe on the final throw selection.

Poe on the final throw selection.

I ended up just patching the carpet where I took out the half wall. We were lucky to have a remnant that was large enough. Eventually we'll replace the carpet in here when we redo the adjacent Game Room.

I ended up just patching the carpet where I took out the half wall. We were lucky to have a remnant that was large enough. Eventually we’ll replace the carpet in here when we redo the adjacent Game Room.

Lighting was almost nonexistent in the room before the makeover. We had one 60 watt ceiling mounted fixture and that was it. I switched that out for the ceiling light that takes eight 25 watt bulbs (they could be as much as 60 watts, but I felt that was too much for this space.)

Lighting was almost nonexistent in the room before the makeover. We had one 60 watt ceiling mounted fixture and that was it. I switched that out for this ceiling light that takes eight 25 watt bulbs (they could be as much as 60 watts, but I felt that was too much for this space.)  This light came in a bronze finish, but I painted it gold to complement the sconces that I had added to the room.

Gold sconces that were added to the room.

Niermann Weeks sconces that were added to the room.

 I also added a bar cabinet, which gave me a surface to add a table lamp. It's a good idea to have ceiling lights, wall lights, and table lights in every space and have them all controlled separately so you can control the mood and lighting for your room as needed.

I also added a bar cabinet, which gave me a surface to add a table lamp. It’s a good idea to have ceiling lights, wall lights, and table lights in every space and have them all controlled separately so you can control the mood and lighting for your room as needed.  Love my thrift store Van Teal lamp, vintage (also thrift store) Murano genie bottle, William Yeoward Bunny wine glasses (nowhere close to thrift store) and faux malachite tray.

The art in the above photo was created by my daughter, Tabitha, and me for our townhouse ORC.  We had purchased a townhouse by our local lake and were fixing it up to rent it out as a short-term furnished rental.  After a little over a year of having it rented pretty much non-stop, we ended up selling it because the real estate market in our area was (and still is) really booming!  That was great for us, except that we ended up with a lot of furniture, art, and home accessories that we didn’t have room for.  I’m glad I could find a home for this art that Tabitha and I made together.  You can see the process we used to create the marbled paper art here.

The odd attic door was painted out so it doesn't distract from the movie experience.

The odd attic door was painted out so it doesn’t distract from the movie experience.

Here's a shot with just the table lamp and the stair lighting on. It reminds me of the photography in Architectural Digest in the 70's and 80's when I was growing up. It seems like most shots were under lit and had uplights behind Majesty Palms or some other dramatic lighting.

Here’s a shot with just the table lamp and the stair lighting on. It reminds me of the photography in Architectural Digest in the 70’s and 80’s when I was growing up. I loved reading AD even back when I was 7 or 8.  It seems like most shots then were under lit and had up-lights behind Majesty Palms or some other dramatic lighting.

Well, I think that’s a wrap.  I can’t thank Linda at CallingItHome enough for hosting us twice a year.  My home is so much the better for it.  Please look in on the Wednesday participants’ reveals and the other Thursday participants.

Happy Mother’s Day to all, especially to my Mom, who always reads my blog and leaves such nice comments.  Without her, I would never have been reading Architectural Digest at 7!  Love you Mia!

Rachel

 

 

 

 

 
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4 Comments  comments 

4 Responses

  1. I LOVE this movie space, awesome work!

  2. Rachel Bauer

    Thank you Karen!

  3. Barbara Erwin

    What a Transformation!!! I loved what you have done with the space! Using the chaises made the room so elegant. And you selected posters of some of my favorite movies– The DUDE!!! Very awesome work, I agree.

  4. Rachel Bauer

    Thanks! Hopefully you can join us for a movie night soon!

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