BUILT-INS + FIREPLACE CHALLENGES IN THE FAMILY ROOM

I figured my latest Family Room design challenges/thoughts would require a blog post since there are a lot of moving parts going on behind the scenes. To catch you up, we decided to not move forward with a kitchen renovation (more reasoning in this post), so now that I’m itching for a project, our Family Room is my focus, as it’s been in desperate need of a makeover since we moved in almost six years ago. 

After going back and forth on a million different layout options, we ultimately decided the best option is the layout we’ve been using: a TV on this back wall and sofa facing it (pardon the mess):

If you’ve been around a while, you know I’ve been wanting to do the whole fireplace/built-in thing for a longgg time. We had it planned in our living room but I got pregnant and it just never happened, so I feel like i should capitalize on the opportunity to do that in our family room.

Now that we’ve determined the layout, I’m trying to iron out some of the major details:

gas or electric fireplace, and built-ins or no built-ins? 

OPTION 1:

Fireplace WITH built-ins (electric or gas):

Pros: storage, more custom look, FINALLY getting built-ins somewhere, good for re-sale

Cons: more expensive (I received one quote for $5,500 which I felt was reasonable), limits fireplace and TV size, shelves get dusty, the ceiling is only 91″ – would it look weird with the awkward ceiling drop? Or would it make it look less awkward?!!

Part of me is thinking screw it, we aren’t doing a kitchen renovation, and we never did my dream built-ins in our living room, so I should just go for this option. And I’m currently leaning towards it.

But let me share the second option…

OPTION 2:

Pros: less expensive, not as limited to TV size, more of a simple look

Cons: no storage, need to figure out what else to do on that wall to fill the space

I also am waiting for one more quote to install a gas fireplace vs. electric. We obviously prefer gas but:

• it costs more
• there’s a storage room behind this back wall, and the vent work would need to go in there, but that might be Angelo’s office at some point and we don’t want a bunch of vents going through there. So we’ll need to see if there’s another option for venting

Another option that I was considering a few years ago when thinking about fireplaces in our living room was a ventless insert, like a HearthCabinet. But I know those can be pricey too. 

A quick note on other work I want done in this room: I want to replace all five of our old slab doors downstairs AND our sliding door. I’m actually wondering if the sliding door can be replaced with French Doors but I imagine that will be cost/labor intensive. So some of that labor will add up from our contractor. I don’t have a set budget yet but I’m hoping to keep the labor + materials costs for the fireplace, built-ins, and doors under $15k

Here’s a blog post where I share fireplace options for installing a brand new fireplace.

Anyway, vote below or comment to let me know your thoughts! If you’re having trouble with the comment section (I’ve been trying to fix it), send me a message on IG 🙂

Have a good weekend!