Bento Box Bits of everything

Model home

I took some pictures of the model home in my division. The floor plan is different, but my home will be similar to this construction. One of the main things I am trying to focus on right now is what kind of look I want to go for and what colors to use on the walls. I'm a bit lost because I have no idea how rich my hardwood floors and cabinets will be, which could affect my future color decisions. Looking at the model home helped me picture what my house could look like.

Right now I am leaning toward a more modern style in a neutral or cooler color palette. However my flooring and cabinets will be Jatoba which has a heavy red/brown color. I haven't seen any "modern" looking rooms in any magazines that have those kinds of colors in it. Most pictures of modern rooms all seem to have white walls - almost minimalistic. It's difficult for me to imagine how a room looks in a color before painting it.

The model home here seems to be decorating in what I would call traditional/contemporary - nothing too fancy; but it looks very mature and comfortable. That's probably the goal of whoever staged the house...make it as warm and inviting as possible - appeal to everyone. The main areas were painted in warm colors and one of the bedrooms was painted a bold color. The powder room was a chocolate brown which was very cool. The art in the bathroom matched the wall color very well. I definitely want to do something bold in the powder room, since that is a room meant to impress.

Every time I read about design and decorating in a book or magazine I come away with snippets of ideas but I still have no idea how to put them all together. I have a much greater respect for interior designers and decorators now. To be able to have a complete vision of how a room is supposed to look - and then to make it happen is amazing.

Bonus room fun

Another fun project I am faced with is how to decorate and furnish the bonus room. I intend to turn this into a home theater room which is why I am having one wall pre-wired for a flat panel television. This entails placing a power outlet and net-tv jack in the middle of the wall. The room is relatively small - I think only 12x11. I won't have much space to put things besides a 7' rustic brown leather couch my brother is graciously giving me.

Besides the general tv-choosing dilemma, I am confounded by how to add surround sound to the room without making the speakers an eyesore. I've been to other people's homes and have seen horrendous looking surround sound set-ups where the speaker wire is run sloppily along the wall and even UP the wall (for the rears). The whole idea my flat panel pre-wire was for the installation to be as clean as possible, I even have a conduit run inside the wall so the video cables will be hidden and routed to a corner of the room for the components.

At first I was considering getting a Yamaha YSP which is a flat bar that mounts under the tv and simulates surround sound by bouncing sound off the walls. The more I researched Yamaha YSP, the more I learned that this set up would only be ideal if the seating were offset from the backwall a couple feet - I don't have the space for this so I am looking into alternatives.

Another solution would be the traditional 5.1 set up and either find front speakers that can be mounted or good looking floor standing speakers that don't take up much space. I don't want to deal with routing speaker wire into existing drywall so I think I will continue looking into floor standing speakers. I found this LG LHT799 flat home theatre system which looks sleek and appears to take less space than bookshelf speakers.

Besides the gadget choices, one thing I will surely do is paint the room. Probably a traditional home theatre color like dark grey or dark red. On the wall behind the couch I'm considering doing an eggshell-type sheen to dress it up a little. And then add some decorative splash like a wall decal. Possibly something from Apple Pie Design like these branches in the top right of this picture. Of course, this is all just day-dreaming and wishful thinking because I have no idea how much I will have left over for decorating and tech toys after purchasing the necessities like a refrigerator and washer/dryer.

Here's a gorgeous set up - although I not a fan of media furniture such as this, the open environment and the cleanliness and decor makes everything fit perfectly.