Bonus Room Reveal

Some may call it a bonus room, family room, or game room, but we call it “The Lounge”. What started as a silly joke between friends will always be a memory for us. I promise you had to be there to get it, so for everyone’s sake I’ll leave it at that and share what really matters…

In October, Shane and I decided that it was time to make some improvements to our bonus room. When we purchased our home in February of 2018, we knew that there was room to grow here. After moving from an apartment in Charlotte, we ended up with two rooms to fill. The family room over the garage and the dining room were both empty . Since our main focus of 2018 was saving money, we decided gave ourselves a year before furnishing these rooms.

What We Upgraded

In 2019 we budgeted for travel and upgrading these spaces. What started with me just wanting to get a couch upstairs, turned into Shane building shelves for the bar and a full transformation to follow. The previous owners had left the bar unfinished and it wasn’t a functional space. We added a drink refrigerator, ice maker, and sink to the bar along with the selves that Shane built. The barstools were also left by the previous owners, but everything else we bought new.

Background

For a little background, I was a feature twirler at Baylor University and Shane was a linebacker at University Tennessee Chattanooga. I wanted to give this space a game room vibe without the cheesiness of making it a “man cave”. I thought framing our uniforms gave it a personal and sporty element to the room and I love how they turned out. My goal for this room was to be comfortable and functional. We found the accent chairs and end tables at our local Home Goods, but I linked some similar ones below.

My family also loves ping pong. Growing up, my dad and brothers would play for hours at a time in our garage. We have already had countless time and laughs with ours. Shane also loves to golf and we came across these vintage clubs in a local antique store in West Columbia earlier this year. He built the frame and mounted them which turned out really cool.

It was so fun to see the new bar space all come together. I was so proud of Shane’s skills with the shelves and this project triggered his desire to build our dining room table (post coming soon). He is a bourbon drinker and I prefer tequila or gin. Some of my favorites are Don Julio, 1800, and Hendricks. We buy Meiomi Pinot Noir and Josh Cabernet by the case and keep the wine shelves stocked as well. We have loved creating some fun cocktails with the upgrades and bar accessories from Crate & Barrel.

I am beyond thrilled at how this space turned out for a DIY project. We have already had so much fun upstairs and cannot wait to make more memories in The Lounge!

Bar Accessories

Seating & Lounging Area

Ping Pong, TV Stand & Shadow Boxes

Bar Appliances