Formerly the Patio, Now the Family Room Inspiration...

Over the last several months, I have been collecting inspiration photos for a project we have been tossing around.  It started with the realization that our side patio and stairs are in a state of disrepair, as the brick and mortar have taken a beating over our bitter winter months, and unless we want someone breaking their leg, (yikes!) we need to do something to restore ASAP.

What started out as an idea for an outdoor patio re-design quickly morphed into an indoor/outdoor patio idea, and has now evolved into a proposed full-fledged kitchen extension with added family room. Since our long Cleveland winters limit our use of outdoor living spaces, we just decided that we would enjoy having this addition for year-round use.  Additionally, if we ever sell our home down the road, it would allow our current family room to be converted to a bedroom, in case the buyer may want a first floor bedroom.

In terms of design, I am drawn to clean-lined, light-colored, neutral spaces with dark accents, including wood floors and ceiling beams, perhaps a medium colored salvaged wood, large-scaled stone fireplaces, and perhaps oversized (lantern?) or lodge-vibe light fixtures.


The first few photos are for our former idea of renovating our OUTDOOR patio...Some inspiration pics....

All photos obtained from Pinterest, (sources unknown) except a few from Instagram with sources provided....

This space is just heavenly! I would love to cozy up by this fire w a glass of wine!

Love everything about this... the light, neutral color scheme, the stone fireplace, light wood ceiling, (bluestone?) floor!

Love this cozy spot as well!

Very cool outdoor space with arched doorways in stone, a convenient space for grill/cooking and nice dining table/chairs....

Another example of light neutrals with dark accents, the ceiling beams and lantern fixtures....and love the casual wicker furniture!

Such a cool outdoor space, but a little too dark (overall) for my taste...

These next few photos are for INDOOR/OUTDOOR or screened-in type porches.....

LOVE the use of stone for more than just the fireplace, it is used on ALL WALLS, LOVE this!!!

Again, cool use of stone for the walls and vaulted ceiling, but a little too dark overall...

Such an interesting varied-wood ceiling, focal point of this space. Such cool color and texture!
Also love the simple khaki window shades....

How darling is this little screened in porch? And the robins egg blue ceiling? So fun!  A cool black range hood is a fun exclamation point in this light and airy space! ALso, love the way the x-back chair motif repeated in the screened wall/trim.

Originally, I thought this would be such a neat idea for an outdoor patio, to convert to indoor with these movable screens, but with our weather and the ridiculous amount of leaves and debris we get off the lake, not sure how practical....

The following are for completely INDOOR family room spaces that sort of have a cabin/patio vibe...

This might be my favorite inspiration photo for our proposed space...Love the grand stone fireplace, the light color scheme on walls and ceiling, and wood beams to give it a cabin-y feel (though I might prefer a more salvage-wood look)....I tend to lean more traditional for light fixtures, but these transitional/contemporary ones are very fun!

Same space, another angle...

Love everything about this space as well! The big stone fireplace, the vaulted ceilings, salvaged wood beams....

Another great example of light-colored neutral space with darker ceiling beams...Love the large scale lantern light fixtures!

This room is so beautiful, and a more 'elegant' cabin vibe....Love the contrast b/w the white slipcovered sofas and the dark leather chairs, the use of greenery, the patterned window panels, interesting ceiling lines, etc...and that large lantern! Love!

Another great example of light-colored neutral space with darker ceiling beams...Love the large scale lantern light fixtures, but I prefer square or rectangle to round shape...

I have seen this type of wall used for cabin-style spaces, and I LOVE it!! But, not sure if this would be practical or economical for our space.  Also, I prefer to blend our kitchen walls into the attached family room space, and having a different wall material may chop it up too much....

And since our project will now impact our kitchen, the below photos have kitchen/dining spaces as well...

Love this space so much!! The pale neutral color scheme, the interesting ceiling w beams, greenery, and even the indigo runner....this would all fit right into our home!  The black window trim (which I love) seems to be very on trend at the moment, but again, I am concerned about it blending in w the rest of our house....

LOVE this kitchen! The light color scheme, that heavenly range hood trimmed in (hammered? or studded?) brass, the cool lantern pendants, salvaged wood beams...Interesting brick backsplash...This might be my fav example of the type and color wood beams I love!