While updating our house’s before & after and paint/source pages last week, we realized some photos were already out of date. The upstairs family room is a good example: since we first shared it in July we’ve added a few important pieces. See if you can spot what’s new.
The most noticeable change is the oversized capiz globe light that Sherry has been pinning for years. It’s a well-known Serena & Lily design, and we finally had the right spot for it: a tall, vaulted family room with roughly 10-foot peak ceilings. The globe comes in three sizes — we chose the largest to make a definite statement in this long, open space.
It’s hard to fully convey scale in photos, so we took a few shots before hanging it. One playful photo shows Sherry posing with the globe to give a sense of how substantial it is. Moving the fixture into the room was a bit of an adventure — the stairway is narrow, and it only just squeezed through on its side. We were relieved it fit, because hoisting it over the deck would have been more complicated.
Once it was installed we both stared at it for ages. It’s the only overhead fixture in the room, so it’s useful for lighting, but it also occupies that high visual plane in the 25-foot-long room and serves as a focal point. For the record, this light wasn’t gifted — we bought it ourselves and genuinely love how it anchors the space.
A frequent question is whether someone tall can walk beneath it without bumping their head. I’m 6’0″ and have almost a foot of clearance under the globe, so everyday movement under the fixture is comfortable.
We also filmed a quick, silent walk-through of the room so you can see the layout and flow. Seeing the space in motion helps understand scale and how the additions relate to the rest of the room. If you watch closely, most of the recent changes are on the TV side of the space.
Originally we had the long sofa and a couple of kids’ bean bags in front of it. The sofa is 93″ long without the arms and comfortably seats our family for movie nights, so we didn’t immediately need a lot of extra seating. Still, we wanted options for visitors and something more useful than bean bags as a coffee-table alternative. Bean bags are terrible as footrests and don’t function well as a surface, so we replaced them with upholstered ottomans and added a woven bench for overflow seating.
The woven bench was a HomeGoods find and works well for quick seating. We’ve temporarily draped a sheepskin over it, but plan to make a padded seat cushion with thick foam and a removable fabric cover so it’s more durable and washable. Because the cushion will raise the seat slightly, we’ll likely shorten the legs so the bench height matches the couch more comfortably.
We also plan a larger upgrade to the media storage along the TV wall. The current console has worked okay, especially after adding a lower shelf for game baskets, but we’re designing built-in cabinetry to significantly increase storage. The materials are on backorder, so installation won’t start for a few weeks, but when it’s done we’ll have a much more organized media wall.
On the opposite side of the room we added hanging planters and some art above the kids’ desk. Even with abundant greenery visible through the windows, the interior felt like it wanted more plants to visually connect inside and out. Sherry happily embraced hanging plants, which has expanded her indoor gardening repertoire.
We hung two woven planters from the ceiling and added art behind the desk to make the corner feel intentional and useful for both kids’ activities and home projects. The double desk with storage drawers has been great for remote learning, crafts, and family projects, and the room overall is pulling double duty as a hangout, movie room, reading nook, and fort-making HQ.
This is the largest room in the house, roughly 25 feet long, so we’re trying to make the most of every inch: vertical storage like the wall-mounted bookcase helps keep the floor clear, multifunctional furniture gives flexibility, and the new light and plants give the space personality. We’re still tweaking things, but the room already feels settled and very useful for our daily life.
We’ll also share updates to the big upstairs deck and a privacy solution we’re building between us and the neighboring construction. Stay tuned for those progress posts.
P.S. You can see our full Florida house progress inside our house category for more before-and-after photos and room updates.
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