Living Room – After

Are you ready for some pictures of our new living room? Progress on this room felt excruciating slow, but the truth is, there was so much to do in this space, and we accomplished quite a lot in just a couple of months. For reference, here is the before picture:

My chief complaints were that the room was very dark and it smelled bad. Even when the day was sunny outside, the living room stayed depressingly dark due to the green woodwork, our terrible furniture and the worn out wallpaper. The room also smelled like musty dampness and fireplace soot due to the old rug and the odors that had seeped into the wallpaper over the past 70 years. (Yes, we estimated that the wallpaper had been on the wall for that long!)

So, the first step was to remove the two layers of wallpaper in this room. It could have been far worse for a 125 year old home. I have read many stories about owners finding 4-6 layers of wallpaper in their old homes.

Next, we had to deal with a broken window pane, wall repair and a ceiling cave-in:

We ordered our new furniture and pillows in April. They all arrived by the middle of June, but we were still working hard on prep and painting, so everything stayed wrapped up in the foyer. The prep and painting, which we expected would take days, actually took weeks. I did not keep track of the hours we spent painting this room, but I would guess it took about 72 hours to complete. I spent several long, solo days painting, and Andy did the same while I was gone on vacation.

The room still needs a lot of details. The photos I am sharing are pretty tight shots that focus on what we have done vs. the whole space. At this point, we are re-grouping financially, and the rest of the room will come together over time.

Here is the master to do list for the living room project:

1. Remove paint from the window hardware – DONE
2. Get new furniture and rugs – DONE (Tables and lamps will be added in the future.)
3. Fix window pane and replace broken sash cords on several windows – DONE
4. Remove Wallpaper – DONE
5. Repair wall cracks and gouges – DONE
6. Clean the fireplace brick – DONE
7. Clean the windows – DONE
8. Paint all the woodwork – DONE
9. Fix and paint the alcove ceiling after the cave-in – DONE
10. Sew a cushion for the dance bench (in the alcove)
11. Buy a coffee table and end tables
12. Curtains and/or window treatments
13. Fill out the room with accessories

With that little recap out of the way, it is time for the reveal.

The wall color is Palladian Blue by Benjamin Moore. We jokingly refer to the color as NOT green. I will go to my grave swearing it is blue, but if you think it looks green we will get along just fine as long as you keep that to yourself.

The fireplace bricks cleaned up pretty well. I still need to clean the inside of the fireplace and deal with the fire screen, but the exterior looks much better.

The furniture, rug and pillow covers all came from Pottery Barn.

I picked up the throw at Marshall’s.

The mantle is my favorite right now. I took that poppy photo right outside our house in California. I wish it was a little bigger, but I love the contrast of the orange with the wall color. The glass bottles and clock came from Marshall’s.

The plan is to fill in the rest of the room over time. You’ll notice the lack of tables and the book shelves are completely empty. We are going to shop more locally for those items. We want some unique things to add interest to the room, and we are waiting to find just the right pieces to fill the space.

The living room is the largest room in the entire house. To date, it has been our most time-consuming project, but it has also made the greatest impact. The room looks fresh and smells good too. We are on our way towards completing our goal of creating a relaxing and comfortable house.