Living Room Makeover - Completed!

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Okay, here are the promised before and after shots of our recent remodel...

First, a caveat - I accidentally deleted my ENTIRE file of Before shots when I was organizing my photos recently. These lost photos showed the room with all of the furniture in place, pictures on the walls, etc. But, I do have a few that survived in a different folder, and a few scattered about from different events or posts. So, those will have to do.

Here is a quick look at 3 of the 4 sides of the room, so you can get a glimpse of the updated room.

And, here's a view of the Before and After, including the details of the changes we made in each shot.

BEFORE: ......................AFTER:

To make this fabulous transformation, we:

• Got rid of that busy wallpaper, varnish and all.
• Then, we used our lovely new green paint on the walls (it's a Ralph Lauren color, but the paint can only features the color formula and not the name, so I don't know what it's called).
• Painted the trim Vermont Cream, and the ceiling bright white instead of the old dingy beige.
• Got rid of the busy silver mirror and substituted a sleek off-white one with beveled edges (gotta love Home Goods).
• Put in all new white ceramic switch plates and outlet covers, and got rid of the 1960s dingy ones.
• Re-arranged the ENTIRE room layout, so all furniture is now in a new spot, including the leopard chair.
  
  BEFORE: ..................................AFTER:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

This wall is probably the most dramatically different. For this transformation, we:

• Moved the sofa to the opposite wall, so it's now under the big picture window which is across the room from where the sofa is in the above photo.
• Moved the very large entertainment center out of it's dark corner next to the big picture window, and centered it on this large wall, where it seems MUCH less bulky and imposing.
• Pulled two bookcases from another room and flanked the wood cabinet with them.
• Brought our favorite books from another room for the shelves, along with the photos that were scattered about the living room, and a basket from one of the bedrooms.
• Found two fabulous abstract prints (Home Goods) that were a great color match, and also brought in the theme of movies...now we just need an Oscar statuette for one of the shelves!
• Found a fantastic faux movie camera (Home Goods) for the top of the right-hand shelf.
• Bought very inexpensive mood lighting at Home Depot - one lamp for each shelf - lots of symmetry going on here!

Isn't is an amazing difference!!!

BEFORE: ..................................AFTER:

This corner also shows the marked difference in the look and feel of the room. What was once so busy and fussy is now calm, orderly and serene. To me, this hardly looks like the same house.

We're donating the huge couch and chair to a single mom who really needs them, and are waiting for the delivery of two brown loveseats that we found on huge clearance. We're also donating the huge and heavy glass and brass coffee table and will purchase some type of wood side tables and coffee table once the remodeling coffers refill! And, she'll also get the fussy tasseled lamps, but we're keeping the vase of curly willow, which is now moved to the next corner of the room near the picture window. Once the loveseats come in, I'll post a before and after of the window side of the room (I also have to figure out what's going on those windows - right now, we're curtain-less and living in a fish bowl!).

Overall, we're just so pleased with our new room and love spending time in it. It was well worth all of the hard work.
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Living Room Makeover - Ceiling Painting

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I don't know about you, but the ceiling is one of my least favorite steps in a remodeling project. It's just so hard to reach and always requires lots of bending backwards and uncomfortable reaches. So, it gives me great pleasure to be able to say - the living room celing is DONE!

Here was today's project list:

• First, of course, came the TSP, which serves as a cleaner and deglosser. I used the long-handled mop to make the job easier!
• Then, it was rinsed well with plain water to remove all the TSP, again using the mop.
• Then, time to "cut in" the white paint all around the perimeter with a 3" brush...this was a good leg and arm workout going up and down the ladder and moving the ladder around the room.
• Next, I screwed the broom handle into the paint roller, and put on the first coat of paint.
• After a few hours for drying, it was time to "cut in" all the way around again, followed by the second coat.

The end result looks great - what a difference the white makes. For some reason, past owners left all of the ceilings in the house a dingy beige color, and we've been steadily working to eradicate it, room by room. Once the white goes on, it makes such a stark contrast to the beige. The living room ceiling is now sparkly bright and fresh.

Next step will be spackling and priming the walls (nothing like the Easter deadline to make me get this done)...
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Living Room Makeover - Wallpaper Removal

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We've finally decided that now is the time to re-do the living room. We've been wanting to work on it for some time now, but have been dreading the wallpaper removal.

When we bought this house 5 years ago, it was covered with wallpaper and pink things - pink kitchen counter, pink carpeting, pink paint, pink bathroom fixtures. We quickly got rid of most of the pink, but the wallpaper has been a longer process.

First to go was the black, pink and white striped paper in the kitchen and hallway, with floral borders. Then we tackled the peach, black, and aqua flowers and fans in the dining room. Next we dealt with the pink, blue and cream stripes and flowers in the upstairs bath. And, now we've come to the formal stripe in the living room - which someone has VARNISHED!

Many people tell us that they like this paper and don't understand why we want to get rid of it. I think it is pretty, but it just isn't the quiet serene style we're looking for.

Here are the changes we plan to make, in addition to re-doing the walls:

• We are going to have a WHITE ceiling. For some reason, throughout this house, previous owners painted all of the ceilings the same grayish beige as most of the upper walls...not attractive.
• We've already removed the fussy large (8' x 10') area rug that was in the room - we posted it on Craigslist for a while but didn't get any serious takers, so I gave it to my niece who was thrilled. We'll probably replace it with sisal or bamboo.
• We're also going to get rid of the sofa - just too big, heavy, and clunky - and opt for two loveseats instead. Sadly, this will mean no more hide-a-bed sleepovers in the living room for my daughter and her friends.
• We want to trade the glass and brass coffee table for two square Pottery Barn style cherry tables, with lower storage shelves; they're easily re-arranged and can double as seating during large parties.
• We'll trade in our random occassional tables for more square-ish side tables, and trade in the embellished lamps for simpler, sleeker ones.
• The BIG entertainment center will move to a different wall and I think we'll flank it with two bookshelves pulled from another room.
• No more drapes! We'll try Roman shades or wooden blinds (or maybe even shutters?).

So, today was Begin Removing Paper day. Our past wallpaper removal experiences have been pretty straightforward:

1. Put down plastic tarps and absorbent towels/sheets around perimeter.
2. Use the paper tiger to score the wallpaper. (My daughter thinks it's called that because of the growling sound it makes as it's rotated across the paper; I think it's called that because of the "claw marks" it makes in the paper.)
3. Dampen the paper with a mix of warm water and wallpaper remover ("Chomp").
4. Peel off the decorative top layer.
5. Re-wet the remaining inner layer.
6. Pull off inner layer and rinse glue off walls.

Well, today didn't quite go this way. The varnish really threw a wrench in the works. We followed the same steps, but found that the top layer just didn't want to come off. Instead, it was painstaking hours of nudging strips off with a putty knife, re-wetting the paper, scraping, etc.

Tonight, two walls are done, and two to go. We'll keep you posted!
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