Living Room Progress

I know that it has been a long time since we'd had any updates, but the end of the year was busy. We have been making a bit of progress on the house, but it has definitely slowed down due to the holidays.
It is time to show our progress on the living room area. We are almost finished with this space -- only a few more things on our checklist: our bookcases and finishing the stairs.

BEFORE:


NOW



Yep, that's the same angle. What a difference to open up the stairwell. The natural light is my favorite thing.

We created a reading nook with a small game/library table in front of the bay window next to the kitchen. This used to be the old dining room, but we decided to switch up the layout a bit and make this whole space a living area. So far, it has been working well for us. The chaise is my favorite space to curl up and read a good book. It also has a great view of the backyard, so I can see the kids playing out there.

In the main living area, we are finished except we are planning to build bookcases that reach the ceiling for a home library. We've gone back and forth on whether on not to have a TV up here, but ultimately, we've decided against it because we'll have a large one in the basement with a sectional. Eventually. 

The bookcases will hopefully look something like this:

I did a large gallery arrangement on the wall opposite the bookcase so it would balance out the height and visual weight of the bookcases.

Because we sold most of our furniture to the family who bought our last house, I was lucky enough to start pretty much from scratch in here. Although, almost every piece in both living areas are vintage/second hand finds. The only piece of furniture we purchased new was the sofa. I did this mostly for budget reasons, but also I didn't want everything to feel too new. I wanted to have some character. The blue chairs I found for $50 FOR THE PAIR at an estate sale. This wingback is vintage Ethan Allen from about 1960. It definitely has been well-loved and the leather is very worn on the seat and ottoman. This is Luke's spot when he hangs out in this room.

Here is another look at our railings. Because the stairwell is pretty much in the middle of the house, I knew the railings would be a feature. I drew out a design that I wanted and finally found a welder guy that agreed to build this railing for the price of building our own railings. I told Luke to hurry up and pay our deposit before he changed his mind! I think he may have underestimated the complexity of the design when he took it on and I'm sure he was cursing us a little throughout the process...but in the end, it turned out exactly as I imagined. 

We still need to get the wood handrail installed on top. It will be a very simple, contemporary stained wood piece to match the floors.

On the far wall, I designed oversized book pages of some of our favorite book quotes and passages. It was an easy/cheap project and has been one of my favorites. 

We're feeling so happy to finally have our house mostly put back together. It was a construction zone for a LONG time. We just have a couple of things to finish in the kitchen and we're hoping to have that completely finished in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned.

Pantry Reveal

One of the best things we changed during this renovation was removing a small half bathroom and coat closet by the foyer and kitchen and converting it to a pantry. There is another bathroom around the corner from the foyer, so the powder room was not necessary -- a pantry was.

This is what we started with:

Beginning the demo:

Framed up. You can see to the far right where we removed the coat closet to make the foyer larger:

And now our already hard-working pantry:

I added mirrored doors for two reasons: 1) Privacy. I don't want a clear view into the pantry all the time. 2) Reflection of light. Directly across from these doors are our patio french doors, so it was the perfect opportunity to double the light in the room.

 I am realistic enough to realize that the pantry will probably never look this good again, but I guess I'll enjoy it while I can... ;)

Foyer

Our foyer/entry is also pretty much finished. It isn't even worth showing you the before picture, because it was just a big blank wall when you first walked in the door. It definitely was not the selling point of the home when we first toured it. It actually was kind of jarring. So, while we couldn't remove this wall (pretty much the only one we didn't remove), I decided to make it a feature wall. ("If you can't beat 'em, join 'em".) 

Luke and I added picture moulding to add dimension and painted the entire wall a dark charcoal gray to add a little drama and help the wall recede somewhat. My giant mirror that I've had since our first house and that every time we move I expect to find cracked in the box, survived and makes this space feel a bit larger.

Because this space is narrow, I decided instead of a console table, I would do a narrow shelf under the mirror. I made this using a common pine board from Home Depot that I put a "faux live edge" on the front and distressed and stained it.

 I found this vintage coat hanger and fell in love. It is unexpected and perfectly functional. I have noticed in the past that whenever we have a coat closet in the entry, no one uses it. The coats and shoes just get piled by the door anyway. So, with the coat hanger and bench in plain sight, I hope it will be an invitation for our guests to use it.

Luke has jokingly named them "Elmer and Gluestick". 

Another thing that helped this tight space feel a little bit more inviting was the lighting. We added 4 extra lights: 2 sconces and 2 pendant lights. It has made ALL the difference. 

This room was a challenge at first, but now it is one of my favorite little spots.

Living Room and Kitchen progress photos coming soon!

Dining Room 99% Done

FINALLY, we can almost say we have a room done. Almost one year exactly from when we first began construction on this house. If someone had told me it would take an entire year...I'm not sure I would have signed up for this. BUT, being on THIS side of it now, I guess it has been worth it. ;)

Our dining room is finished except I'm waiting on a piece of art from my uncle (a watercolor artist) to finish it off.

We are loving the fact that we have a place to eat upstairs again. There are a lot of things I took for granted, and that is one of them. No more. At least not for a while. Cooking upstairs and then packing all the food, dishes, glasses, etc. downstairs each meal got old really quickly. And the clean-up? Even worse. So, now that the dining room is right next to the kitchen, it is heaven.

We finally have had cool enough weather that Luke was willing to go up in the attic to install a junction box for the chandelier. I LOVE the chandelier. Thanks, Mom.
My sister helped me install the wallpaper a few weeks ago and I'm so pleased with it. The color is great, but what I love most about it is the texture. Anyone who comes over has to touch it because it is so interesting. It added the layer of coziness I was after.

The table finally went on sale for 20% off and I had an extra 10% coupon, so we pulled the trigger. No regrets. It is definitely the heaviest table I have ever lifted -- we even had to call a neighbor to help us get it in the house -- so it is not budging. And maybe will stay with the house if we ever move. ;)

The chairs were a Craigslist find a couple of years ago that I sprayed white and reupholstered in a gray "pleather" because let's face it, fabric wouldn't last a week with a 5 year old and 2 year old. So far they have held up great.

Dining Room Built-ins

Our Dining Room has seen some great progress in the last few weeks. We finally got our built-ins completely done.
As a reminder, here's what we started with:

Gotta love that green carpet!

After (a whole lotta work...) ;)

Here's a breakdown of what we did:

* New floors (obviously)

* Whitewashed the brick -- There are a million tutorials online for how to do this. I ended up doing two light coats of watered down white latex paint because the orange brick color was still pretty strong after the first coat was done.

* Removed about 80% of the trim on the existing bookcases. -- Most of it wasn't the style we were going for, especially the fluted trim. It was a little too fancy, so I wanted to make it just a little bit  simpler.

* Installed mirrors in the back of the bookcases. -- When we decided to make this room the dining room instead of a formal living room, I thought it would be fun to make these existing bookcases have a "china cabinet" or "hutch" feel to them. The mirrors help create that look. It also helps brighten this room up quite a bit because it is the only room on the main floor that doesn't have a bunch of windows.

* Stained shelves and top of the cabinet. -- I wanted to warm up this wall a bit with some stained wood, otherwise I was afraid it would end up way too white. I really like the contrast and it helps the dishes and things stand out a lot more than if it were all white.

* New trim and several coats of paint. -- We installed the new trim and gave everything but the shelves a nice bright coat of white.

* Unpacked some of the boxes that have been waiting to be opened for over a year so I could style these new shelves. :)

I am pretty fickle when it comes to styling, so next week it will probably look completely different, but for now it was nice to have some fun playing around with some different looks.

So, the Dining Room is ALMOST finished. But we have a few things left to do.

* Baseboards. You probably noticed we're lacking these. This is the case everywhere, so this is towards the top of the list right now.

* Add electrical box for chandelier. I have a chandelier my mom gave me for Christmas last year that is just waiting to get installed. Can't wait to see it!

* Decorative elements:

I put together a little design board of my plan

* Wallpaper: I'm planning to install this pinstripe wallpaper on the walls to give the dining room a cozy feel and a some subtle texture. 

*Lighting: The chandelier is the aforementioned one that has sat in a box for 8 months. 

*Chairs: The chairs pictured here are similar to ones that I already have. I picked up some vintage ones for a steal on Craigslist a couple of years ago and I painted them white and reupholstered the seats. 

* Table: The table is the only thing we don't have yet. This one is what I have in mind. I found one very similar to this at a local furniture outlet store, so I think that is what we'll do. I've got to save up for it first. :)

So. That is our dining room. We're getting close.

Progress

Summer has hit and our lives have gotten busy -- which means that progress on the house has not been a quick as we'd like.
But, we've been working hard on our floors and we're getting close to finishing the main area. We'll still have to install them in the pantry, hallway and on the stairs, but the majority of the first floor will be finished. Again, another whew!
Luke's parents have been in town this weekend/week, and they've been a huge help. We got all the shelves installed in the pantry  --

We still have a few things to finish before I can actually start using it -- finish trim on the shelves, install a cabinet below the bottom shelf, floors and of course, install the doors -- but, it is turning out pretty much as I imagined. It is much-needed storage, so I'm antsy to get it finished asap!

Luke's parents have also been working extremely hard on getting our backyard shaped up. It has been neglected for years, so the work involved was pretty overwhelming. Especially considering the mess we've been making inside. :) But, they've helped us clear out all the weeds, unwanted plants and even helped us level out a huge part of the backyard that we wanted to turn into more grass for the kids. Tonight we seeded it and now we just start praying that it grows...

Hopefully I'll have some "after" pictures soon of the yard, but mostly of the inside. We've got quite a long list of things that have to be done before we can say it is "finished" but we're getting there. My goal is to be done by Seth and Luke's birthdays at the end of August. But, we'll see. I always under-estimate how long a project is going to take...

Ceiling Finished!

After months of working on our ceiling, it is finally done. Whew! Can we get a hallelujah?? We'd better enjoy it in this house because...never again! (famous last words...)

It was probably one of the most time consuming and uncomfortable (neck and back aches for days) projects we've taken on during this whole renovation. BUT, I think worth it. It makes the whole main floor look so much more updated.

I am so excited to get all the lighting installed soon. I've had a chandelier ready for the dining room since Christmas. It has just been sitting in its box, wondering if it will ever get a chance to shine. Soon, I promise.

Our next project is the floors. We started them a few months ago in order to get the stair railings installed, but now we can get them all done. For me, getting the floors installed will be the signal that it is the beginning of the end. Hooray! We're getting close!