Living Room Reno: Before & After

1. After some new craftsman simple moulding,

2.  Removal of seagrass wallpaper (which of course is the thing these days!)

pause:  all of you young girls out there...save everything.  All that stuff in UO these days; the jellies, puffed sleeves, acid-washed leggings...are all things I have done before.  Whatever you are wearing now your daughters will want one day.  Trust me.  You have no idea how many compliments I get wearing my grandmother's clothing--not kidding!

3.  Removal of fireplace insert & increasing hearth's opening size

4.  Removal of carpet & installation of oak hardwoods

5.  Removal of '70s stone and addition of some local Tennessee rumble stacked stone

6.  Addition of red oak mantel (this was a doozie!  took several men more than one day...and loads of rebar)

7.  Addition of tongue & groove on the ceiling & 1x2s on the wall for texture & depth

8.  Addition of fireplace sconces ($5 each....Anisa found them on clearance at Progressive Lighting & I love them like they were $300 each!)

9.  Addition of articulating lights on the ceiling for mantel & recessed for rest of ceiling

10.  Loads of Ben Moore's White Dove semi-gloss...

We have this:

(most photos today are from Brad's photo shoot!  credit:  Crosby-Twiss Photography 

my photo

11.  Installation of my favorite light in the house...this antiqued mirrored number from The Paris Market in Savannah.  Our car was already packed since we were on a trip to Hilton Head, SC.  But Chris saw my face and knew I was gone--it was coming home with us.

tongue & groove

art by Anisa Darnell (bet she'll do one for you, too!  I got the idea from Blueprint Bliss 

More angles of the room:

Room before cut out from kitchen to living room

12.  Cut see-through

13.  Ripped down former railing and added new, custom one:

For this home, we loved everything to be thick & square

14.  Removed doors from entry to LR

15.  Added the interior glass-paned door that leads to bedrooms  (far left of picture above)

16.  Added new fiberglass paned door that leads to the walk-out (we wanted real wood, but they talked us out of it due to massive morphing over time)

no pic of door

more befores:

17.  Removed panelling and chair-rail from room

a shot of "during"....I can't imagine how some of you live through one of these without moving out!  We were so lucky to be able to stay at my kind MIL's lake house.

18.  Added recessed lighting, this birdcage pendant, and a sconce on the stairwell

(note to renovators:  Do as much lighting as possible when the electrician is there and on-the-clock.  If you say, "nah, we'll get to it"...you know how that goes.  Mark "x"s with tape all over the house so they can knock it out.  You can always switch out and change fixtures later, but it is nice to have the holes cut (and sometimes repaired) while the workmen (or ladies!) are there.)

a picture of the stairwell

And I leave you with this image of our picture shelf in the living room & a picture of our youngest.

If you do pray, please say a prayer for little Wyatt for he is getting ear tubes in the moring.  He is also having his 2nd birthday party this weekend, so I'll share some pics of the festivities later.  Thanks again for all your kind words about Dad.  Of course I am really grieving, but it is so nice to have this outlet to think about something else for a while.

Julie