Room Reveal: Hallway and Living Room

Earlier this summer I was so happy to get rid of these two lists that had been hanging on the fridge since January.  Most of the items regarding home improvement/updates had been completed and what hasn't yet been addressed was consolidated and put onto a new list.  Have I mentioned how much of a list person I am?  I love crossing off the tasks that were completed and get such a feeling of accomplishment when we check off a to-do item.

So, now that we have completed a huge chunk of various home improvement/update assignments, it's time to start revealing some of the before/after photos!  Of course, the house is in a constant state of improvement and the work will probably never really truly be done but I know many of you have been patiently waiting for photos of the house especially our long distance family members who have not been able to come see the house in person just yet.  Let's start with our hallway and living room area.  You can see a little bit of it "live" in the video that is posted in this blog posting if you so desire.  Just scroll down to the bottom of the posting to view the quick video from one of my preliminary visits last October.

Blue carpet, border at the top of the wall that stretched from the hallway all around to the living room, and white walls abounded when we bought the house.  You also can see the kitchen wallpaper to the left of the trim on the left side of the picture.

My cousin, Billy, acted as our informal inspector and chatted with the realtor during one of my initial visits to the house.  At this point, Adam and I were thinking seriously about putting in an offer but wanted to get Billy's opinion first.  He buys and flips houses so was real knowledgeable on the subject!  To the left of the picture, through the doorframe, you will glimpse the braided blue carpet that was in the dining room and kitchen.  Oh, can't forget about the wallpaper that lined the dining room walls too!  You can sneak a peek of it by the built-in desk on the left wall.

 Here are some views once we physically acquired the house in mid January.

The previous owner left behind the lace curtains that helped us out before we switched to a style that better suited us.

 

First things first.  I set to work tearing down the border using a steamer I borrowed from a friend in North Carolina (thanks again Marci!!) one Saturday morning.  Well, this turned into a couple day project that used up two weekends.  Who knew removing border would be so tedious?!

Halfway through the living room of border removal is done!  I didn't bother cleaning the paper that had fallen to the ground because a.)  we didn't have a vacuum, b.)  the blue carpet was being replaced very soon, and c.) every second counted because we had no lamps and no overhead lighting in the living room so could only work during daylight hours.

You can see in this picture that the previous owner must have at one point had some sort of overhead light fixture that she removed and had covered up...I joke that we should paint this area like a globe and say we have the world on our ceiling.  ; )

Once the paper border was off, came the fun task of removing the gum/glue.  So essentially this was a two-part process which is why it took two weekends for me to complete as I had already returned to work by the time I started this first task of home improvement updates.

 

 

We chose to paint the hallway and one wall (our accent wall) in the living room the same neutral color of Valspar's Cincinnatian Hotel Nichols Taupe.

 

Here is our new carpet!  We opted to go with Mareno Vally III's Ponytail color.  Out with the blue and in with the more neutral brown.  We love the thickness and plushness of the carpet (we made sure to get the kid and dog-friendly kind) but the only criticism I have for the company who installed it is that they didn't clean up their mess!  If you look closely, you'll see the little lines of fabric that reminded me of worms all over the carpet.  The entire house was left like that as we had this carpet installed both downstairs and upstairs.  When I called the store to see if we could borrow their vacuum cleaner to clean up the leftover fabric, they said they didn't have one.  Hmm....!  Thank goodness for neighbors and housemates who let us borrow their two vacuums as we worked to clean up the mess.

The goal was to get the painting done before the new carpet was installed but I ran out of time due to the border removal taking longer than anticipated.

We opted to paint the remaining three walls of the living room a crisp white (Swiss Coffee from Valspar) to brighten up the already existing white from the previous owner.  I was also thankful when Adam's furniture was delivered as we were able to have light in the living room thanks to his lamps!  What is neat about the furniture is that it is all office furniture disguised as living room furniture.  One of the things I love to do when people visit the house for the first time is to show them the "office" furniture.  Can you guess which of these pieces contains filing cabinets?  Also, don't you just love the muttons in the windows?!  They remind me of the fairy tales and Hansel and Gretel's house.  :)

Thankfully, with a family member, Susie's, help, the painting sped up a bit with the two of us working on painting the hallway and the living room together. 

Here is the completed accent wall.  You can see the dining room entryway on the left and the kitchen entryway on the right as well as the blue braided carpet in all its glory.

Here is a picture of the living room set up from the previous owner followed by how Adam and I changed it using his furniture from California and eventually new curtains that were a treat for my birthday in late February.

This picture really showcases the accent wall and the contrast against the white wall on the left and also little Dusty Shamrock peeking from the other side of the table (just beyond the water bottle) as I did some grading last semester.

The living room slowly coming together....

This was taken right before my birthday in February when my twin, his wife, and their two boys had come to visit us!  They were the first overnight guests in the new house sleeping on an air mattress in the basement with the fireplace giving off extra heat. 

After the wedding when I moved in, I placed my slip cover I had used in the house I rented last year over Adam's couch.  I liked this neutral color a bit more than the yellowish-brown his couch is.  I also brought my fake plant over and put it in the corner near Dusty's dog bed.  You also see in this photo the curtains I picked out during my birthday visit to Bed, Bath, and Beyond!  Goodbye lace curtains!!

We picked up the doormat rug from Lowe's and I love how it adds a bit of color to our overall neutral brown living room.

 

Another update we made this summer was to purchase new living room furniture and to retrieve my hutch from storage!  Our couch and chair both recline and are from the Ashley Furniture Design. 

Adam jokes that this room is our "word" room due to all the word pictures and plaques that are hanging in this room.  He joked that our children will learn to read in this room.  Maybe they will!  ;)  Don't you just love the mirror Adam and his Dad created that we have hanging on our short wall?

 

So that's the conclusion of our living room and hallway reveal!  We have a couple pictures and a frame of our wedding invitation hanging up in the hallway but I neglected to get photos of that portion of the hallway makeover.  Guess you will just have to come visit and see those in person someday!  =)