Monday, June 27, 2011

Before and After Living Room Reveal

 We have been busy. When you buy an old house (1970's) and most of the house is still chilling in the 70's it takes a lot of work to bring it up to today. Lucky for my husband and I we were searching for a 70's mod house, it's right up our style. However the 70's were also plagued with a lot of not so great stuff, and the previous home owners had some "lovely" decor. Most of which had to go. I wish I had pictures from before we moved in even but the before pictures are really just our stuff moved in but nothing else had been done and nothing has been removed. 
 Now I am not an expert by any means, nor do I think I am a decorating queen but my husband and I know what we like. So I thought I would offer a few tips we use when decorating incase it might help you. 
Consider both of your styles when decorating a room.
My husband leans towards traditional looks and styles
I gravitate towards contemporary modern styles
Together we agree on clutter free living, clean lines, and pops of color
We tend to work together when decorating a room as in he helps with the heavy lifting and painting high on the ladder (I don't do ladders) and I help to make sure both of our styles are represented in the room and then we tend to help edit each other. 
 The before of the living room had a very traditional paint choice with the tan walls, and while it was obviously not horrible, it didn't represent both of us very well, it also made our very traditional sofas look more dated, as well as the fire place.
 The new icy blue paint (Valspar gray opal) not only brightened up the whole room but it made the whole room have a cooler and more contemporary feel. The dark wood shelves and cabinet (all from Ikea shelves here cabinet here) also help to make the whole room feel more current.
 As you can see before, even with all the natural light coming in from the window (although the blinds and drapes don't help it flow like it should) the room seems dark and dingy. 
 After it's light and bright, something both the husband and I agreed on there :) The rocket painting was painted by a friend of ours who was an art major in college. He did a whole portfolio from his "rocket era" and we just feel in love, we have been moving this extraordinarily large painting with us ever since always buying a house that had a place we could showcase it. 
 Ah the curtains. These were window treatments for the memory books for sure. In this picture the padded boards were already removed but you did read that right, there were padded boards glued to the window frame. Yes people padded and glued... Ripping them down felt so good. The blinds? They were copper colored aluminum, and they were broken. Lastly the icing on the delicious dated window cake, the swag. Floral and lovely. The hubs and I could both agree that all of it had to go.
 After striping it all down, filling holes, sanding to repair, and washing the filthy windows, even I am amazed that they are the same windows. Some drapery is in the works and will likely be up by the end of the week but for now we are enjoying some bare windows in all their glory.
 Lastly I thought I would show you a better picture of the "details" before. Like the sweet swag. Pretty awesome floral lined with pink, and the sweet aluminum blinds.
The details from after are of all the pops of color from around the room. 
Top Left: A set of Swedish bowls that I inherited from my great (great great) aunties. They are metal with bright enamel paint in the inside indestructible for kids and lovely eye candy for myself. 
Top Right: Vases from this project filled with some roses from the front yard, and of course they are placed right next to a little vase of fake flowers cause that's how I roll.
Bottom: A close up of the rockets in the painting. 

Well that's the living room makeover that took a pretty large chunk of our weekend, but we packed in a ton of other projects that I will share with you coming up. Also more sewing projects since it is finally hot hot hot, and my kids are running low on summer essentials...

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