Living Room Overhaul

At first this post was titled, "Living Room Makeover". And then I thought back on how our living room looked when we first moved in, and makeover simply didn't seem strong enough. The wooden floors were stained, the trim chewed up by the previous owner's dog, the walls were cracked and painted the worst color of green. Just take a look for yourself...

The hardwood floors looked awful.

Every wall had a crack in it and the window treatments were destroyed.

Not necessarily living room related, but I can't resist that corgi tush.

Prepping for it's overhaul 

Our big bay window (and it gives me the chills seeing all that snow!)

We spent the first month of living here camping out in the basement. While we were down there, Mister & my Dad sanded and stained the living room and two upstairs bedrooms. We settled on a dark dark color to give the spaces upstairs a classy vibe. Now that the Corgi has made the house his own, I'm slightly regretting the dark color. White dog hair kinda clashes with hardwood. 

We then decided that we needed to paint the walls. Walking through the front door and seeing that green was just depressing. I knew that I wanted the showcase shades of blue & darker green in the living room, so I figured that grey would be the best neutral to shlep on the walls. After painting everything upstairs, we lived with a pair of lounge chairs as our sole furniture for another week or so in the living room. My desperate hunt for an emerald velvet couch kept our furniture purchasing in limbo. I finally gave up my search and settled on a sandstone grey furniture. We actually got a great deal from Ashley Furniture on a 6 piece set. Seriously if you're on a budget, this is the place to go. 

Once the furniture was in place we settled on that being enough for the time being. Mister had grad school work up to his eyeballs and I was being the supportive wife and suffering alongside him (i.e. binge watching Gossip Girl on Netflix). Finally when the weather improved and the quarter ended for school, we picked up where we left off and got back to work. Trim was installed, new window treatments hung, and we spent an entire weekend hanging art, pictures, and fun doo dads. Our living space still has a lot of work that needs to be done. Outlets need to be replaced, the tile by our front door needs to be torn out, the front door needs to be replaced, and I know I'm not done decorating. But for now, our little house is starting to feel more & more like a home. Take a peek at our "after" pictures of the overhaul. 

Yay! The piles of snow have been replaced with sunshine and happy green trees!

Long gone are the wooden blinds and in their place are lovely curtains.

Hanging to the right of our TV is a drawing done by one of our favorite people, Aaron. He drew it for a class and was kind enough to give it to me when we were in school.

The gallery wall that I'm obsessed with. I'm already planning on how I'll rearrange things in place for the Holidays! P.S.-the horizontal painting was done by my Great Nana. 

We found this old record player in my Nana & Papa's attic. It is the most loved piece of furniture that there ever was.

The view from the front door. That rug has one corner out the door.

Obviously we need an overhead light or fan in place of that hole in the ceiling, but for now we are loving this space. We spend almost all of our time here so it makes sense that this was the first room that we tackle. Next up is the kitchen! I cannot wait to go hog wild in there!