Today I want to show you what we did to renovate our living room.
Here’s what the room looked like when we bought our place. Again, drywall and hideous acoustical ceiling tiles.
Sorry to be so repetitive. I know you’ve seen this all before.
Such a bland, blah room.
Funnily enough: these two photos look so generic, even I had to look at them for a few seconds to get my bearings. The doorway you see to the left above leads to our office; the doorway you see to the right below leads to our dogtrot.
Like every other room in the house (just about), we demo’d the drywall and the acoustical ceiling.
Then we moved in and enjoyed the living room while we focused on much more pressing, involved projects, like our kitchen.
Eventually, we repaired the boards that were littered with round hockey puck holes, just like we did in our bedroom.
Oh, and the first year we lived here? Our heating situation was poor at best — our HVAC units were old and ran on butane which cost a fortune. Seriously. 30 days of heat was about $500.
I’m way too cheap to put up with that.
So, we survived the first cold winter using electric space heaters, plus we moved the ventless gas fireplace from the dogtrot to the living room.
(That fireplace died last winter, and we couldn’t find a replacement insert small enough to fit the custom mantel so we said “bye bye” to it recently. We are forever grateful to it for saving us from freezing to death.)
Mark also used an old photo to design an entertainment center.
It’s quite big. A smaller, shorter entertainment center would have looked too dinky with our living room’s 14 foot ceilings.
(The design was based in large part on the entertainment center we built in our home in Austin. See?)
Our entertainment center is the grandaddy of this one.
Months later, we hired our friend Bill to help us build the custom cabinetry. This work was done about a year ago.
We eventually installed doors and build window boxes under the two windows.
A few months ago, we finally got around to painting it … or at least got a good start on it. After painting the bookshelves in the dogtrot, I dreaded painting the living room shelves!
I just could not get motivated.
It took about two seconds to talk me into (briefly) abandoning that project to focus on painting the walls.
We wanted a light color because the room always felt so dark because of the natural wood walls. We also wanted a color that would coordinate well with our unique living room ceiling.
“Unique” because our ceiling is two colors — natural wood and a gorgeous country blue. I don’t know when or why or how, but that’s the way it is, and I kind of like it.
We chose Sherwin Williams’ Aloof Gray based on two old boards we salvaged.
We got to work priming the walls.
Anyway, eventually, the entertainment center did get painted. I also stained the wood windows, like I did in our bedroom.
After all the painting was done, we started decorating.
Here’s a sneak peek.
Sorry to show you just one photo, and a pretty poor one at that. But, I did promise a short post.
The reveal is next!
In an old house like this – if you peel off the drywall – I was wondering if that means insulation is added on the outside of the house or maybe drywall doesn’t really help that much? You are both very capable and talented at what you take on!
Drywall provides a minimal level of insulation (from drafts, for example), but it’s not rated as an insulation product. We spray-foam insulated our home when we replaced the siding and windows. I’m writing that blog post now and should publish it in the next week or so.
Looks great! love the play by play….and can’t wait to see the whole room!! I need you guys to come help me with my built in project…..
Kim I always look forward to your posts. So fun to see the rapid finish in photos! Don’t we wish it were so in real life! I still have some painting yet to finish, along with some trim! Then finding the right before photos sometimes isn’t easy either! Can’t wait for your reveal.
Kathy, mere words cannot express how I wish the projects could be done in the time it takes to write a post!!!
bookmarked!!, I love your web site!
I laughed at your description of your “before” living room as bland, blah and generic until I realized mine looks just like it! It’s a plain box with high ceilings and windows like yours. Your post has helped me see that I truly need to add the fireplace and built-in cabinets to it that I’ve always wanted because no amount of furniture and decorating alone is going to fix it. I love your entertainment wall. Thanks for the inspiration!
Laurel,
Oh my gosh. I hope I didn’t offend you greatly. I almost deleted that comment for that reason, but decided to leave it in because, I admit, I’m just not a fan of plain drywall. Best of luck to you on your project! I can’t wait to see it … and I will — I’ve subscribed to your blog!
Kim
Thank you, and welcome as a subscriber! But no, no, no… I’ve known my living room is a plain Jane for awhile now. You’ve saved me from throwing more furniture and rugs at it to make it into something it can’t be without some architectural interest. Your post has given me a valuable “aha” moment and the perfect example to help me decide about investing in a new fireplace. 🙂 It wasn’t offensive in the least!
I’m so happy (and relieved) to hear that, Laurel!
Kim, do you have a shop on Etsy?
Delighted to find your post. As I read more and more of your blog, I realized that you had to be located near Alto. It is truly a small world.
My grandparents grew up in that area, raised their families there and many of my cousins still live in Alto and surrounding communities.
I have been wishing that I had something from that area of East Texas. I understand you do reconstructions. Do you ever sell long leaf pine or architectural salvage? If so, do you sell from your barns or at another location? I am interested in collecting something you have salvaged.
So, it’s January in Texas. My timing is not exactly perfect for long range plans of a junking weekend.
But, please let me know if it’s possible to shop and how to proceed. We could have some more 60-70 degree days this winter.
BTW, I grew up in Henderson, live in a 20’s bungalow in East Dallas with folk art, architectural salvage and antiques.
So nice to “meet you”.
Lynda Collier
Lynda,
A small world indeed!
I do not currently have a shop on Etsy but hope to list items on Etsy and/or an online shop on my blog very soon. (When I get this done, I’ll announce it via the blog and Facebook.) I would love to have you come for a visit this year. We operate from our home location, so our wares are stored in our barns and garage. We do have long leaf pine, some found antiques, and some architectural salvage pieces including some folk art.
Kim