Living Room Re-do

Much like the rest of the house (see Retro Range Redo and Budget Bathroom Remodel) this room was quite a doozy. Perhaps more than anywhere else, it was obvious that this poor little house had served as party central for a number of years.
But, we were able to see the hidden charms and resurrect it. I knew the second I opened the door and saw the archway in the living room, that this little bungalow had a lot of potential.

Welcome!

It was a long time dream of mine to own and fix up a sweet little beach bungalow. Early in our marriage got the opportunity to do just that!
This is another post in the series detailing the changes we made to our first home. Today we'll visit the living room.

New Paint

The walls, ceiling and trim were all were painted a cold drab white. They were filthy and desperately in need of new paint.

Instead of gloom and doom, I wanted something bold and cheery. My friend later called the color I chose "wasabi green". I think it was an accurate description! 

But, I didn't use the green color everywhere. I wanted to highlight the architectural interest provided by the arch, so I painted some walls white. In order for it to work with the bright colors, I used off-the-shelf basic white. It's usually called "ultra pure white". If used alone, this white can look sterile. But when paired with bright vivid colors, it works well. 

Fixing the Floors 

When doing a room rehab it's best to start at the top (literally, the ceiling) and work your way down (to the floors).  So, the next step was fixing the floor. This carpet was relatively new, but it had seen one too many parties. 

"Before"

The poor carpet was covered with beer, burns and bong water. As you ca see, the only clean spot was where the couch must have been! 

Before

We had a "Eureka!" moment when we pulled up a corner of the carpet, and found the original fir floors underneath. They were made of heart wood and original to the house (built in 1928). Hallelujah!  We pulled up the old carpet and got to work!

There were a few places that needed repairing and patching. Also, I pried off all of the old carpet tack strips. 

Then the "real fun" began. Sanding!

Wow, sanding down a wood floor makes SUCH a mess! If you ever do this take everything you can out of the house. You'll be finding sawdust everywhere for months!
You can rent a sander and do this yourself if you want to. There are many great tutorials on how to do this. 

Sanders are large and awkward. Plus it can be tricky to get it just right. Proceed with caution, or hire a professional. 

For the most part the floors were beautiful, but there were a few places that still showed some damage. Because I like the unique aesthetic of dark wood, and because I wanted to hide the flaws I chose the darkest stain I could get.
Everyone though I was crazy, going with the darkest stain I could find. But just I went for it, with no hesitation, and it turned out great! 

We were so pleased with the result. The floors turned out beautiful!

When we were selling this house we had a neat surprise. The day after we accepted an offer, this house was featured on the Today Show! We still don't know how they found us. But is was pretty cool be be selected and featured on a national TV show, even if it was a day too late to help us with the sale!

Here is the link to watch the Today Show Segment. Unfortunately there is a short ad. To see our house you can fast forward to 1min 13 sec.

It was pretty funny to hear Al Roker commenting on my "strong art" (a painting I made in college), and to hear the comments about how there should have been "chunky red cookie jars" in the kitchen... which there were 3 of them, just off camera!

Here are a few more "before and after" shots:

Before

After

Before

After

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up to these great parties:
http://tidymom.net/2014/simple-diy-projects/
http://www.shabbynest.blogspot.com/2014/08/frugal-friday_28.html
http://www.simplysweethome.com/2014/08/friday-favorites-week-232/
http://kitchenfunwithmy3sons.blogspot.com
http://www.bacontimewiththehungryhypo.blogspot.com/2014/08/anything-goes-linky-169-treatment.html
http://www.trulylovelyblog.net/2014/08/fancy-this-fridays-191/
http://thegrantlife.com/life-party-52/
http://www.oneprojectcloser.com/creativity-unleashed-link-party-8/
http://new.inlinkz.com//luwpview.php?id=440719
http://lollyjane.com/creative-collection-group-link-party-15/
http://chiconashoestringdecorating.blogspot.ca/2014/08/flaunt-it-friday-221.html
http://www.thirtyhandmadedays.com/2014/08/party-bunch-week-45/
http://www.dianarambles.com/2014/08/pin-me-linky-party-100.html
http://www.craftberrybush.com/2014/08/the-inspiration-gallery_28.html
http://www.frenchcountrycottage.net/2014/08/feathered-nest-friday_28.html
http://www.notjustahousewife.net/2014/09/september-linky-party-2014.html