Leaving the Ivory Tower

It's flashback Friday here at Leaving the Ivory Tower. Today, we're traveling back in time to when we bought our first house. This tiny 900 square foot beach bungalow was the cheapest home in town, and it showed!

The home had been a rental for college students, and had seen her fair share of parties. But, we saw that she had "good bones" and great potential.

It took a little (actually a lot) of TLC, but eventually she shined and was even featured on national TV!

Today we're stepping into the living room for a details about the changes we made there. Join me for a "budget friendly" living room remodel!

Before

Sadly neglected, this foreclosure had seen better days. Carpets were stained, windows were broken, and there was even a crack-pipe laying in the (weed covered) yard.

But, we saw that despite the neglect, she still possessed many of her subtle charms. An archway lead to the dinning room, and thick wood trim still lined the windows.

The carpet was covered with burn marks, beer stains and who knows what else!

Carpet, before

Can you tell where their couch was?!

Living room floor, before

We suspected there might be good things hidden underneath that gross carpet. So, one of the first things we did was pull up a corner of the carpet (it was actually only a few years old!).

Much to our delight, we discovered the original heart Douglass Fir wood floors hidden underneath!

This is often the case in older homes (this one was built in 1928). So if the carpet is in poor condition, like this was, see if you can sneak a peak underneath. It's easy to (inconspicuously) pull up a corner to look.

Original wood floor, before

We knew the wood floors would need refinishing, so I quickly started painting the walls. When "flipping" a room, it's best to work from "top to bottom" (starting with the ceiling). This way I didn't have to worry about dripping paint on the floor, because I knew it would just get sanded off during the refinishing process.

Because I like bold color, and because the style of the home lent itself fun choices, I went for a bright cheerful green for the walls. It was essentially the color of wasabi!

Wasabi Green!

Next, I painted the 4th wall (the one with an open arch leading to other rooms) white. Because I wanted a crisp clean look, I just used the standard out-of-the-can "ultra pure bright white".

Then, it was time to refinish the floors. This was one of the things we splurged on. We brought in a professional. You can rent a sander and do this job yourself. But for DIYer's (like us) I wouldn't recommend it because upright sanders can be tricky to control.

Floor refinishing process

They sanded through old floor, old finish and replaced a few rotten boards. Even though they draped the house in plastic, this still made a HUGE mess. There was a fine layer of sawdust everywhere!

Wet finish on floors

Also, note that the finish they put on the floors has a very strong chemical smell that lingered for a couple of days. We were living there, and I was pregnant, so it was not pleasant. If you can, stay away during this time!

Before

After

To hide some of the flaws that remained, and because I like to look, I chose the darkest stain available.

Then it came time to add furnishings and decor...

Before

After

Because the room was so small, we opted for a red love seat (purchased from a local furniture store) in place of a full sized sofa. Red and green are complementary colors, so this worked well with the vibrant walls. Also, smaller scale apartment sofas, are perfect for small spaces.

We also hid our TV inside of an armoire, and used a storage trunk as a coffee table. In a small house it's important to add storage wherever you can!

Simple sheer white curtains, a dark brown club chair, my own painting and a DIY suitcase table finished off the look.

After

I spray painted an ornate hand-me-down mirror red, and we added some sturdy wood shelves from Ikea.

We played around with how the furniture was arranged, and switched around accents. It was fun to be able to make these small changes.

Overall we were so happy with the end result! Instead of having a a living room that was dreary and depressing, this little house suddenly had one that was bright and cheerful!

Before

After

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. There is a short ad. To see our house featured fast forward to the 1 min 13 second mark.

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!