Sunday, November 11, 2012

Progress at last

Sometimes during the home renovation process it seems as if we are just spinning our wheels.  It felt like that a lot last week.  For example, not long after I cut a hole in the wall for the refrigerator we bought it stopped working.  We owned it for only three weeks and can't get a hold of the guy who sold it to us.

Sometimes we actually feel like we are making progress.  Thursday we got carpet installed. I got my first look at it today after I got back from our trip to Utah.  I think it looks great.

I especially like how the living room turned out.  When we bought the house it looked like this:
 It has brown walls, writing on the wall, some holes, and dirty, dirty carpet. 
We especially didn't like the sponge-painted wall around the bay window.


Here is how it looks today with carpet.  (Don't look through the kitchen door.  It's a disaster in there right now.)
 My favorite part of the room is the railing.  After trying to paint it while it was attached we changed our mind and took off each post and painted them.  I'm really glad we did it that way - it looks better to see the black hardware instead of painting over the lag bolts.
It was easy to remove the bolts once we had the right tools (1/4" socket adapter and a $35 impact wrench from harbor freight). Thanks to a magic eraser and a lot of work on Christa's part we removed the paint from the bolts that got painted before we changed our minds.  Doesn't the dark hardware look way better than just painting over the bolts?
 We also decided to keep a more rustic look on the beam under the loft.  I like how the cracks are exposed.  We contemplated caulking the cracks before we painted it but I'm glad we didn't.
What's next for this room?  Sand and re-stain the upper beam a darker color and paint the doors for the bedrooms, bathroom, and linen closet.

So what do you think of the living room?  Any suggestions?

6 comments:

  1. I love the white! It really opens up the space. I love the black hardware too. Good call :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are doing such a great job. I can't wait to help you move in!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, it looks so good!! Seriously, you guys are doing such a good job. I love the updates and seeing the transformations. So creative! We miss you guys. Glad you are going to be settled soon!

    ReplyDelete