Living Room Before and After

A couple of weekends ago my dad came over to help me make over our living room. It's not completely finished, as we will be ripping up the carpet within the next couple of weeks and putting down laminate hardwoods, but I'd like to show you how it is looking so far.

This room is small and very dark. The only window is covered by our front porch and the popcorn ceiling, heavy curtains (left by the owner), wood baseboards, and dark cream paint were not helping in the least. I knew I wanted to get rid of the trim and replace it with board and batten wanes coating. Having semi-gloss white 3 feet up the walls would dramatically change the room. And it did.

To get started my dad and I pulled up all the old baseboards.

And then we started measuring. We placed a thicker baseboard down, some 6 inches I believe, and used 4 inch boards for everything else, including framing the door and the window. The window was not previously frames and boy, oh boy did framing it make a difference. All of this was nailed into place where there are studs. By anchoring the baseboard and the plate rail to the studs, you ensure a tight fit that isn't going to pull away from the wall easily.

After we laid it out, we glued and nailed the spacers into place and my mom came over to help me prime the raw wood.

Finally my husband and I gave it all two coats of semi-gloss white paint. The room immediately changed. Quite dramatically actually.

For the top wall, I picked a light pink called Romance. I knew I wanted pink, but I didn't want in your face pink. This is warm and cheery without being over powering. I adore it. I did take the opportunity to paint protective symbols under the pink (in pink of course) before going over it with two coats. A little extra protection can't hurt. I'm sorry I don't have pictures. It was in the middle of the night when I began painting and I couldn't get a good picture. I also apologize for the quality of these pictures. The room is dark no matter what I do, so taking a good picture is difficult.

We modeled this room after a painting our friend Jose gave us some time ago. Its gorgeous, isn't it?

I still have some work to do in this room apart from ripping up the carpet, but it is well on its way. I'll keep you posted when we make some more updates, including recovering that dingy blue chair I bought at Goodwill for $12.

Now you may have noticed that lovely green antique couch. That project will be in an upcoming post. I can't wait to share it with you.

It is coming along! I'm still adding decorative touches, including some more plates to the wall, but I'm very happy with the room so far. What do you think?