I said I would post pictures as I moved through the renovations in my new old home. Of course, I thought it would move much faster than this and, of course, I thought I would be thrilled with every change and would be itching to show pictures the first chance I got.
Not so fast…..I have had my patience tested as well as my design skills and it has been far from a perfect process. We all make mistakes and there is no such thing as perfection. Even so, I am pretty happy with the way the dining room and living room have turned out thus far (at least for the moment).
This is the living room before: It was set up as dining room.
This is the after:
The first thing we did was have the floors refinished. They are yellow pine floors with lots of imperfections and I love them. Then I painted the fireplace along with the walls to lighten things up. The rest is just furnishings. The biggest challenge here was placement of the TV. Outlets can be an issue in older homes and this was no exception.
The wall I wanted it on had no outlet and since that was only discovered by the cable installer when he was standing in the room, I had to make a decision quickly. After that everything else was planned around the placement of the TV. Probably not the best way to design a room but in this instance it all worked out.
The dining room was more of a challenge because of the size of it. You don’t often hear anyone complain about a room being too big but this is the second time it has happened in a home for me. The dining room is actually larger than the living room and way too big to house just a table and chairs, or even a buffet and sideboard, for that matter.
Instead of centering the table I pushed it to the wall in front of the windows, thus creating a path for traffic to flow through the adjoining rooms more efficiently. Then it was just a matter of filling the space. As luck would have it, a neighbor gave us an old (and a bit musty) piano and it fit perfectly on our one strange diagonal wall. Then I positioned 2 extra chairs in the other corner for balance (one was a Goodwill find for $10!).
Before (not the best before pic).
And after.
And the learning here……..well, patience is a virtue but beyond that, it’s okay to make mistakes, enjoy the process, and don’t rush through. It’s okay to take a breath, stop, and re-assess.
My sister is going through a kitchen re-do right now and her husband (God bless him!) wants to get it all done NOW. There may be no stopping him but taking your time and moving slowly could save you a costly mistake. But breathe easy, anything can be changed and change is good.
