Living Room Update

Some of my friends have been begging me to recreate the lovely window treatments in the living room for their own posh homes and since they didn't convey with the house I thought I'd post another picture for inspiration. And if that's not inspiration enough I'm sure the mantle gnome can whip up something pretty with his magic. Because we all know I'm into magic. Riiiiiight! What I am doing is re-posting the before pics from our heinous inherited living room so you can all be impressed with the after shots. And yes, there is finally an after. I've spent the last week or so sitting in our living room just looking around in amazement at the transformation. Also, we have no window treatments of any kind so if you drive by my house you can actually see me sitting on the couch looking around in awe. It's awesome, I know the neighbors sure think so. On that note, I bought a new robe from Victoria's Secret. It's really comfy and it was cheaper than new window treatments. Okay, here we go.

BEFORE

There really are no words. It's just so "taste specific".

Since my husband requested that I practice learning patience daily, I thought you'd all like to take a lesson with me this morning. So, you'll have to scroll through some DURING pics before you can feast your eyes on the juicy AFTER pictures. Believe me, they're worth it!

DURING

Might I mention again that my insanely talented husband built this mantle and did all of the trim work and paneling around the room himself. Impressed? I know I sure am. I have my eyes on some new furniture for the den/office so if you'd like me to schedule him to do some trim work in your house I'd be happy to negotiate. But remember, expensive furniture, err I mean custom work, doesn't come cheap so you'll have to pay up!

Also, you may have noticed that we not only built up the existing mantle, but, we removed the gas insert to the fireplace to return it to wood burning. We posted it on craigslist but had no takers. It's fairly new and in really good condition. Let me know if anyone wants it. And if you're willing to remove it from my porch you can probably have it for free. Also, by hiding some of the dated brick with trim and building up the mantle we were able to make the whole thing look much more in proportion to the room without having to start from scratch. I think that's called salvage. It's where you work with what you have and don't get to just start from scratch. I'm learning about that too.

Also, Mom-these are the fabulous chairs I told you about! As for the rest of you-they were a smart online find and since I don't give away all my secrets you'll have to email me if you want details!

Well now, that seems like enough of a lesson with the patience for one day...

AFTER

In case anyone is wondering, the trim color is Designer White and it came from Sherwin Williams. We used a semi-gloss. My mother in law advised us that this is the best white for trim work because it's a really clean, but soft, white. Anyone who's tried to pick out white paint on their own knows that there are about a thousand different whites and it's really hard to know which one will work best. We wanted something crisp and fresh, but, not sterile or builder white. I think we achieved that look.

And now, here's a quick recap for those of you with ADD or for you lovelies who actually read my entire post and therefore have already forgotten what the before looked like. Or for the lazy. You know who you are.

BEFORE

AFTERI am truly amazed!