A room to dine in.

Hello everyone! I have been back to work for two weeks now and it has left me exhausted and fighting a cold and not even felt much like blogging. I hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving in the good ol US of A and is gearing up for xmas!. 

Now if you love the colour  hunter green and big pink flowers and dark wood trim , I'm sorry, they did nothing for us and you may not want to view this entire post. We lived with it for a while for a few years until we could renovate and our living room and dining room which are divided by beautiful pocket doors were switched back and forth over the years as we tried to figure out which one we preferred.

This room is the formal parlor at the front of the house facing the street and there was an old brass curtain rod over the doorway that would have had heavy drapes to be closed along with the pocket doors for privacy when a guest was being entertained.

On our actual move in day 9 years ago, my honey and his son taking a little rest and admiring our beautiful fireplace while watching a little tv. After living in a basement apartment this was heaven to us.

Now as you can see much has changed.  A couple of years ago it was brought into this century.  My honey had to carefully remove all the trim , completely gut the room, correct structural issues in the walls and ceiling, and sand the original floors, reinstall the trim and add crown moulding.  The entire main floor except the kitchen had carpet as well but we removed that long before this reno.

A before shot looking into the front hall 

and a much fresher look

The fireplace was enjoyed by our girl Kayla who wasn't bothered by the wallpaper at all.

A shot of when we used it as the living room

The pocket doors are just stunning and we haven't painted them. They are faux grained to look just like quartersawn oak and are in very good shape.

I just love the amber coloured glass in both this window and the one over the fireplace and there is another in our front hall.  I had a shabby chic love way back then as well as limited furniture so I did the best I could to offset the green somehow which I  don't really think it worked, actually not to sure what would have.

Another shot of as a living room. This room is about 12 x 12 and the fireplace seemed too large for it. It was very cozy but  since we spend a lot of time in our living room we decided to make this the dining room as it is the smaller of the two spaces  and our furniture fits much better in the other room (which still needs an overhaul).



So now here are the proud additions my honey did this weekend! His brother Mark came down to give him a hand.
I am beyond thrilled with these face framed built-ins he has built for us. I think he did a bang up job. He still needs one more shelf on the bottom and there will be double doors going on the bottom larger section with just one open shelf above and they will get a coat of white paint to match the fireplace.  I designed it with the four open cubbies on the far left side which will stay open and are there because strangely enough the window and fireplace are not centered in the wall.



There is so much I want to do still with this room as our budget allows and yet I'm am so thrilled with how it has changed from the original room. I can't wait to decorate. I am going to see if mom will paint me a couple of modern beachy canvas's to sit on top. My honey built the parsons table a couple of years ago and I stained it a rich amber colour. The chairs were a second hand find and I sprayed them white. Not sure if this colour scheme with stick. What do you think? I found the chandelier in a shop close to my work and because my honey loves it so much I haven't quite determined if it will stay, or hang a traditional brass chandelier I have or go for a completely different look and find an oversized lantern. We will have to see.  The wall colour is Moth Grey by Pratt and Lambert.

Finally someone will have a nice place to stick his DVD's
There maybe only room for a very very skinny tree here now as this is the only corner I have to put one.

I have not had the energy yet to attempt any xmas decor but pulled out my feather xmas trees for a little fun.

Well hope you had fun seeing the change from then to now.

Have a great week!

Sandra