My Living Room: Before and After

As I am sharing about my rescue house, it amazes me to see what a transformation the house has been through. The living room was one of the rooms that I was very excited about because I was inspired by the painting that we have hung above the mantle. After we found the painting, I could see the room come alive in my head and it sure has! 

Before:

Rescue house Living Room

(Looking in from the front of the house)

Looking from the back of the house to the front

The upside of the house was that the rooms downstairs were large and had floor to ceiling windows.

The ceilings are 11feet high and the floors have beautiful original wood flooring.

 In Process:

Redoing the floors

Living Room Fireplace

I wanted to simplify the fireplace without totally changing the historical look. 

I took off the top trim and just kept it very simple.

Opening up the living room doors

Living Room

There was only one double door opening to the sunroom(on the right side of the fireplace.)

We felt it was going to be good to open up the left of the fireplace to create a better flow for entertaining.

It also opened up the space considerably.

 After:

Mantle

You can see where simplifying the mantle made a big difference.

We painted all of the walls and trim white.

I wanted it to have a bright and open feeling.

Completion of the other door opening

Here's where you can see how opening the wall to the left of the fireplace created a flow into the sunroom and really opened up the living room. 

Large Window at the back of the house

This console is one of the my favorite pieces. It made a nice visual anchor at the end of the room.

Windows at the front

I wanted to make sure that the room stayed monochromatic so I selected washed cotton damask for the curtains.

I loved this encaustic painting. It feels so good paired with antiquities and old fragments!

Stay tuned for a completed living room. 

Our rescued house is still a major work in progress.