Saturday, March 19, 2011

Before and After

Photography definitely is not one of my strong points.  I snapped some photos before and after our remodeling project so I could see what we'd changed.

Since our home was built in the late 1960's, we have very few windows and it tends to be dark.  We've installed Solatubes in the kitchen and living room to bring in some much needed sunlight.  Before they were installed, you needed a lamp to read, even during a sunny summer day!  We even have a motorized "baffle" inside the Solatube so that we can adjust the amount of light that comes in to the room.  (which is really nice if you want to take a nap! lol!)

Before the desk and entertainment center were painted, the entire east wall of our living room was brown and it just sucked all the light out of the room.  My original plan was to remove all the wood on that wall and just have the sheetrock textured and painted but I needed the storage for books and our movie collection.

After discussion, it was decided to paint the wood and convert the "knee hole" in the desk to a storage cabinet and add doors onto the top of the entertainment center.   I'm quite happy with the way it turned out.


The popcorn ceiling was removed and textured in the living room, hallway and main bath; a half-wall was removed from the entry way to open up the living area, a new front door was installed,  new carpet and floor tile was installed throughout the house.  I opted to put commercial tile in my craft room/office so it's a lot easier to care for than the carpet.  We updated the bathroom too by removing the HUGE wall mirror over the vanity and replacing it with a smaller one,  putting up sconce lights beside the mirror, a new top on the vanity, and had the vanity painted white to match the wood in the living room.

Typing this, it sure doesn't sound like we did much! LOL!  But, our house was turned upside down for over a month!  Now, I'm slowly bringing boxes back into the house from Fred's shop and unloading them.  All the stuff I thought I had to have has been out there about 6 weeks now and I haven't missed much of it at all.  Hmmm....maybe it's time to toss some of it!

7 comments:

Brenda said...

The LR looks so bright now Linda!! I love the built in's, such nice storage, but painting them white sure did make a huge difference in the room. Your room looks amazing and not brown anymore! LOL Great job at removing the pop corn ceiling! I think you got a lot done, remodeling always takes so much time.

Carrie K said...

Aren't you glad its done?? My son and I were talking last night about when we remodled our house. Something neither of us ever wants to do again!!!
Love your new picture!!

Vanessa said...

The room looks great! Sure sounds to me like you did a lot!

(And your new profile pic looks very nice.)

Melissa said...

Looks much brighter now Linda and I love that you now have a picture of you not from a long time ago :) on your sidebar!!!

Melissa
www.disneydreamerdesigns.blogspot.com

Crystal said...

Linda I love the remodel of the living room! It is so bright and airy now! Great job you guys!

Suzanne cricutcraftingrammyblogspot.com said...

Linda it looks great and so cheerful and bright. Love the white and jealous you got rid of your popcorn ceilings. All your hard work has paid off.

Robin's Crafting Creations said...

What a difference it made painting the pieces white, it looks marvelous.