Living Room Makeover

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Alas, we finished. On Saturday evening, after a busy day of running and yard work, I mentioned to my husband again that the drapery rod needed hung. "Honey," I said, "the girls are waiting for pictures."

"Oh," he said. "Ooooh," realizing what I meant.

First thing Sunday he put the brackets up. The man does not want to be publicly humiliated, that's for sure.

First, I will say that this is not really the makeover of my dreams. If it were, I would get rid of the sofa and matching chair that I no longer really like, at all, and you would see this sofa, and maybe this chair, and the floors would look like this.

However, this was the makeover I could afford. The only thing I purchased was paint and draperies.

My former color was Bayberry Green. We had it for probably 10 years because I really liked it. But eventually even living room walls (where children are not supposed to play) get dinged up and drawn upon and generally start looking needy.

A fresh coat of paint -- Peanut Butter -- transformed this cool green space into a warm, inviting room. At first I thought I hated it, but once all the walls were painted and the furniture was back in place, I decided I liked it (yes, I chose to like it). The addition of the drapes improved it even more.

Before we replaced these windows, 18 months ago, I had some white decorative sheers inside the window space (within the walls that contain the window). They were o.k. but nothing fabulous. I never really liked the whole window set up because it's very difficult to get curtain rod brackets into the space within the walls and outside the window casing. After the windows were replaced, the new casings took up just a skosh more room and there was no space left for brackets. I decided to mount the drapery bracket on the outside wall and I like it. The drapes will stay open most of the time, letting in the filtered light we get through the trees outside. For privacy they can be closed, which is nice because there have been many evenings when I would have sat in the living room to read in my nightgown, but the exposure kept me from doing that. I didn't take any close-up shots of the drapes, but the rod and rings are cast iron (black) with a decorative turn on the ends. The drapes are ivory Dupoini silk. The drapes have ties that tie to the rings on the rod for an extra decorative look. They are simple but dressy. I really believe it's worth the extra money spent to have nice draperies. They last for a long time and always look good.



On to pictures. Obviously the green walls are from before, and the peanut butter walls (is that tan, brown, gold?) are after.









You can see how the light changed in the room, from the cool blue with the green walls and no drapes to the golden light with the peanut butter walls and light filtered through the ivory drapes.





I put everything back on the walls in pretty much the same spots.



This picture (above) was taken with a flash, hence the lighting difference, but it's not very clear.







When I prepared to paint, I took everything off the shelves, packed up what I wanted to keep in boxes and moved the boxes out of the room. Then after painting I let the shelves dry for about 10 days. It was a pleasure unpacking the boxes and replacing my things on the shelves. I organized the books better and I like the arrangement. It's probably hardly noticeable on the photos, but I notice the difference.







After finishing this makeover, I am once again amazed at how just a gallon of paint can change a room and how you feel about it. Even though I'm not at all in love with this furniture, through new wall color and draperies, it has become an inviting space again. No fewer then six times yesterday I went looking for my husband and found him here, enjoying the solitude. Though we really should not have attachments to our earthly belongings, I think keeping our homes clean and inviting is an important part of how we perceive our family life. I find that if my home is neat and attractive, it's easier to find an inner peace.

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