Here is the living room before we bought the house. And that is my husband checking for a body, or very large rodents:
Then after buying the house the living room was filled with lots of junk for a while:
and one very depressed plant.
Then we cleared it out. And I got lots of dust in my camera.
We tore out the ceiling so we could run the wiring:
and then removed the wallpaper, the chimney and then the carpet.
After putting drywall up and patching all the plaster
we painted the walls and finished the floor.
And then we filled it up with furniture.
That picture was taken in 2005. And besides a few minor changes, that is how the room stayed until labor day weekend, 2012
when the floor came flying right out of the room!
And at this point you may be asking Why? Why did you tear out your floor? Was it really on the whim of a deranged lazy woman who just didn't want to clean it? Or was it something more?
Well folks, I'll tell you, since you asked. But please don't call me deranged again. 1) the floor that we spent so much time sanding down, staining and finishing, while pretty, was only ever meant to be a subfloor, and the wood was just too soft. It dinged and scratched like nobody's business. 2) the joists holding the floor up were rotting and falling apart. A Minor detail maybe, but my husband was concerned, so I humored him. 3) to more easily insulate the heat ducts (as seen above) and install the very fancy new piece my husband built out of sheet metal for the air return. This is the best picture I got of it
Which doesn't even show you that it bends backwards under the floor in a tricky L shape and we never could have gotten it in with the floor there. This picture just doesn't do it justice. My husband is a flipping genius.
4) As a bonus, after tearing up the floor we found this joist that had secretly quit its job as floor-holder-upper and was just hanging out in arcades and stuff. I think the duct work was the only thing holding it up at this point:
Finally, we got the new floor down. And by new floor I don't mean flooring, I just mean floor, that we can walk on and stand on and not fall through.
And here is how the room looks today:
Ah. Breath taking. There is something about pink flowers paired with orange stripes that just resonates with me, you know? Wait. I don't think resonates is the right word. More like. . . nauseates. yeah. That is more like it. This room is the perfect example of how certain pieces combined with other certain peices just don't work.
I have a very clear picture in my mind of how I want this room to look. But I find I have no idea how to make it happen. Even with different furniture, I can't figure out how to use the stuff I have that I like and create the room I want. Do I have to throw everything out and start over? That sounds pretty expensive. What is a cheapskate to do?
