Facelift

We've lived in this house for 4.5 years.  It's the first house we've owned and actually, the first real house we've lived in together.  Before this it was apartments, a townhouse, and a shack (yes, really).  When we were looking to buy a house, this was the first one we saw.  From the outside, it's gorgeous, like a cabin in the woods.  But when we saw the long, rectangular living room, we looked at each other and said, "Um.  No." and left.

BEFORE

The shape of the room is weird.  The garage is behind; the kitchen is to the right; and a deck is outside on the left.

A view from the "front" of the room, looking toward the back & into the garage.

After looking at other houses, it was clear that this one was worth another look.  We loved everything about this house and finally decided that we would just make the living room work.  Here's our initial stab at it:

We chose a green to "match" the forest outside.  We also wanted a cabin feel.

A few years later, we bought a flat screen TV and had to get a new entertainment center. This, combined with a few other decorative details, is how our house remained until recently.

BFJ, recognize that white chair?  :)

We've accumulated our furniture from here and there over the years and it has started to get a little worn. Both arms on my recliner are completely bare, and there's a rip in the side.  Our couch noticeably leans to one side, kind of like a sinking ship.  We've talked about buying furniture for a couple of years, but we always go on vacations instead.  This year, our combined birthday plans fell through, and as Christmas has started approaching, we had the brilliant idea of treating ourselves to a living room facelift in lieu of any presents - for anything - this year.

AFTER

Observation #1:  All our furniture now matches!  It's as if two adults live in this house, instead of the seven dwarfs.

Observation #2:  In order to keep it from being too brown, we painted the green stripes on the wall, and ordered some of our photos printed on canvas.  These are seasonal, so we can change the look of the room throughout the year.

The birds are crammed in the corner next to the window.

We also bought a variety of throw pillows to break up the brown.

This is Orca's corner.  And now this matches the rest of the living room.  I still need to work on the decorative touches, but you get the idea.

Have you ever watched those home improvement shows?  Know how they conveniently fast-forward during all the heavy, hard work?  So that the viewer will get instant gratification of seeing the "before" and "after" so close together?  Because, you know, otherwise no one would actually sit there during all the work involved in home improvement and those stations would never get funding.  I wish the transition were that quick and painless in real life.  But alas.

DURING

Crap everywhere as we begin to paint the wall and move out the furniture.

Orca supervised.

Contemplating the new photos.

Note the arms of the chair.  I so was not joking about it being completely worn.

Where, pray tell, did all the furniture go?

Why, into the kitchen, of course!

The couch, chair, DVD player and rugs are being picked up by goodwill.  We broke down and took one more step into the 21st century; we bought a Blu Ray player.  See?  True facelift.

So, Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, Happy 2012, and Happy Valentine's Day to us!  I think we'll have a seat and celebrate.