BrittanyMakes

Welcome to the second episode of “what we wish to do to our house but don’t have the funds to do so quite yet”.  It’s a riviting season I tell ya! Read here if you missed episode one.

All kidding aside, we really, like REALLY, want to get these projects started, but it’s all about super boring adult stuff like patience and timing and prioritizing.  The minute I get the go ahead, I’m tearing out that carpet! It might look old and stained in the photo above, it’s actually super plush and new(ish), and looks that way from people walking all over it.  It’s fine.  Really, the carpet is fine, I just hate carpet.  It’s gross and deceiving, although on the plus it hides dirt and dog hair really well.  JK.

The next thing we’d do is remove that wall.  Be gone wall! I yearn for an open space, one that connects to the living/dining area, and this wall is preventing this from happening.  There are two entrances to the kitchen/dining room, one on the outside of the living room, and one through that opening by the fireplace.  Neither path feels shorter than the other, it’s annoying trying to decide which way to go to the kitchen or dining room every day.  i just need that wall to go.  We’re about 90% sure it’s load bearing, so we’ll have to figure that out once we take it down.  Like I mentioned last time, I have a few contractors in my fam, it’ll all come down to shmoozing them to get their help.

Other things we’d like to change, the wall color of course! That will probably be one of the first things I do, since I can easily paint walls during nap time.  The fireplace wall has weird wood paneling that must come down.  The house was built in the 60’s so I imagine this wall was a wood paneled focal wall.  I’m sure it was nice, but now it’s beige and needs to go.  I also want to beef up the fireplace surround.  I’m currently searching for something vintage/recycled, cross your fingers I find something amazing.  The end goal is to throw our flat screen above the fireplace, super classy I know, but I’m married to a dude who loves his TV, and I like myself some HGTV and New Girl and Sons of Anarchy and crap, and since we’re removing that wall and all it’s really the only place it can go.  I love what Dana did with their TV above the fireplace, so I imagine executing something like that.

Lastly, the windows.  All windows in the house are not trimmed, and they’re all lovingly adorned with cheap blinds, yellowed with age. Untrimmed windows feel unfinished to me, so I’d like to figure out what to do with them soon.  I’m toying with a couple options in making these windows look better.  I could a) get some legit woven shades to hang on the outside of the window, pair it with a sheer light filtering shade for privacy or b) beef up the window with some moulding and trim, make it look extra pretty and only add a sheer light filtering shade for privacy.  I like the idea of the woven shades to bring in some natural textures to the space, not to mention It would save me from figuring out what trim to execute.  But then I like the idea of trim/moulding because windows like this and this look gorgeous in my opinion.  I just worry that trimmed windows won’t tie with the age of the house, like I’d be forcing a craftsman look on our midcentury-ish built home, which would just be bad design.

So there you go! That’s what we have planned for our living room.  Hopefully we can get these projects going soon!