Back Amongst The Oaks: The Living Room

When we bought our house in November 2018 the living room had peeling wallpaper and smoke stains; the fireplace was surrounded by painted brick and had no mantel; the hardwood floors had carpet tack strips all around the edges and were stained and unloved; and there were so many openings in the room I don't know how furniture was ever arranged. But there were "hand hewn" beams on the ceiling and the room was large and well lit.

As part of the first remodel, we removed the stereo equipment cupboard and closed the opening to the right of the fireplace which went to the dining room. We turned the dining room into an office and made a closet where that opening was. Later Handyman made new, taller double paned windows for the living room, and we lived with it like this for another 4 years.

Then in February of 2024, we finally started the living room remodel

and this is how it looks now.

First Handyman had to fix the plaster on the ceiling and walls, and add lights and plugs. Then he refinished the hardwood floors. In May he built a new mantel, and installed a new hearth and new bricks around the fireplace opening. Then came the cabinets on either side of the fireplace.

By the middle of June, new moldings were being installed all around the ceiling. This detail helped incorporate the "hand hewn" beams into the whole design. These moldings were a very time consuming project, but look great and add a lot of old world charm.

On July 16th we spray painted all the moldings and trim. Handyman said it was faster and you can't brush water base paint anyway, but what a LOT of masking was required!

Then we moved on to building these floor to ceiling cabinets. We had these in our previous house and loved them. These huge cabinets hide all that stuff you only use once a year. (And dishes, lots of dishes. I seem to have a little problem there.) The paneled doors look almost like a paneled wall, and there is even a hidden doorway to the bedroom hall.

When we got ready to remodel this room we gave most of the furniture away; some on Facebook marketplace, and some to our daughter, so you might wonder where we got all this furniture. Most of it was squirreled away in other rooms, but we found the few pieces we needed on Facebook marketplace and at consignment shops. We also bought one new thing: a carpet from Grandin Road.

Most of the decorative items we've owned for ages. And that's what I really like about this room; it showcases our history. The blue velvet chairs by the window have been in the family over 100 years as well as the Vienna clock and ship's clock. Next to the ship picture we bought in Essex, Massachusetts is a David bust from Rome, a ceramic horse from China, an old brass lock from San Quentin Prison, and a barometer from an old sailboat. Every surface holds a memory of a special time or place.