house tour - living room/dining room

Here's part one of the house tour! I can say that our first floor is mostly done; just a few small changes left. My biggest challenge was the formal living room. I wanted to use it as a living room, since it is a huge and open space, and you see it when you walk in the front door. The main "problem" was its size - it is a really big room, and it's very hard to fill! Below is a before picture. Note that while the picture makes the walls look really pink, they were really a taupe. However, in certain lights, they looked very pink. And that line on the back wall? I thought it was my flash that created it but no, the walls do change color there, going into the dining room. It was much more subtle in person (I didn't even notice during our walk-through), but when we lived here, it started to bother me. You can see one of my favorite things about the house, the floors! They are the original hardwood floors, stained to a rich mocha color. I was blown away that these weren't new hardwoods; they are so perfect - no gaps, dents, or scratches. Now we have to attempt to keep them that way! Before


After

In the picture above, you can see all the paint colors coming together on the back wall. Here's a closeup I took during the progress:

The living room is a light gray, and after painting some of the back wall light gray, I decided to change it to a deeper gray-taupe, which you can see in the little stripe beside the curtain. I then continued the darker color into the dining room. You can see in the first picture that the two grays blend pretty seamlessly in the back corner by the computer desk.

And the curtains...

They are tablecloths! I just cut one down the center to make 2 panels, and my mom hemmed them for me. I love them! Here is another pair on the front window. I love this window; it has a thick sill that you can sit on.



Here's the gallery wall with some special pictures: An engagement gift from our friends (a picture of us with messages from friends written on the mat, baby pictures of Bo and me, photostrip pictures of us, our newspaper wedding announcement, and some homemade art about Pittsburgh.

And this sits on the front window seat: art my friend Adrienne made for us that has all of our names, crossword-style!

Now for the dining room. Here is the before (walls were another shade of taupe; almost apricot. Nice color, but it didn't go with the light gray, and I hated the abrupt switch of colors in the middle of the wall):

After: