My husband & I moved into this home on Halloween of 2014. We viewed countless homes in search of “the one” which ticked all of our must-haves. Clearly, we had been watching HGTV too much. During our showing, we immediately knew this would be our forever home. Built in 1989, it needed some updating, but we knew there was tremendous potential. After settling in, we wrote down our wish list of what we would love to change and quickly realized this would be a long journey. We decided to start with our living room which we spend the most time in. Below are the listing photos from the previous homeowner BEFORE we moved in.
My sister & brother-in-law were anxious to see our new place and came over the very next day. We bought the house under the premise we would remove the wall between our kitchen and living room. With my encouragement, my brother-in-law began cutting down the drywall between the two rooms. It was the first glimpse of what open concept really feels like.
It was the first glimpse of open concept living, and boy was that an amazing feeling. The wall was load-bearing so we needed to hire an architect and contractor to fully remove the wall. They had to reinforce the ceiling with a sixteen foot LVL beam to support the load before removing the 2×4 boards.
The rest of the changes were more cosmetic. My husband tackled all of the painting including the walls and trim. Our walls are Sherwin Williams Pediment – it reflects beautifully in rooms with a lot of natural light. The trim is Behr Ultra Pure White which created a stand out factor. Unfortunately, the ceiling had a popcorn finish, a well-loved feature from 1950 to 1980, that we also scraped to remove.
Four months passed before we added the shiplap feature wall and refinished our existing hardwood floors. Sanding and refinishing your hardwood floors is not a fun experience. In addition to removing every piece of furniture from the floor, the process was very messy, lasted a number of days, and required a lot of cleaning afterward. The end result, however, was mind-blowing, and that day the room really started to transform. This is what sweet dreams are made of.
Since the home was built in 1989, all of the fixtures needed to be updated. We switched out all of the dingy light fixtures, brass handles, and tan switches and outlets for bright white and satin nickel. This created the feeling of a brand new home. We added a reclaimed barn wood mantel to our fireplace which my husband repurposed himself. The room has high, vaulted ceilings so from a design standpoint adding a chandelier was exactly what we needed.
The possibilities for this room are endless, and I know it will continue to evolve as time passes. For now, we will continue to enjoy the space with our family and friends, entertaining as much as possible. Below are the AFTER photos for comparison.
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I took these photos when I first started this blog – see more recent photos of my living room HERE!
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This renovation is beautiful!!!!! i love it!!!!
I’d love to know the color and more about your kitchen backsplash.
Hi Laura,
Here is the source link to our kitchen backsplash:
https://www.msistone.com/glass-tiles-8mm/metallic-gray-subway-tile-3×6/
XO – Kelly
Love how this turned out! I’m in the process of purchasing a house that will have a pretty similar layout. How big is your tv and how do you feel about it being over the fireplace, after living with it that way for awhile? Also, what color are your kitchen cabinets? I’m guessing white! But the lighting makes it look like they may be light grey.
Hi Kathy!
Thank you so much 🙂 Our TV is 55″, and we love having it over the fireplace. I know it doesn’t look as pretty as art or decor, but we spend a lot of time watching movies as a family so it works best for us. The back wall of kitchen cabinets you see are light gray, and our countertops are white quartz and the island is white shiplap.
Congratulations on your new home! Fingers crossed for you <3
- Kelly
I love your reno. Your chandelier caught my eye and it looks like a large scale piece, but the link you provided for the exact product describes it as 24 inch diameter, which would seem pretty small for the scale of your room. Do you have a link for a larger size piece like yours? Or are the photos deceiving me about the size of the fixture? Appreciate your help!
Hi Nancy! Thank you so much 🙂 The dimensions of my chandelier are W 28.5″ / D 28.5″ / H 35.5″ – I know it’s made in two different sizes and the 24″ diameter is definitely the smaller one. I just clicked on the chandelier I have linked and it takes me to the right one on Houzz – that’s so odd it’s showing differently for you. I’ll paste the correct link again here for you: https://rstyle.me/n/c3e3dbcb9t7
It’s a beautiful chandelier and at a pretty reasonable cost for its size. I have some more photos of it here: http://thegreenspringhome.com/blog/open-concept-living-room-vaulted-ceilings/
XO, Kelly
What color covers did you select for your sactional?
Hi Britt! My sactional covers are the Gray Slub Tweed 🙂 – XO, Kelly
Just found your blog. This looks great! Do you mind sharing the color of your subway tile?
Hi Annie! So sorry I missed your comment. Here’s the link to our subway tile 🙂 https://rstyle.me/+pPYDOFry2BbVfKBCWvI-0Q XO, Kelly
I love your coffee table. Can you tell me where to find it?
Hi Michelle, so sorry for the delay! Our coffee table was from Crate & Barrel but they no longer sell it. It’s my favorite!! 🙂 XO, Kelly
My wife and I are about to redo our kitchen and love the subway tile.
I used the link that you posted above but it takes me to the Wayfair main tile page, not to a specific tile.
Can you advise what the name and color is the tile is.
Thank you so much
Dean
Sorry, should have been more specific. The backsplash between the refrigerator and oven, shown in the pic behind the vase and flowers.
Thank you
Hi Dean, I apologize for the delay! Here is the link: https://rstyle.me/+Et-WT2B5Dr-Ddy9be3A-Eg Both sides of my kitchen have the same backsplash tile, the color of it really just varies depending on how much natural light is hitting it, sometimes people say it looks somewhat blue-ish in photos. It is the Metallic Gray color though! XO, Kelly