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Modern Farmhouse Living Room Renovation
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 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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