come on in. {our living room}

I'm finally doing another home remodeling post. Slowly but surely, I plan on sharing with you our progress.

Here is a little background info on our place: In August 2009 we purchased a 1150 square feet fixer-upper for uh, dirt cheap. Really, cheap. We knew we had to put a lot of work into it. But my husband is a handy-man and I love to decorate and design and stuff, so we knew we could do it. For the past year we have spent crazy hours fixing it up, and the project list still isn't done. But, we have come along way- it's actually very livable, which it wasn't at the time of purchase. The majority of the work we have done ourselves, with hiring out only a few things here and there.

And even though our home isn't big, I truly love it. It was built in the 1930's and has such charm and character. We plan on living here only for a short while (bought it as an investment), but right now, I'm really happy with where we are at.

Okay, on to the good stuff. Pictures.

I already shared with your our front porch make-over here. Time for the living room.

Here are some before shots:

Don't be deceived by this picture. It makes it look not too bad. The flooring appears to be nice, right? That is what we thought- ooooh, we could just sand it down and refinish the original floors. But once we realized all the spots that needed replaced, the crazy air that came up from the floor in the winter, and how unlevel the floor was, we decided that in the end we would have to cover it up. [Don't hate me for covering original wood floors, trust me, we wanted to save them.]

This is what it looked like after I primed the walls and trim.

 Getting closer. Painted it a hotel vintage blue. But that door had to go. Ewwww. Along with the windows.

So, once we cleaned the walls, primed, painted, fixed parts of the ceiling, had new electrical installed (thanks to my dad), installed new windows and front door (hired this out), installed new flooring ourselves (which this just happened over the weekend), this is what our living room now looks like.

Uh, ignore those empty frames. I plan on hanging fall plates in them, eventually. Oh, and that's a string to a balloon hanging down to the left, that's Audrey's decorating touch.

So there it is folks, our living room. Is it exactly how I want it? Of course, not. I'm always changing things around and it is never a finished decorated room. But, when I sit in that room, it makes me happy. Most everything in there was purchased from a second-hand store, garage sale, or was on major clearance. I want a home that is inviting and relaxing. Not cluttered, but filled with things my family loves.

[I really appreciate lovely comments on my blog. I don't get a lot of them (and that is totally okay with me), but each one makes me smile. So thank you. And if you have any happy words to share or even questions for me about remodeling or home stuff, please feel free to leave a note. You make my day, friends.]