Living Room Transformation

This past Saturday, we painted.

Here is the before photo

back before we pulled up the 1970's red carpet

and before we removed the drop ceiling.

Here is the room after the carpet was removed

and revealed gorgeous 100 year old hardwood flooring.

Then we removed the drop ceiling

which revealed that drywall had been placed over the existing plaster wall.

But only up to the spot where the drop ceiling started.

Eventually we will have to rip everything out

because right now, the trim is either flush with the drywall

or the drywall sticks out past the trim.

But for now, we added drywall to the 12" space.

Another pre-drywall photo where you can also see the large

water stain on the ceiling and the nail holes from the drop ceiling brackets.

Finally we got the drywall in place and put on a coat of joint compound 

and sanded everything down.

I'm pretty sure this isn't the White Christmas Bing had in mind.

Finally it was time to start painting!

A BIG thank you to my cousin and aunt

who came to help us out.

We managed to get the the walls in the living room 

and hallway painted

along with most of the trim in the living room.

We wouldn't have gotten so much done without their help.

I'm also not above using child labor

despite those pesky child labor laws.

Of course this kid typically does about 10 minutes of work 

and then needs a 15 hour break.

And finally

the basically finished living room.

You can't tell, but there are touch ups needed on the windows behind the tree

and the other 2 windows not shown need trim painted.

However, I'm running out of time

so painting is on hold until after the fast approaching holiday season.

The hubby is happy that we can set up the new giant TV

and last night we moved the couch out of our bedroom and into the living room.

I might not be painting,

but I see a lot of furniture moving and cleaning in my very near future.

(and hopefully we can NOW decorate the tree!)

The Living Room

This is the living room in all its glorious 1972 red carpet splendor.

Back in 1972, I'm sure this was all the rage-

not so in 2015.

My husband and I were pretty sure that there was 100 year old hardwood under all that red.

Question was, what kind of shape was it in?

So we began pulling it up.

This is the padding underneath-

a good sign as it appeared that the carpet was installed using tack strips and not glue.

Voila`! 

Gorgeous 100 year old hardwood floor.

There were a few worn areas, 

but we plan to sand and refinish all the hardwood in the future.

For now, it's usable- once the tack strips and staples are removed.

I jumped on removing all those tack strips right away.

I'm notorious for stepping on nails

(I even once spent time in he hospital because of stepping on one)

and I had already stepped on a tack.

So I broke out the trusty hammer and putty knife and got to work.

I also had my trusty helpers.

The Brat Child helped me for about 10 minutes then asked for a 15 minute break-

he never came back.

Chunk the kitten was more interested,

but a lot less help so he eventually was banished.

It only took a day to get everything removed.

We're moving onto the dining room

and eventually the kitchen 

and then we'll give everything a good scrub down with some Murphy's Oil Soap.