Livingroom ~ Before, in Between & After

Still in Hong Kong, visiting the trade fair. Before & After week continues with the L-shaped livingroom and dining area. I'm starting in the dining area since it's right outside the kitchen which I showed yesterday. Here we go!

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Dining area

1998

We like grey but back in 1998 when we moved in almost all the trim and wood work was painted in the drabbest of greys. It was the shade where you wonder if it's dirt or paint. Needless to say it had to go. In our neighborhood there's a lot of stained glass on windows and we have some too. It's not something I'd ever choose myself but since it's original to the house we kept it where it was in good shape such as in the dining area.

2003

Five years later the color scheme was just the opposite funnily enough. On the days before we moved our stuff into the house I basically painted all the walls upstairs in a very pale shade of grey and then worked my way around to changing all the trim and wood work to white. Having the stained glass on the cabinet doors next to the stained glass window was a bit too much so for quite a few years we didn't have the doors on but used the cabinet as open shelving.

We had these hand-me-down chairs, that I first upholstered in a blue velvet and later sewed white covers for, for many years until we sold them on the Swedish equivalent of Craigslist, Blocket.

 
2009 

Six years on and the cabinet doors are back but with frosted glass panels instead of the stained glass ones. The walls are now white and the chairs were switched to more modern ones when Martin made an awsome dumpster dive and found eight designer chairs in one go!

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Livingroom from dining area

1998

We were just telling Wille the other day how the family of four who lived here before us never used the dining area but ate in the kitchen at that tiny table. I remember when I grew up we never used our livingroom or dining area either but always sat in the kitchen or in the basement den. So weird not to use the best rooms in the house. Different generations, different takes on living I guess.

Anyway, we were quite lucky when we moved in, because although the people who had lived here previously were old and you kind of expect dark colors the color scheme was surprisingly light. Apart from the dirty grey trim and some not so awesome door additions such as the one to Wille's room to the right we had a good base to start off on when imagining where to go next.

2009

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Livingroom towards patio

 
1998

2009

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Livingroom towards hallway

 
2003

Grey.

 
2004

Sand.

 
2007

Green.

2008

Aqua.

   
2009

So from the previous owners light but drab color scheme we tried a few versions ourselves and somewhere along the line I hacked out a hole between the livingroom and hallway. Its difficult to imagine that the wall was once solid. The hole brings so much light to the whole area.

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Livingroom Fireplace 

2003

This is the fireplace wall. As you can see there isn't one but we so wanted a real fire and we even got permission to have one installed and a chimney for it to go on top of our roof. We live in an area with many restrictions to what is allowed in terms of changing the exteriors so to be able to install a chimney was just awesome.

 
2004

Planning and masking out the size of the white rounded fireplace we had chosen. Ran into two issues. 1) the sizes of the fireplace itself was ok, it would have looked good there but we didn't think about the fact that you must have a floor plate thing so if there are sparks they won't burn the wood floor. That plate would have extended way too far out onto the floor and would have looked really out of place (the marking on the floor is how far the fireplace itself would have butted out but with the plate it would have been twice that. 2) When I went into the dining cabinet roound the cornerr where the chimney pipe would have gone into and test drilled  the ceiling I ran into something hard and when I went into the attic there was a huge duct thing right there above. Duh! Change of plans. 

2009

So what to do? We considered the options. Gas fire? Gel fire? No fire? I searched the internet and found this electrical fire from the UK. We got the simplests, cleanest looking one they had and built the surround ourselves. It's fake, it's cheezy and we love it!

 

Comments

[quinn]

I think my favorite "thing" in your home is the hull. It makes me feel happy every time I see it.

The hole in the wall makes a tremendous difference, doesn't it? A few years ago, I tore out every non-loadbearing wall in my tiny house. Since I had already put windows everywhere, from any spot in the house, one is looking into the woods outside in three directions.

The trade-off is a lack of storage (almost no wall space, interior or exterior) but it is well worth it for the sense of space!

I hope you are having a good time at the trade show - can't wait to see what you bring back :)

[House of Jammi - blogg och webshop]

Absolutely wonderful transformation. You have a very nice, harmonious home. I love the turquoise color on the wall in your living room.

[Sara]

Dear Miracle Girl: Just have to say that you earn that name in every.single.blog.post!! The hole in the wall makes such an enormous difference, it's unbelievable! I love your fireplace... It doesn't look cheezy. I wish, wish, wish you could spend just one day at my house...

[Lizzy]

Benita, I'm loving these before/during/after photos. They are so encouraging because they show an evolution of style. Having just moved in to my place, I feel comforted to know that it will take a while to find just the right colors, furniture arrangement, built-ins, etc. Thanks so much for sharing!

[Pia]

These "evolution" photos are really great! And your dumster dives too! We also found two designer chairs (Alvar Aalto) in the dumpster and bought two used ones to match with them!

[Tess]

hey!

what are your armchairs in the living room
they look nice and neat and small.
where did you buy them?

thanks!

[Imene]

I love your color scheme. I would like for my house to be white on white like that but with three little ones...It will have to wait a little bit

[Cristina]

Hi!
I follow your blog from Italy..
I love your taste and your handy-skills!
I saw that cat house (white, cat head-shaped) in the 2008 picture, can you please tell me where you found it (brand)? it's adorable!!

Ciao, grazie!
Cristina

[Morag]

It's interesting you mention families not using their living room or dining rooms. I think the difference is that people used to entertain much more, and those rooms were used and kept clean for that. Besides people dropping by informally for quick little visits much more, my parents used to regularly have friends and extended family over on weekends for long dinners and evenings of playing cards, socializing, and singing. So the living and dining rooms were used, but a little differently than we tend to now. I miss it!

[Cheryl]

I have to second what Lizzy posted. I've been at my condo for a little over a year and I sometimes feel like I'm never going to get that place in shape. The list of things to do/fix/decorate/organize never shrinks, only grows.

Seeing the evolution of your home reminds me that change happens over time. Making a home doesn't happen overnight. One day, all of my home projects (or at least most, I hope) will be done and I'll have the place of my dreams.

Even if it means I sell the place right after because families grow and change too!

[Kellie]

Ohhhhh love the living room - what great colors!

[Erin Kleider]

I love the aqua wall. It looks fresh and clean but gives everything just that little punch.

As of last winter, we installed a pellet stove to heat our house during the winter which was absolutely lovely, not as pretty as I would have liked but warmth goes a long way to making something pretty...trust me. The front room over the ambulance bay (we live in an old drafty fire house) is drafty and too far from the pellet stove to get toasty enough for me, so we also bought an electric fireplace last year and we love it as well. It is a nice natural wood and so the cabinet itself looks nice. And it just takes that edge off the chill making this room nice and cozy. I kind of want one for my bedroom now, just for the ambiance.

Erin :)

[Annette]

What brand and color of aqua did you use?

[Cassie]

What a great dumpster find, those fabulous dining chairs! They look stunning!

I also love your fake fireplace! I don't think it looks cheesy at all, it's super cute.

[Polly R]

I love that aqua colour! I have one of the walls in my bedroom that colour and the rest white. It just brightens everything up doesn't it! (And I find that it goes with almost every colour... apart from green :) )
xx

[Sandra Yeong]

I love how you transform your house. How I wish you can come to stay at my house and give me some suggestion!!!
I love your armchair too......

[April]

This is so interesting. Thank you for posting these!

My house looks like your 1998 befores, since almost everything I own is a hand-me-down or bought on the cheap from someone else. Gives me hope that someday my home can look as beautiful as yours, so long as I don't quit trying.

[Denise]

It's been ages since I've been to your blog, so glad I stopped in today. Your organizational and style sense have put a smile on my face during a very dreary and cold day here, thanks. (Also motivated me,too!)

[Living room before]

Really very super collections with year comparative... Well done...
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