All New Living Room



Old sofa with slipcover  in new living room



2011 brought new changes to our 1847 Carpenter Gothic southern home.  Often the layout of old houses entitles the modern owners to use the rooms in ways they were never intended.   I believe the only room in our home that is used as it originated is the master bedroom. 
Some of those changes took place before we aquired the house twelve years ago, but our greatest internal change was swapping the livingroom and diningroom in 2011.  During that swap we added hardwood floors to a portion of the house that had carpet, and put new hardwood in the kitchen after ripping up the original to reinforce the old bouncey joists.  The orignial floors were wormey chestnut, and i just loved them, but there was no subfloor.  Besides the bounce, winter drafts could be felt up to your knees.  Something had to be done, and the splintering boards were not usable for finished flooring after the joist project.  It is just part of old-house delimmas.


In an older post, I presented an album of the new diningroom, which also viewed the hallways to the bedrooms and the kitchen, all of which got the new hardwood.  By putting the diningroom in it's new location, it allowed for the arrangement of furniture so that we could pass through that room to our bedroom hall.  When we had the livingroom there, you would have to walk through the LR furniture and often in front of someone watching television.  No more.  Even though my husband and I do most of our TV watching on our sunporch, the visiting grands and family liked to use the LR for video games and DVDs.  I will try to show you how we found the remedy for this. 




New ceiling light replaced dining room light which I refurbished and moved into the new dining room.




Veiw of the wall oposite the sofa where I was finally able to display my Red Wing Pottery.  I've stacked a few more inside each other since this photo.




I brought two wingback chairs out of the bedrooms with intentions of slipcovering both, but still have not done it.




The former diningroom was painted peach with peach woodtrim including the fireplace, from the former owner.  All the years  we have been here I have longed to repaint this room.  White trim and white walls set off the hardwood floors and hardwood ceiling, and gave the room the vintage country  look I was seeking.




1800's handwrought copper pots make a simple statement on the mantel.




A primitive walnut table got a new home in the LR too.  This table was painted brown years ago, so I decided to strip it and found original old blue milk paint underneath.  I did my best to preserve what was left of the blue.




The walnut cupchair actually has a 3 foot walkway for access.  This cupboard was a TN estate find, with wavey glass door and plain crown molding.  I put  collection of blue swirl graniteware in the top.board behind the chair actually has a 3 foot walkway for access.  This cupboard was a TN estate find, with wavey glass door and plain crown molding.  I put  collection of blue swirl graniteware in the top.




A 12-tin pie safe that was formerly in the entry hall, now houses the stereo and cds and dvds.  On top is a vignette of old hunting items including antlers, old shot gun shells and box, Hopes gun cleaner and a taxidermy hawk.




My hubby's elk mount also found a new home here above a collection of antique black powder rifles.




An oil painting I did of my husband hunting with his Brittiany birddogs hangs below a 15pt buck.  I love the way the white crown molding looks against the natural beadboard ceiling.




The sofa also has a 3ft walkway behind it.  An old captains chair, a primitive sugar chest and a buggy seat line the wall and give plenty of room for the walkway from the kitchen to the front entry hall.  A stool that I had covered to match the wing chair from the masterbedroom, now makes a table in front of the sofa.




Love old ironstone and transfer.  This little ensemble makes a wall grouping.




Another favorite cupboard is this very old TN pine cornercupboard with wavey glass doors.




Tabletop includes an antique brass candlestick from my mother and hand needlepoint redbird coasters from my grandmother. 





My mother's sleeping kitten figure rests under the table.

 


I've added more redwing sizes to this grouping, but still love having a place to display them now.




One of my last oil paintings.  Need to get back into it, but making jewelry is some much easier to start and stop in our busy schedules.




The large platter is one of my favorites.




The top of the cornercupboard has a collection of blue transferware and ironstone.




The buggy seat has a vintage wool punch rug folded on the seat, which I have now put on the floor in front.




Love the one door top on the cornercupboard. 




A few transfer pitchers line the shelf with the graniteware





I was glad the ceilings
 had never been seen paint in here.  All of the interior doors have transomes.  A hint of the hall chandolier is seen behind the transome.




View from the kitchen door.




TV sits on an old wood shipping trunk.




Little kitchen entry hall between kitchen and livingroom.




Old beveled leaded glass kitchen door.

 Come back for a tour of the new entry hall and kitchen coming soon!! Thanks for visiting!!

Masterbedroom Update



BEFORE:  Master bedroom with federal blue woodwork and crown moldings, white walls, green rug, and faded cranston blue check drapes.  



I know I kept saying I was going to paint my bedroom.  Now that we have our entire house torn apart so we can put down hardwood in the rooms that were carpeted, I finally had our bedroom painted. Notice I said "had it painted", rather than painting it myself.  The last guest room I painted myself took me three weeks of dragging a 12' heavy step ladder round and round the room painting 14' ceiling and crown.  Not this time. 

The kitchen was painted at the same time, after we added new wide crown molding to the 12' ceilings. While installing the crown, my ladder began slipping, then suddenly I took a wild ride to the floor. I ripped the crown molding off the top of the cabinets trying to stop the sliding, and ripped my nails off at the same time.  I just couldn't stop it, and hit my head on the granite countertop as I came crashing down. Ending up with a huge knot on my brow and bruises to my arm and legs, I was grateful not to have broken anything.  Seriously grateful!  My husband finished the crown himself, while I was on the couch with icepacks.  DYI is not always as easy at it appears!  I have the black eye to prove it! 

 In order to add new hardwood to the kitchen as well, we had to remove everything including refridgerator (now in the LR, we will do hardwood in kitchen first then move ref. back) and all furniture and low level pantry goods (mind you all decor is off the walls and shelves for the painting project).  We also had to move everything out of  living room, 2 hallways, and another bedroom.  All of that is now stored  in our other guestroom, dining room and front entry hall.  We are also remodeling our master bath with tile shower, clawfoot tub, new vanity, floors, and waincotting...an entirely new room. 

We just got back in our bed after sleeping on a airmattress on our sunroom floor (the only room left unscathed by the updates, but full of tools, tile samples, paint cans and whatnot).  I have always told my husband that we love our sunroom so much, we don't need any other rooms than a bathroom.  I should eat my words. I have a entirely new appreciation for our bedroom.  I have included a few pictures of the before and after of the bedroom, with the "after" still undecorated and some of the furniture not in place.  We are just barely in it, but rejoicing just the same! 



AFTER:  Newly painting crown molding and wainscotting  and windows in white.  Walls are a very light grayed-green.  It apprears darker in this picture because of lighting, but I will get some better pictures when the decor is done.






BEFORE:  Fireplace and woodwork in old blue.




AFTER:  Newly painted white woodwork.



 

BEFORE:  Blue cranston curtains and white walls.





 



AFTER:  Nice bright woodwork, suttle walls, perfect canvas to decorate.  Hopefully in a few weeks, the remaining remodeling will be complete, and I will have a newly decorated room to post.  Keep watching.





Goodby airmattress bed in sunroom!  At least we could watch TV (on the wall not seen in photo) in bed.



Kitchen Updates in Our Old House

 Our old house is always in need of some updates.    It has been 10 years since we moved here, and I am just getting around to some of these jobs again.  My kitchen fireplace had gotten so dingy, and the old color looked drab and worn out.  So, I bit the bullit and pulled out the paint. I took down all the decor including numerous old iron cornbread molds, antique copper skillets, and chestnut roasting pan (turned out to be a laundry basket full!), and carted them out to my antique shed for storage.  Then, after washing and recaulking, I got out my white paint and went to town.  When I was finished and the paint was dry, I set the mantle with some of my antique crockery, and filled two pots with red twig dogwood branches from my bushes.

BEFORE, WITH THE OLD BEIGE PAINT.

ANOTHER BEFORE, SHOWING WORN OUT LIMESTONE SURROUND.

AFTER, SHOWING SURROUND, MANTLE, AND REPLACED DECOR ALL WHITE.  AFTER REARRANGING MANTLE, I REPLACED HEARTH WITH JUST TWO PIECES, AN ANTIQUE GRANITEWARE CHEESE  SLICER  AND A WHITE ENAMELWARE BUNWARMER.

I MOVED THE PHONE OFF THE WALL,  TOOK DOWN SOME OTHER WALL HUNG ITEMS, AND PAINTED ALL THE TRIM ABOVE AND BELOW THE OLD BLUE MILKPAINTED BEADBOARD WAINSCOTT.

ANOTHER PUT-OFF PROJECT IS PAINTING MY CABINETS WHITE AND ADDING NEW HARDWARE.  IN THE MEAN TIME, MY ANTIQUATED RANGE HOOD (I PLAN ON REPLACING IT WITH A CUSTOM LOOK LATER) WAS NOT IN KEEPING WITH MY OTHER APPLIANCES WHICH ARE STAINLESS AND BLACK.  RUSTED ON THE INSIDE AND SCRUBBED DOWN TO BARE METAL ON THE OUTSIDE, I GAVE IT A FACELIFT.  TWO NEW COATS OF WHITE UNDERNEATH, AND AT LEAST 10 COATS OF PROFESSIONAL GRADE PAINT ON THE OUTSIDE, GAVE IT THE UPDATE I WAS LOOKING FOR.

THE DAY BEFORE I GAVE THE BEADBOARD BACKSPLASH A FRESH COAT OF WHITE.  THEN I TAPED AND PAPERED OFF ALL THE CABINETS AND STOVE TOP BEFORE PRIMING WITH METAL PRIMER SPRAY PAINT.

AFTER 10 COATS OF BLACK PROFESSIONAL GRADE APPLIANCE PAINT, I HAD THE UPDATE I WAS LOOKING FOR.

ANOTHER KITCHEN VIEW.

WE ADDED THE ANTIQUE LAMP OVER THE SINK AND UNDERCABINET LIGHTING WITH OUR ORIGINAL UPDATE. TWO YEARS AGO MY HUSBAND GAVE ME GRANITE COUNTERTOPS FOR CHRISTMAS.  THIS HAS TO BE THE YEAR TO PAINT THE CABINETS!

LATE AFTERNOON SUNSHINE ON THE SIDE OF OUR 1847 HOUSE.