Weekend Room Makeover

When Superfro and I moved into our house in 1999 all the walls were white, with the exception of the kitchen (country blue wallpaper) and the master bedroom (pink.) We spend a lot of time painting but for some reason never got around to our "living room." It was a room between the dining room and what we were using as a library, one you had to walk though to get to the laundry room and bathroom, so a room most visitors to our house saw at one point during a visit.

It's a pretty square room with a couple of nice tall windows and a closet. The walls are in terrible shape being that it's an older part of the house than the kitchen and dining room. (Sidenote: Our house has been built onto several times since it was originally constructed in 1890, and was once a four-plex, then a duplex, before it was a single family home.) Instead of drywall, the walls are made of horsehair plaster laid over slats of wood. There are cracks, long, looooong cracks and years worth of nail holes, plus a general uneven look to the walls from unsuccessful repairs.

It was the room was where all our old furniture went to die. If we had something that we didn't know what else to do with, it usually went in that room. My old futon, the old entertainment center and TV, old lamps, dusty candle holders, an ancient VCR and SEGA game system. Rarely did the room actually get used, in fact, it only got used as a place to fold laundry. And then after a while it became a makeshift closet with tubs of  clothing all over it. The room was an incredible eyesore.


Seriously, this was the usual state of the room.

Seriously.

When we inherited a used treadmill last August, it was only natural that it be placed in that room. Except, instead of being forgotten like everything else in the room, we actually used it. Superfro and I were both logging time on the treadmill and in the eyesore of a room. Eventually, it became clear that the room needed rearranging in order to make it easier to see the TV while using the treadmill and from there, the decision was made to just re-do the room. Paint, new TV, new TV stand, new furniture, new window treatments.

Like the pathetic losers that we are, we started with a TV, finding one in our size and price range, then moved onto the TV stand. Then using some of our framed art we picked colors and found curtains from Target that we liked, *then* used the curtains to make a paint match. I don't know if that's how other people do it, but it made the most sens to use. I didn't want to pick out paint colors and then be stuck trying to find the perfect curtains, see?

So, we had a dusty blue color and a deep orange. We decided to do 2 walls of each color, with matching trim. The trim was already painted and it's not in great shape in places so I didn't feel very bad painting it. We opted to leave the closet door and the crooked pocket doors leading into the dining room white. We prepped the room, cleared it (mostly), taped it, patched the walls (mostly) and stated painting. Superfro is a much more meticulous painter than I am, also much more patient and much more  energetic. In fact, I realized that I hate painting wall now as much as I did 11 years ago.

Once we got 2 coats on the walls, the orange was more like ORANGE ORANGEY ORANGVILLE. I was speechless, just rolling on more and more paint, hoping that it would darken up. I'm still not thrilled with it but I also don't hate it enough to paint it again.


All prepped, ready to start, testing out the paint in the corner.

 

You can see what I mean about the uneven walls there right?

I was pretty much freaking out at this point.

But I loved this side of the room.

After 2 coats and almost dry....

By the end of the second day the paint was dry and it was time to hang and steam the curtains. Yes, I have a steamer, don't you judge me! Then it was time to put the new TV stand together and make sure that it could hold precious cargo.


Hot steamy action!



Yep, looks good!

The fun part for me was hanging some pictures.

So, now we've got the treadmill in place but we're still using the old futon to sit on. Turns out that Cedar Rapids doesn't have the best selection of love seats at the price we're willing to spend so we're gonna just put that on the back burner until the perfect one finds us, so.....2019, 2010, sometime around then most likely!