It's been a long time in coming..., or The Living Room

Last summer I blogged a little bit about the work we were doing on the house we've moved into.  And I promised some pictures and never delivered.  Well, I can finally say: here some are!  Finally, the apartment is clean enough, organized enough, ready enough for me to pull out a camera and snap some pics.  I have to say: they're not great quality as they are on my phone.  Somewhere in the move several months ago were our batteries for our camera.  And we haven't found them yet.  So, I apologize for that.  Plus, we're not completely, totally, utterly "moved-in".  We still need to hang pictures and the like.  Hopefully, sometime soon.  Maybe I'll bribe my sister-in-law with some Simon cuddling if she'll come over and help me do it.  She's an interior design genius.  I am not.

I intend to just post a few each week, maybe a room at a time.  One huge blog post on it would be overwhelming.  But it will give a good sense of the before and after.  I know, these are so late, perhaps all interest has waned.  But I might also go out and get some before-and-afters of the house and yard.  The hope is that this spring we will scrape and paint (though I feel time running out for that before summer already!), plus Nick has plans for the yard work, if he can get a dry day to work in.  I love watching this house change and morph into the home I know it can be.  We won't realize all the potential this house has to offer for some time, but someday.  So, without further ado, our apartment living room.



This first picture is the before of the living room from the door to our entry way.  You see the old, dirty curtains on the window as well as nasty, nasty brown carpet, nasty because of its uncleanness, rather than the color or texture.  It has to be said somewhere, so it might as well be said here, but sadly the woman who lived in the apartment before we took it over did not clean.  At all.  The apartment was in horrible condition.  Before we even began work, my mother, mother-in-law and a friend of my mom came over and cleaned the place from top to bottom, and even then there were rooms Eliza was not allowed to explore in as some things would not come out of the carpets.  It was generally acknowledged the carpets would go, and we refinished the wood floors, which you won't see in these pictures.

(Do you notice the baby carrier?  Eliza has since graduate to a toddler car seat.  My, how she's grown since these pictures were taken!)

This pictures is the after from the same view.  I hope you can see a BIG difference.  I feel it is far more comfortable (and yes, it is far more clean).

The door in the first picture is now nonfunctional.  We chose to not use it.  We needed the space for furniture, instead.

This next shot is still from the doorway, looking at the other side of the living room.  The old furniture left behind had to be broken to get it out, and we are awaiting the "Free Dump Day" at the garbage dump to dispose of them.  Our backyard and garage will look so much better when dump day arrives!

And now, the after....

The bookcase sadly covers that decorative window, which has lattice woodwork across it.  One of the first features that drew me to this house.

And last, but not least, these are shots from the other side of the room, looking towards the entryway door.  We removed the door on this room for easier passage, and will replace it someday when we take over more of the house and return this room to a bedroom.

And after...

Not quite the same perspective, but you get the picture.

As a living room, it is indeed a bit cozy.  We've sacrificed some furniture to storage in the basement.  However, it does work for the time-being.  It may be even cozier when Simon arrives!  As a bedroom, someday, it will be quite spacious, which you'll see when I post the pictures for our own bedroom.  But for now, we'll leave it at the living room.