Our most recent house project has been redecorating the living room. Although we spend the most time here, it somehow got pushed to the back burner. My husband and I love the feeling of old houses. There is a charm and elegance that makes me feel like I am part of something special. So we decided to try and preserve that old world charm in our new furniture. Our house was built in 1920 and I love that look anyways, so we tried to keep that vintage.
The walls in our house are made of plaster and lath. This means that it is hard to hang things on the wall. Thus, people hang things on the picture molding. After 90 years of hanging pictures it looked like this.
Honestly it made the whole living and dining room look pretty cruddy. We decided as a brave engaged couple that we would reconstruct the molding. It would be good practice in "communicating" before our upcoming wedding, and believe me it was!
It took us a long time, and about 1,000 cuts with the compound mider saw. Eventually we ended up with the second picture. We painted the crown molding, then stained the dental piece to match the other wood in the room. For the ends we bought the medallions, constructed boxes out of them. We mostly added these because we couldn't figure out the proper angles to end the molding. I think it looks great and it compliments the other period details!
Honestly it made the whole living and dining room look pretty cruddy. We decided as a brave engaged couple that we would reconstruct the molding. It would be good practice in "communicating" before our upcoming wedding, and believe me it was!
It took us a long time, and about 1,000 cuts with the compound mider saw. Eventually we ended up with the second picture. We painted the crown molding, then stained the dental piece to match the other wood in the room. For the ends we bought the medallions, constructed boxes out of them. We mostly added these because we couldn't figure out the proper angles to end the molding. I think it looks great and it compliments the other period details!
Now about three years later we began the hunt for furniture. The first piece we found was this amazing chair from Hause in East Sac. It is styled after a porter chair from the 1880's. In the old castles the doorman would have to sit in the drafty entryway. The dome was designed to give some protection from the elements! I wanted an interesting signature piece to go next to the china hutch.
For our couch and chair we decided to go with a 1920's tufted chesterfield couch. They are very comfortable and give the room a feeling of richness and sophistication. I almost had a heart attack when they arrive because the furniture is huge and bulky for our little house. But once it was all in place I coudn't be happier with it.
This quickly became my new favorite reading chair. So we hunted around to find the perfect reading lamp. The shade on this is made of Mica so it has a really neat glow that doesn't come across in pictures.
This quickly became my new favorite reading chair. So we hunted around to find the perfect reading lamp. The shade on this is made of Mica so it has a really neat glow that doesn't come across in pictures.
The last piece in this room was the coffee table. I had fallen in love with a trunk I saw at Restoration Hardware, but who has four thousand dollars to throw at a coffee table? So I hunted on Craig's list until I found the perfect one for less than two hundred. One person's trash can be another's treasure! We found this amazing old trunk in Lincoln. We brought it home, slapped some legs on the bottom to make it high enough, and whuala! Coffee table with storage!
Last but not least we purchased a rug for the dining room. We found one that matched the living room in color but was a bit more formal. It gave the rooms good separation.
Now we kick up our feet and enjoy the finished product!
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