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Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Tackle It Tuesday #16 - Living Room

Tackle It Tuesday Meme

Today's tackle is actually something that we did over the weekend. See, we found ourselves at home on Saturday with no plans, since we'd originally thought that we would be in Detroit that day. Ron had the day off and we enjoyed a nice, quiet morning at home with the kids. Then the talk turned to what we could do - a good opportunity to get some things done around the house that we'd been talking about or that needed to get done. We were a bit ambitious and never did get to the outdoor stuff - the leaves still cover our lawn, hoses and other things need to get put away for the winter and the grass needs one good final mowing. But we did get one big project done and it made a huge difference in our house.

When we moved into this house, every room was painted white (with very dark wood trim - can you say 70's decor!). I quickly painted both of the girls' bedrooms the day before we moved, and we painted the kitchen and stairway about a year later. Two years ago when we remodeled our basement, we bought paint for the living room but had never had the chance to actually get the painting done.

Until Saturday.

We had to move things around in our living room anyway - last year after Christmas, we turned everything around 180 degrees but that arrangement left no room for the Christmas tree this year. So on Saturday we moved everything back around to where it was before. And as long as we were doing that anyway, we decided to go ahead and paint.

The difference is dramatic and now we're wishing we'd taken the time years ago to finish the room. It feels like an actual living room now instead of a bunch of furniture thrown together in a space.

Here's an idea of what it looked like before (this is from before we turned everything around to face the other direction):


And here's a few from last year while everything was switched around - you can kind of get the idea anyway...


We'd made a little hallway behind the sectional, from the front door to the kitchen...


This is from Becca's first birthday party back in January - you can see how the walls are stark white and all of the furniture is different shades of brown and looks kind of thrown together...


Here are photos from Saturday while we were painting and moving furniture. We ended up doing two walls (the walls on either side of the front door) in a darker color, kind of a beige-gold color and the other two walls in a lighter tan color.

Starting off...

LivingRoomRedo_001

Ron did all of the painting (I wasn't feeling well and was keeping the kids occupied, along with the help of way too much television. I did help with touch-ups though).

LivingRoomRedo_015

Moving furniture - yes we had a lot of knick-knacks and toys and 'junk' to put away and find other homes for as well...

LivingRoomRedo_017

LivingRoomRedo_021

You can kind of see a little bit in this next one - we had half of the couch in the kitchen all day, which made getting around a bit difficult.

LivingRoomRedo_033

It's amazing what you find under the couch when you move it - cat toys, kids' toys, and other assorted junk... And yes - Ron did vacuum! :)

LivingRoomRedo_026

And here are the 'after' shots - it's a bit hard to see the color because of the lamp, but it looks amazing. We can't believe the difference!

LivingRoomRedo_044

A well-deserved rest (it was past midnight when we finished the room)... The funky spots on the walls are from the lamp throwing odd shadows and angles of light.

LivingRoomRedo_040

LivingRoomRedo_042

LivingRoomRedo_043


What are you tackling this week? And check out other Tackle It Tuesday posts over at 5 Minutes for Mom!

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22 wonderful people said...:

Sara said...

That's a lot of work! It looks great.

Anonymous said...

It looks fantastic! I'm a huge fan of color. My home is a color palette. :)

Karen said...

WOW! That is amazing! You guys got a lot of work done that day! And the after pictures are just beautiful!

jennyr said...

that's a big job and it looks great! I like the choice of colors in your wall! very nice tackle!

Anonymous said...

Wow it looks like all that work paid off!!! Looks very nice!

~Amber~ said...

Oh wow!!! It makes a HUGE difference! Can't wait to see it in person! :)

Anonymous said...

That looks fabulous Deb! I'm jealous... my living room had been in "painting mode" going on week 5 now (hubby has ADD when it comes to projects...)

Mo said...

WoW!! It looks amazing!! Luv the color choices (and you're display case, BTW, is gorgeous)

You really make me feel like a slacker!!

Great tackle.

Jean said...

It looks awesome. If I can't paint my retro house I can atleast be inspired to declutter and clean it. :)

~Bren~ said...

THAT is a tackle!! It looks beautiful...clean and crisp!

Jennifer said...

That looks awesome!!
I want to paint my family room.
Hmmm wonder if I could knock it out this week?

Anonymous said...

I tackled my tuesday tasks, not 100% but better then it was!

Come check out my blog!

Mom Knows Everything said...

Wow...that's a lot of stuff to tackle. I find it hard just to keep up let alone tackle anything new these days.q

MrsMomma said...

Wow! That's a great tackle & it looks fabulous!

Great Job!!
-Heather

bcmomtoo said...

It looks so nice! We keep thinking we should paint and add some color to the walls, but we can't decide what color or where to end the color since the rooms run together. So, for now, they're the same white we painted them when we first built the house.

Corey~living and loving said...

wow girl! I am so envious. I wish my hubby would let me paint. that looks so wonderful! well done!

Shana said...

The room looks GREAT!!! All of the hard work really made a big difference. Josh and I painted the living room in our house shortly before we had to sell it. We used a color really close to the one you guys used... :o)

Eva said...

Wow, looks awesome. It's amazing what paint and some straightening can do. Impressive that you did it all yourselves.

Anonymous said...

WOW! It looks amazing, you did so much work, in such a sort amount of time. We at tackling the kitchen, still....You put us to shame. We just now finally picked a color.
Loved how your room came out!

Anonymous said...

Wow... Deb that looks great. Very good hubby hehe :)

Kerry said...

Looks AWESOME Deb!

Anonymous said...

Wow Deb!! Your room looks AMAZING!!

We did the same thing to our kitchen, we painted the two far walls a different color than the other walls - they are currently a gold and maroon (think Panera Bread colors here). And it truly does make a difference.

Good job on making the change. I KNOW how much work that is!!