Room # 1 Done!

One down, 9 more to finish! Whew!

This was a fun room to work on and by far the easiest. The only major change was removing the crown molding and painting. Sometimes I get a little too eager to start work and forget to take “before” pictures. For luck, my mother in law took this one before I got too far! (And yes, I know I shouldn’t have been standing on the top part of the ladder, but the big one was somewhere else and us petite people do what we gotta do!)

Hubby and I really like having tall ceilings and are both more minimalistic (probably more so me) in design and living space. By removing the crown molding, I felt the eye could travel up and down more fluidly and there wasn’t anything to break the “line of sight”.

I wanted the beautiful floor and window trim to stand out, so I went neutral with the wall color and used a very light gray. Stayed away from anything with a pink/red/purple undertone as those would clash/fight with the cherry wood tones and didn’t want to commit to anything with blue/green undertones. I must admit – it didn’t turn out as I hoped, but I still like it. And until all the other rooms are done, I’m not spending time repainting this one! So maybe in the future I’ll find a warmer gray a tad darker.

Changed around the furniture layout a couple times before settling on the current set up. I just couldn’t cover up those gorgeous windows, so tried to work around keeping those as open as possible. The only additions from our last house was the rocking chair, which was previously in the basement, a new floor lamp and some different pillow covers.

I’m discovering I enjoy using new and old things to decorate. Not sure if the room has an overall specific style, but there’s a leaning towards farmhouse/vintage. I don’t like areas to look cluttered and am ok not having something on every single wall.

Most of the wall décor was from our last house. I chuckled because I was going to put things up almost the same and then my mother in law was like “You can do it differently, mix things up, that’s the fun part” and she was right! Also incorporated some things left with the house like the wood crate under the ZZ Plant and the old hay fork used in barn lofts.

A decorator’s job is also never done! I was originally going to publish this post last week. Buuuuttt then I was doing some surveillance in the basement (trying to catch a very pesky mouse) and looked at some extra doors propped in a corner. Now I knew they were there, but it wasn’t on my radar to use them anywhere. However, after dusting them off a little, I couldn’t not use this one on the main floor somewhere. Set up is not perfect yet (needs a taller table with a table lamp and some other small stuff instead of the floor lamp, but I’m liking it so far!

Not having a large budget while updating rooms may seem daunting, but it’s been fun to see how crafty we can be with reusing things. There are a few things, like a new ceiling light, wood blinds, and L shaped couch on the wish list, but in time. Besides, with two young children who rough house quite often, I’m trying to keep things realistic! I like to have décor but need the space usable for a family that farms and does wood working (aka lots of messes).

So other than needing to mount the TV to the wall yet and tidy up electronics – I’m counting this room done! I just love looking in here, especially when the sun graces us with its presence. Come on Spring!