It ain't easy being green

The living room in our house is a place of refuge. It is our area for relaxing, entertaining, meeting, and discussion. There are many nights of warm crackling fires, reading in the corner, laughing with friends and sipping red wine in its future. Without a family room or finished basement, the living room is our only option. If we had kept our living room the way it was when we bought the house, rest assured: none of this could happen.

Well, let's be honest, it isn't so much that it physically could not happen... so much as it was: who wants to sit in this awful, disgusting, dark, room? And it was GREEN! Not just a normal green either, multifaceted green. Many different shades of green all combining in this one terrifying place.

Poor thing. Even it's blinds were green. Did you even know they made colored blinds? You shouldn't. Forget that now.

There were no overhead lights. The windows were original and very few of them were spared the effects of vandalism. The floor was worn, stained and creaking. The strange outcrop in the ceiling would lead you to believe that the upstairs shower had leaked at some point. THIS is what we bought.

But it had beautiful built in bookshelves! And an original mantle and black subway tile surround! The base trim was wide and lights are easily added....

So it began. It is difficult to provide you with a timeline of the living room's transformation, as this room was typically used as our workshop. Remember it was -20 degrees outside for the majority of the time we spent working on this house and we only had one viable electrical outlet. *sigh* Memories!

What I can tell you, though, is that it took 3-5 coats of paint to cover the green on the bookshelves, trim, and baseboards. The walls took an entire day to paint. It was mathematically impossible to symmetrically line up our can lighting and there is probably still green paint on my beautiful fireplace.

We refinished the floors in this room the same as the rest of the house, however, we were required to replace some of them. This was easier than expected due to the fact that the flooring company which we had found out produced the original flooring was still in operation here in Louisville! They also had the same flooring in stock. They must be doing something right.  We ran the new boards in with the old near the back door, where decades of coming in with wet boots had worn and warped the wood. Once stained, you cannot tell the difference in the slightest.

We took down a wall between the living room and the butler's pantry (now bathroom) to create a walkway between the kitchen and the living room. Of course, when we removed the wall, we found the plumbing for all of the upstairs tucked inside. That's the way home renovations work, right? If you're going to take down a wall it can't just be a pretty, empty wall.

So, when we reworked our plumbing we needed a place to put it. If you'll notice... the bookshelves bump out an extra 3 inches towards the back door now. Therein lies our plumbing!

I cannot even begin to tell you what happened in the ceiling... but I shall try. We tore out the existing plaster ceiling to replace it with drywall, so we could install new lighting and update all of the wiring. While bare, we noticed that the toilet drain had long ago rotted through. The second floor joists had been soaking in rusty poowater for years and were rotten, split and bowed. We called in an expert who was able to "sister joist" them (i.e. join them together with a new, clean and solid board for added support). A much easier fix than we had originally expected, but every now and then, while taking a bath, I wonder if I am going to end up in the living room... or worse: the basement.

Think about this picture the next time you come over and use our upstairs bathroom. 

James, cutting away the top 6 inches of our walls, in order to blow in insulation.

The back door was one of the first things we replaced in the house. We weren't able to use it since it was locked and the skeleton key was long ago lost. The panes had been broken out, as well. It was a small step towards the greater good, but at the time it felt like a huge accomplishment!

In addition to the new paint, new ceiling, new door, removed wall, refinished floors, wiring, lighting and plumbing, our living room also had a healthy dose of insulation, crown molding, and new windows. We are still working on the design and decor of the room, but for now... it isn't green.