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My Living Room Phase 1 Plans

Oh, I have such plans for my living room!  But my long term plans include such things as removing the polystyrene ceiling tiles and re-drywalling the ceiling, building walls, switching out two tall windows for much shorter ones, building a bookcase and fireplace along one wall, adding beautiful wainscoting on the walls, and wallpapering the upper part of the walls with some gorgeous grasscloth.

Yeah.  That’s the long term plan.

But for now, I need a short-term, attainable, Phase 1 plan for my neglected living room.  And as much as I’d like to just focus only on my bedroom until it’s completely finished, I’d also like to get some stuff done in my living room so that I don’t want to crawl in a hole and hide in shame when people come to my front door.  Because, let’s face it, this is just not the first impression I’d like to make on visitors.

House living room before 1

I took these pictures at about 10:00pm last night.  So the answer to your question is, “Yes, I still have these curtains hanging up that were in the house when we closed almost three months ago.

House living room before 2

And yes, that one panel really is hanging on by one solitary drapery pin, and I haven’t even given it a thought or done anything to fix it.  Why spend precious time fixing something that won’t look any better after it’s fixed than it does now?  Nope.  Those precious minutes are best spent elsewhere.

It’s just a sad display, right?  The only good thing anyone could say about this room is that the floors look good.

House living room before 4

So I can’t really focus on my long-term vision for this room just yet.  Not only because I need to save up some money, have lots of time to dedicate to such a large project, perhaps find some willing and able people to help, and just gear up mentally for the huge job that is drywalling, but also because we need to have our foundation leveled before I can do any sort of major construction-type projects like building walls.  Right now our floors are a bit…ummmm…wavy.

House living room before 5

So I definitely need a “Phase 1” plan for this room so that I can be confident when opening the front door to visitors.

My plan will start with this fabric that I fell in love with from P. Kaufmann called Florabunda Sea Glass.

Drapery fabric, P. Kaufmann Florabunda Sea Glass

Blues and greens.  What else would you expect?  🙂

I’ve ordered that fabric, and it’s on the way.  I’ll be using it only on the big window, and then for accents here and there.

The two smaller windows will be covered in my absolute favorite Maple Providence bamboo Roman shades from Home Depot.  They’re the same ones that I used in the condo

And in fact, I use them in just about every room I decorate.  I love the warmth that they add to a room, and I LOVE the fact that they’re actually privacy shades, as opposed to most bamboo or natural grass shades that offer little to no privacy at night unless you line them (which I might eventually do anyway just so that they’re white from the exterior of the house, but it’s good to not have to worry about that immediately).

On the walls, I’ll have to wait for grasscloth and gorgeous wainscoting.  This is the look I want for my walls eventually.

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Via Elle Decor (sorry, I don’t have a direct link to that picture)
But for now, I’ll just have to settle for paint and a chair rail. Above the chair rail, I think I’m going to use a Behr color called Breakfast Blend…

Behr Breakfast Blend

I’ll be testing it out on the wall today, so we’ll see if I stick with it or not. I’ll let you know if I decide on something else.

Below the chair rail, I’ll be using the same white that I used in the condo called Polar Bear (also by Behr). I thought I might change to a different white in the house, but after thinking about it and looking at the options, I decided to stick with what’s tried and true for me. So Polar Bear it is.

Now on the ceiling, unfortunately the polystyrene tiles have to stay for now. I’m going to tackle the ceiling in the bedroom and the hallway before I even think about tearing apart the ceiling in other areas of the house. (You have no idea how much self-control that takes from me!!! 😀 )

But while I have to live with the tiles, I don’t have to live with the chrome chandelier. So I’ll be swapping it out for my new chandelier that I purchased from Home Depot (for less than $100!!).

Grace 3-light Oil-Rubbed Bronze Chandelier from Home Depot

Since the current chandelier is in a very strange place (just kind of floating oddly between the living room and the entryway), and I’m not planning on doing any electrical work during this Phase 1 of decorating, I’ll have to swag the chandelier over into its proper place. Not ideal, but it’ll work.

So that’s what I’ll be working on in the next couple of days. I’ll keep you posted on my progress, and I’ll be sharing my furniture plan with you this week also.

Commencing Phase 1 decorating… 🙂

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31 Comments

    1. I thought that I would go a different direction in the house, but when it came right down to it, I just had to face the fact that I’m drawn to blues and greens. I’ll be using different colors in the house (more saturated colors rather than the teals and apple greens that I used in the condo), but still in the blue and green families.

  1. Wow, we could be house twinsies. I have a lot of the same issues and plans going on in my house that I need to do. My ceiling tiles in the living room seem to be made of wood or something, though. I’m also looking into doing a temporary makeover til long-term goals can be completed.

    I’m truly excited to see how things come along in your home.

  2. As you know the painting alone will make a huge difference. Add window treatments (btw, gorgeous fabric) and some baseboard trim and it be well on the way to fabulous!

  3. Kristi… love your short term plans and think you’re so smart to at least have a “holding area” for guests so that you’re not ashamed to open the door. LOL! Your colors will look amazing and can’t wait to see your short term fix… love your blog and look forward to all your posts…

  4. Love your Phase 1 plans – and that fabric – beautiful! I know that sometimes you have to do some short term stuff before the ideal room comes to be – am there myself. Can’t wait to see the room when you get phase one complete – I’m sure it will be fab – U- lous!

  5. I have those same bamboo shades all through my house and I love them. They look great with any decorating style. Can’t wait to see phase one!

  6. I noticed you had a painted plank-look ceiling in the condo. Would that be a solution to cover up the old asbestos tiles in the living room of the house?

    1. The ceiling tiles actually aren’t asbestos. They’re just plain ‘ole polystyrene. I probably will do some planked ceilings somewhere just so that I don’t have to re-drywall the ceilings in the entire house, but I’ll take the polystyrene off before I do that.

  7. Hi Kristi,
    I love the fabric. There is so much you can do with that pattern.

    The original curtains are still screaming “old lady”…lol

  8. I love that fabric! I bought six yards of it when I was in college, and carried it around for two years because I was too afraid to use it on the wrong thing! It now hangs as cafe curtains over my kitchen sink. Beautiful!

  9. LOVE that paint color! So rich and warm! I think that the grass cloth and wainscoting will be perfect for that room! And your new chandelier, gorgeous and what a steal! You are showing great self control in facing tasks in an orderly fashion. I’d probably end up in there at 3am tearing ceiling tiles out! I’m that way – kind of like marking my territory over the pervious owners or something LOL! I did that in one house with ugly wallpaper. It was so liberating! Thank you so much for taking the time to keep us posted on your renovation/redecorating. I am really enjoying it! Hugs, Leena

  10. I have a gallon of that Breakfast Blend paint by Behr! Of course that’s the color that I originally wanted to paint the master bedroom so I bought the paint in a “home buying happy craze” and now I think it’s too dark for our room… I have another idea for it though so hopefully it doesn’t go to waste. Right now the nursery is what needs to be done PRONTO considering I’m due in eight short weeks! =]

  11. I never tire of blue and green, and the more subtle tones of that fabric is just beautiful, Kristi.
    I love that you don’t panic–a short-term plan, plus a bigger picture long-term.
    So fun, watching your projects from the ground up!

  12. I totally understand ‘phase one’! My kitchen has been ‘phase one’ for about 6 years and will stay that way for a while yet. Anywoo, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the fabric you chose along with the beautiful, rich wall color. Can’t wait to see it completed with furniture to make it look welcoming and homey.

  13. Kristi! What size of the blinds do you need? I have 4 23×78’s lying in my garage! yep, the bamboo ones from home depot.

  14. Bgautiful colors and ideas. It’s funny. We have the same ceiling and I just don’t know how difficult it’s going to be o change it out. I like the pic of the kitchen with the wood ceiling. Will be watching your progress. 🙂

  15. Love your plans for phase 1 so far! I have the same chandelier placement issues and just ordered the 5 light chandelier for my living room a few days ago!