mantle

Though we still wait (somewhat) patiently for our "Mantel Guy" to get our mantel installed, this space already feels transformed. We have been using our formal living room more often for fires and family dinners around the coffee table. The kids enjoy Saturday nights or Sunday afternoons dancing, watching movies on floor pillows with the fire warming their backs, reading books in their comfy chairs, or just racing around the upstairs in non-stop circles. It has really changed from the unused formal space it was to a warm family gathering spot and I love that. The hearth really is the heart of the home.

I do not love the raspberries that have been smushed into the sofa, NOR the flying ember that burnt a hole in one of the seat cushions, but that's our lesson learned after removing our fireplace insert and replacing it with a screen that has an open top. Even without the mantel, it is already such a dramatic before and after.

With the previous owner's furniture, as it was for our inspection

On Move In Day, sans ANYTHING

With furniture last spring. Here is where it is important to note the walls. You might not be able to tell from these pictures, but that paint is pink and it was everywhere upstairs. Pink.





Prior to our amazing painter coming to rid the house of the PINK, we explored just how difficult it would be to remove that off-centered "mantel" and before we realized it, all three pieces were in the trunk of the SUV headed to the dump with that fireplace insert I had been itching to remove. It's been like this since January and though it clearly unfinished, it is a huge improvement. The walls ALONE make the house feel brand new. That mantel should be coming anyday now and it is going to tie it all together. If all goes well, "the mantel guy" will be helping to make somereally impressive changes to the family room in the coming months.

 

happy shelf

Though we haven't stalled on our updates to McCasa, we certainly have been negligent about updating our updates on the updates.

There is a long shelf across the entire downstairs family room below the windows. It has the potential to become a dusty catch all and it was a very dark wood. We have been working in stages to paint the copious amounts of moulding a nice bright white as opposed to the exact same color as the walls. It's nice to see the contrast and it frames the windows nicer. I have only painted one part of that long shelf the same bright white because I am not yet brave enought to take on the huge remaining piece. It will require at least one coat of primer and two coats of trim paint. I loved the results on this smaller side so much I made it the happy home for an assortment of frames featuring our favorite people.

Casual Formal Afters

Behold! We're pretty happy with the new look. It is exactly what we were looking for. The formal areas of the house are pretty complete and that feels like quite an accomplishment. Thoughts on some sort of curtains to frame the sliding glass door? We know we will be in and out often and don't want anything we will have to move each time. It's private back there with no neighbors in view, but it might be nice to frame the space and finish it, maybe have something to close when we want to have it be truly formal for our new Supper Club.

Casual Formal Dining

Our floor plan upstairs is very open, something we just love about our new house. It makes entertaining easy and the kids spend some time each night chasing each other in circles from the living room, through the dining room, around the corner and into the kitchen and repeat. We furnished the living room when we moved in, but we have been wanting to find something to complement that room while not overwhelming the adjacent kitchen for the dining room. We were looking for casual formal dining and I think we found it.

I still need to click a nice photo of the new table set up all perty, but here are your befores.

3 Season After

Really it should be "the almost after." We are adding an outdoor rug and painting eventually, but not quite yet since the weather is still pretty cold. We are really looking forward to spending evenings out there with the kids and after the kids go to bed with a glass of pinot noir.

3 Season Porch

We have been busy updating the house, making it our own. I haven't been the best at documenting those changes, but I'm trying to get better at that because some of the changes are just 'WOW!" I'm guilty of forgetting to take the all important before shots.

So feast your eyes on these befores of the 3 Season Porch off the Dining Room.

First we swept. Thankfully I had pint sized helpers.

Snazzy Comfort

Before:

During:

After:

The pink walls will need to be addressed, but we love this living room. It's comfortable. It's fun. It's perfect for us and we arrived at a consensus so quickly it had us both stunned. It's coming along. I cannot wait to have a fire in this room, curl up with a book and blanket, and sit and be.