From Dark and Dreary, to Fresh and Modern

The fireplace is the living room was dark.  Dark oak, dark reddish brown brick, dark, dark, dark.  YUCK! I knew immediately that I was going to paint the fireplace a much lighter color to freshen things up.

LIVING ROOM AND FIREPLACE BEFORE WE MOVED IN

DARK AND DREARY FIREPLACE

The living room was painted yellow (the same color every other room in the house was painted).  I knew that I really wanted a gray and yellow room but it was definitely NOT the walls that I wanted to be yellow.  The walls got painted a soft gray (the same color in the kitchen and hallways), the old base moulding was taken out and a new 5" moulding was added and painted Benjamin Moore Cloud White, of course the floors were done, and some yellow accents were added.  BUT the biggest difference in this room was the painting of the fireplace.
I had mentioned to several people (Nate, and his family specifically) my intentions with the fireplace and got an overwhelming response,  "Don't do it!"  No chance, my mind was made up and the fireplace was going to be painted.  So, I broke out the can of Benjamin Moore Cloud White and went at it!  Actually, I had to put two coats of primer on the fireplace first, and then the three coats of Cloud White.  Covering the dark wood was hard work for such a light color!
Take a look at the difference!  Fresh and Modern don't you think?

PAINTED FIREPLACE

We added a yellow Pottery Barn Moorish rug (great Craigslist find), dupioni silk drapes in a color just slightly darker than the walls (found at Tuesday Morning), and some pillows that my mother made with fabric (Dahlia Dove) from Calico Corners.  We also took down the very dark mirror above the fireplace (photo above) and added a sunburst mirror.  We found the mirror at Burlington Coat Factory and loved it except for the fact that it was a hideous gold color.  We spray painted it with a mixture of pewter paint and satin nickel metallic paint to give it some depth.  It turned out very nicely, if I do say so myself.  With all of these elements and the freshly painted fireplace, I had a fresh and modern, gray and yellow living room.

FINISHED!

Oh, and see that large mirror in the corner?  Nate made that for me for my birthday in 2006.  Isn't he beyond talented?!

CHRISTMAS IN OUR NEW LIVING ROOM!

Livin' It Up in the New Den

One thing about us, is that when we want to relax, we need to relax, and we needed a place to do it.  Our new home had a room (that we now refer to as the Den) that was adjacent to the kitchen and leads out to the backyard.  It was OK the way that it was, but we really desired a comfy, cozy place to relax.

The existing den had a wood fireplace and some wood veneer built-ins around it.

OLD DEN

OLD BUILT-INS

The built-ins were alright, but the space above the existing built-ins was being wasted.  There was a drywall area above the fireplace that we really wanted to take out to open up the space a little bit.  The room has a vaulted ceiling with a skylight and we really wanted to highlight that element of the room.

Nate began the tear out while I was working on the dining room wainscoting.

TEARING OUT THE DRYWALL.

You can see how much room was above the original built-ins that was just covered up with drywall.  We decided to keep the built-ins at each side and eventually add height to them and paint them to match the rest of the trim in our house.  The wood surround and mantel around the fireplace was easily removed as it was just a veneer over the drywall.

NEW DRYWALL COVERING THE OPENING

PATCHED AND READY TO PAINT.  LOVING THE NEW FLOORS TOO!

In our previous townhouse, Nate had decided that he really wanted to do some Pennsylvania stacked stone around the fireplace there.  It turned out beautifully, and we got a lot of compliments on it.  If you know anything about the company that Nate works for, they do a lot of stacked stone walls and are truly masters of the art.  We decided to hire some of the masons that work for Nate and have them do a similar look here, taking the stone all the way to the ceiling to highlight our vaulted ceilings.

First, we had to paint.  We decided to go with a color called "Gun Metal Gray" by Benjamin Moore that had a hint of blue in it.  We really wanted to go darker in this room to create the comfy, cozy feeling that we were going for.  The built-ins were painted "Cloud White" by Benjamin Moore to match everything else that we painted with this off-white color.  We also needed to mount our cedar mantel that we had beat up with some chains and hammers in the garage to give it a little "character".  It was also a great stress reliever!

NEW MANTEL!

Once the mantel was hung, we also hung a board that would eventually support our television (that is the large black piece of wood above the mantle) and Nate ran flexible conduit from the left side cabinet up through the mantle (this eventually gets hidden by the stone) so that the cable and electrical cords could be hidden.  Pure genius!  Time to call in the very talented stone masons...

JOSE WORKING HARD ON THE STONE FIREPLACE

OUR SMILING MASONS, JOSE AND NATALIO

ALMOST DONE!

Now it was time to fill the built-ins with all of the books that we had collected over time.  We also added cedar on each of the cabinets below to match the cedar mantel.  Nate roughed them up and ground in some dirt in order to get the new cedar to match the older cedar of the mantel.  They turned out great and added a nice element to tie everything together.

BEFORE THE CEDAR TOPS ON THE CABINETS, BUT ALMOST FINISHED

Above the right bookshelf, we decided to add a nook to display some art work.  We are currently searching for a cool piece of driftwood to put up there to create great shadows when the small puck light illuminates the space.  The puck light was Nate's idea to add some interesting lighting to the space.

Get ready for the Before and After!!!

BEFORE

AFTER!

The furniture in this room will eventually be replaced.  The money tree in the backyard was cut down for this renovation, and hasn't regrown yet in order for us to buy new furniture for this room :)