2616 County Road 33

2616 County Road 33

Friday, February 17, 2012

Living Room

A five month long project... the living room renovation. As with every room in this fixer upper house, the renovation ended up being a much bigger project than we expected.

Living Room (11"2" x 17')


BEFORE
Dark and dated


AFTER
Brightly updated.

BEFORE
AFTER
AFTER
BEFORE
This hearth was out of proportion for the space, blocking the door and making it awkward to walk by.  A number of ceramic tiles were missing.
AFTER
Storage cabinet (18" wide x 24" deep x 80" tall)
(unfinished oak from Home Depot)
Two cabinets are positioned back to back,
to create ample storage.
Dimmable recessed lighting, two lights on each side.
Wonderful storage for photo albums and crafts.
The other side houses our DVD's, CD's, video games and misc. electronics items.
BEFORE
AFTER
The multi-colored slate and two cabinets put the budget over on this project, but well worth it!

The mood of a fire (year around) without the heat or fire hazard.
Flicker Electrical Lights~ I simply plug in a discrete outlet and enjoy.


IN PROGRESS...
This house had NO INSULATION in the walls and we wanted each room insulated for energy efficiency; this meant exposing the studs.  Upon taking the old brown panel down we discovered random 1/2 inch boards (looked as though they were previously (salvaged) nailed to the studs under the drywall instead of exposed studs under the wall cover. This was a good and bad situation. Good that the boards add to a stronger structure to the frame of the house, bad, that it's more time and challenge to get the walls insulated behind the boards.The solution: random boards carefully taken off (numbering where they went), install fresh insulation, then replaced the boards. (this photo below shows before we replaced the random boards- you can see the insulation behind the boards)

Hummmm? why is that tape on top of the fireplace when we bought the house?
Because as we took the fireplace apart, we discovered this "gaping crack" in the ceiling that was taped where the fireplace met the ceiling.  This crack opened directly into the attic.  Was the tape there to prevent critters from coming in the house or the cold/hot air from coming in? Probably both! Easy fix.

Another project that took extra time with this living room remodel was getting all the old electrical updated.  Old wiring in the walls were replaced, several new outlets were added, and recessed ceiling lights in several places were also added since there was no overhead lighting in the living room what so ever; a common situation in older home living rooms.
Dimmable recessed lighting... above both TV cabinets and two separate pot lights in main living area.

The fireplace took a chunk of time as it was a major fire hazard! We considered replacing the old firebox that was broken in three places, but decided it wasn't worth the monetary investment especially since we live in south Texas and only have a couple weeks worth of winter that the fireplace is actually used in any given year. We decided to eliminate the hazardous area and reconstruct the space for the "look" of a fireplace with more function and purpose.  This "candle place" has an electrical outlet in it for mood lighting and also boasts of abundant storage (in cabinets) on each side.

This is after the demo.
Notice the burn spots on the wall?
YES... a fire waiting to happen!  The firebox had been installed improperly with no heat barrier to protect the drywall. 


Amazing what a new coat of fresh paint can do.
Original ceiling pattern with visual appeal.