:: a lakehouse renovation - the living room

Hello Friends & welcome back to { driftwood cottage }. I finally got around to taking some photos of the lake house and thought I would share the before and afters of the main floor Living Room. 

:: AFTER ::

:: BEFORE ::

This is the living room when we first viewed the home.

 As you can see this isn't a super large space.

Ugh, that pass through only highlighted the side of a big black refrigerator...I knew immediately how I wanted to solve that problem. The built in bookshelf & banquet have been the perfect solution. I can now fit twice as many people comfortably in the same amount of space.

:: DURING RENO ::

Ceilings have been stripped, and paint swatches are on the walls. At this point I had so many paint choices up I was driving myself crazy. I knew I wanted a neutral and something that would work well with the stone fireplace, I still hadn't decided on furniture so I was still up in the air.

The pass through between the Living Room & Kitchen.

 Crown moldings are up and I'm still deciding on paint color, also whether or not to paint the wainscoting the same as the wall color, not sure where that idea came from, but glad we didn't.

This was the exciting day when the flooring was finally going in. What a huge difference the hand scraped antique bamboo floors made throughout the house.

 Oops, looks like they painted the wainscoting after all...but not the trim...miscommunications happen...of course we went back to the wainscoting the same as all other trim. I went with Sherwin Williams White Duck on the walls and Benjamin Moore's White dove for all of the cabinetry & trim.  I am so pleased with the color I chose for the walls & trim. The walls are a lovely white with a hint of gray, and White Dove is the perfect white with no strange undertones. The floors are in & I'm already bringing in accessories and furniture is being delivered. 

 Lighting was so much fun to pick out and made such an impact on the updates to the house. I purchased most of the overhead lighting from Shades of Light, they have a specific section of lighting for 8 foot ceilings so I knew whatever I chose would work in our spaces. I also ordered some of our kitchen and bathroom fixtures from Lowe's, all very affordable stylish options.

The beginnings of decorating, little by little I brought in my online purchases & little finds from the usual places like Home Goods & World Market. Since this is our second home and we are only there part time I went with less expensive large furnishings knowing they would last longer with only minimal wear. Sofas & Living room chairs I ordered from Rooms To Go, opting for slipcovers & microfiber for easy cleaning. Two years in and the furniture from Rooms to Go is holding up quite nicely, and I suspect we will get many many more years out of it without a problem.

We opted to go without a television in this space since we have a large lounge area in the basement. This living room is for lovely lake views, cozy fires, good books, coffee & conversation.

{peace, love & hugs}

Carrie

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