Redecoration, Part 1

Bonnie and I decided that our big project of the year would be to redecorate our living room and dining room. Although the two rooms are coordinated in terms of color, the dining room is sort of modern (if you call 1980's modern) and the living room is sort of traditional, except for the sofa. Although they are pleasant enough, they have always seemed a little cold, formal, and uninviting. We want to tie the two together in a Victorian style with darker woods and warmer colors.

Bonnie found a decorator, and we have been selecting fabrics, furniture, paints, and accessories for a few months now. We will replace all of the door casings, the baseboards in all of the areas, and the crown molding in the dining room. The new crown molding will be lower, and will have an embedded 'light rope' to provide indirect lighting. The chandelier in the dining room will also be replaced. And there will be new window treatments.

We have selected most of the furniture--a custom sofa, 2 club chairs, a coffee table, and 3 lamp tables for the living room, and a new dining table and custom chairs for the dining room. All have been ordered, and the coffee table and lamp tables have arrived already. We stuffed them into our 2 extra bedrooms.

The project really got underway last Sunday, July 15, when we cleared all of the furniture and accessories out of both rooms. We also cleaned out the entry way and the connecting hallway. The project extended into the two halls because we decided to remove the acoustic 'popcorn' from the ceilings. Now we have decided to add some indirect lighting to the hall as well. With the added tasks and the unexpectedly high cost of the furniture we selected, the project is already about 100% over the originally planned cost, even though we ditched our plan to put a raised tin ceiling in the dining room.

Disposing of the old furniture has been somewhat problematic. Everything has that dated " '80's look." The lamp tables are a lighter wood that is out of vogue these days, as are the wing back chairs--the local consignment shops would have nothing to do with them. We sold the travertine dining room table on eBay. When the guys came to pick it up, we started to lift the top off the pedestal, and the top cracked across the center into two pieces. After we all recovered from the shock, the buyer agreed to take the table and we agreed to accept 1/2 of the sale price. Nobody was very happy at that point, but at least the table was gone. Bonnie found a friend at work who took the sofa and the dining room chairs.

On Monday the 16th the dry wall crew arrived. They scraped the ceilings and removed most of the existing base boards, door casings, and crown moldings in the 2 rooms, the entryway and the hall. An electrician wired the power and switches for the indirect lighting in the dining room and the hall. And a lady arrived to measure the windows for drapes.

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty much 'off days,' except that on Tuesday the material for the new base boards and moldings arrived. The door casing material was not the pattern we wanted. So they had to take it back and get the molding that matches the door frames in the family room.

Today, Thursday the 18th, the dry wall crew is back. They will re-surface all of the ceilings.

Saturday will be molding day. On Friday, I plan to paint just the top one foot or so of the halls in the dining room and hall in preparation for the crown molding. Then I get to paint all of the walls next week. We will have a professional painter do the ceilings and the trim.

When it's all done I will take and post some pictures. I regret that I did not take some "before" pictures. Maybe I can find some in the archives.