the living room makeover. before and during.

[First things first. FirstHusband’s name has been officially changed to “FAVORITEHusband” for the next few weeks. probably longer. This post would not exist if it weren’t for his tireless and good natured hard work. and his math skills and his freakishly (and sometimes frustrating) attention to detail.]

I forgot to take a picture of the before, so this mid deconstruct will have to do. I’ll look for an old shot to compare with the “after” when we’re finished.

If you know me, you know there were full bookcases in this room.
Below are mid-relocation stacks for one of them.
(alphabetized by author’s last name of course)

This antique armoire already weighs a ton when it’s empty.
So.
It had to be emptied.

I ran out of flat surfaces. And some of it went into a charity box instead of back in the armoire.
I do not need a giant platter with a turkey on it when I have two plain giant platters.
and I do not need four glass beer steins with my graduate school logo on them.
and I do not need…so much STUFF.

This picture doesn’t show the family room furniture,
but we don’t normally have a love seat in front of the fireplace.
or a piano in front of the sliding doors.
There’ll be plenty of seating in the family room for the next few weeks.
Although, no room to walk. (notice the glass wear lining the piano).

Of course, what is a home renovation without a time-sucking distraction?
We took the sliding doors off the track so the dining table could fit through to live on the porch for a few weeks.
ewwwww.
and this picture was mid-scrub. It was BLACK before. guuh. ross.
(why and how did I never notice this before?)

After some steel brush, Mr. Clean grease cutting, shop vacuuming, this door opens and closes like buttah.

And back to the real job.
Scraping and sanding and sealing, oh my.

We needed a subfloor to raise the floor level to the same height as the current flooring.

And a moisture barrier.
Finally found a use for all that roofing material left over from Hurricane Charley.

And then, FINALLY, we put together a sample of the flooring we picked to see if we really like it.

we do.

So now, we order the rest of it.
and wait for it to ship.
and then finish laying it in the living room.
and then we get to empty the game room.
and do this all over again. yay.