Living Room Before-and-Afters

So, a year after moving in, we’ve finally got all the boxes unpacked, and my interior-decor vision is beginning to be realized. We got our wallpaper up in the front rooms, and I’m really really happy with the result. Here’s the “before” pic of the living room:

house 009

And here’s the after:

living room

Don’t worry, the shark does not bite. I still want to remove the fireplace screen and replace it with something more appropriate to the period of the house, but I’m basically just so happy to have that horrible plywood paneling gone. Here’s a close-up of the wallpaper—it’s a Morris print overlaid with metallic gold, from Bradbury & Bradbury. It looks great against the dark wood.

wallpaper close-up

We also have the tiny front room set up as a little reading nook:

reading room

This is a Voysey pattern wallpaper. I think it could be overwhelming in a larger room, but in a small space it’s lush and inviting. I want to put up a hanging plant over the big chair, to have something alive and natural playing off the print. I have been really happy to notice that the reading room is actually getting used a lot—Robin calls it his “thinking chair,” after Blue’s Clues, and Sam likes to sit there when he’s browsing the Internet on his Xoom. So that’s turned into a nice, usable little space.


10 Responses to “Living Room Before-and-Afters”

  • Amy Says:

    Oh, it’s looking SO good! I adore your reading room update. Are those the new bookshelves. It is very inviting, and a nice little spot to retreat to from the ‘madness.’ We’re staring on our next project tomorrow, but it’s outdoors. I know the summer so far has been bad for ‘playdates’ but how about we shoot for mid to late August? It’s been way too long

  • Dom Says:

    Wow – nice!

    I wouldn’t dare have a room done up like that with kids in the house, but it’s the sort of thing I aspire to once they’re grown up.

    • shannon Says:

      They’ve not so far shown any inclination to take forks to the walls, so I’m hoping that the wallpaper will survive — other than that I think everything is pretty durable. We’ll see, I guess! Davy likes to pull down all the books he can reach, but that’s easy enough to set to rights afterwards.

  • Nina Says:

    Yummmmmmmmmy! Shannon, it looks gorgeous. We thoroughly approve.

    Now come here and fix our house up… our living/dining areas have devolved into “early 21st century Fisher Price”.

  • Pei Says:

    Very cute and cozy. 🙂

  • Mo Says:

    It was so good to have a chance to have a real chat.

    The rooms are just beautiful. The wallpaper is stunning, and the decor is perfect. I love the bookcases. What a lovely home. SPLENDID.

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