The house tour continues!
When we lived at Parkway
(which is what we called our old place and, for my own convenience, I
will henceforth refer to it by that name) we put a lot of work into
making it pretty. The living room, kitchen, and second bedroom all got
makeovers.
Our bedroom, however, did not. Not only did
we never paint the walls–which, incidentally, were 3 or 4 different
shades of not-white–we never even hung anything on the walls. We just
threw our stuff in there and called it good. FOR FIVE YEARS. I’ll be
honest: it was kind of a hole. It adequately met our sleeping needs, but
on the whole it was not exactly a room we wanted to hang out in.
Which
is why I really wanted to make our new master bedroom pretty. Ideally,
it would be a peaceful sanctuary we could retreat to at the end of a
long day. Realistically, it would at the very least not be embarrassing
to show people.
Then we decided to move here, and my dream of a soothing bedroom was shattered by haunting visions of THIS:
This is exactly what the room looked like the day we moved in, dead leaves on the carpet and everything.
Three
guesses as to where the bed originally stood. (We’re pretty sure the
previous occupants had a large dog. And that the dog slept in this room.
And also ran around and around and around with its filthy paws. Ick.)
Upon
seeing it the first time, I pictured Gloria from Modern Family dressed
as an evil village bruja saying, “Welcome to your nightmare!
Hahahahaha!”
Because seriously. What is happening in this room?
A
green and metallic gold sponge-painted accent wall, that’s what. Also
crown molding that stops mere inches from the adjacent wall.
Because that makes sense.
By the way, the gold and green mess is repeated on the entryway walls too. In case you were wondering.
Also, these people had put in–and upon moving out, taken with them–a TON of built-ins.
For example, the closet was in decent shape. It just didn’t have anything in it.
Not even a closet rod to hang things from. Nothing. They gutted the place.
And that is why we’ve been sleeping in the garden of bloody baby hands. The alternative was just more than I could handle.
Only
a few days after moving in, we declared a jihad on filthy carpets and
hideous walls and started tearing into this room with righteous fury.
Tomorrow I’ll post progress photos. Here’s a secret for you: it actually
looks better all torn apart.
I am excited to see what you have done! If I think about the crown molding for a even a minute I laugh out loud. I just don't get it. And I can't believe they took the built-ins. Do you still get a discount at the container store? Haha.
Oh, don't I wish. It's tempting to apply for a seasonal position there just to get a discount around Christmas.
Taking all the built in bookshelves and closet rods? Weird. Maybe it will be fun for you to just start with a fresh palette and create new closet and shelf designs.
We had metallic gold and olive green wallpaper in our entryway in our house in Winslow all the years I lived there (ask your mom, she probably remembers). It was very modern at the time. It seemed weird to go into the house years later and it was gone – painted a regular, non-metalic color.
We are definitely enjoying starting from scratch, even if it is a lot more work. And your old wallpaper sounds fantastic.
Such fond memories. Both of your NEW home and Cynthia's old one.
Aren't you glad things have changed? 🙂
it takes a true artist to see the potential in that place…and why do you have a fancy tile entry to your bedroom? -shelby
The tile goes through the entire house, excluding bedrooms. It was easier to leave it in the weird little entry than to pry it up and replace it. Makes the room feel extra posh, doesn't it?