A Livable Space

I hinted yesterday that I’m in the process of “moving in” to the house. There is one decent sized project to finish up before the final move– finishing the hardwood in the bedroom– but in the meantime I’ve been focusing on making other areas of the house feel more like rooms you could live in, and less like the entire contents of a Home Depot exploded in the middle of each room.

The current living room was actually both the living room and dining room in the house before I lost my mind and tore all the walls down.

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Here’s a shot from a similar angle now…

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Getting there was an adventure. After the roof rafters and sheathing had been replaced, the walls separating the dining room and living room came down. The left wall was also moved out four feet and the ceilings were vaulted.

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I did have a building crew helping with this part. MysteryMan and I took on some of the new framing and a lot of the “being terrified the roof was going to collapse” part of the work.

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Up until last weekend the living room was grand central for all kinds of projects. Trim staining, cabinet building, tile cutting, and the general storing of stuff.

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Clearing it out and cleaning it up was a several day project. But it got there. Here’s a little tour of our temporary lounging area:

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The cat thinks it’s pretty awesome.

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The leather chair in the image will actually be taking up residence next to the fireplace in the master bedroom once the floors are done, but it’s another great new lounging spot in the living room for now.

95 Responses

  1. I live in a lovely rental house … with nasty brown carpet. I would love an area rug to cover up some of the shudder-inducing fuzzy chocolate all over the floor.

  2. Bedroom! it would be nice to get out of bed and step on something soft first thing in the AM ๐Ÿ™‚

  3. Bedroom!!! The sisal rug I found marked down two years ago didn’t make it through the puppy’s, well, puppyhood. Now he’s a big floppy dog and not allowed on the bed or couches. I miss sitting on the rug and letting him try to fit onto my lap!

  4. I need a rug for every room in the house, but I really want one for our living room. Here in MN it is rather cold every day, and can you believe we have ceramic tile floors? My tootsies are cold!

  5. I’m a recent empty nester, and I’ve ripped up the carpet in the bedroom that housed (at different times) my 2 sons, my daughter, my sister and my nephew. This rug would be a perfect addition!

  6. We really need a new rug for the man cave/family room– we’re refinishing the basement and we have nothing for the space!

  7. My living room. We have an old PB carpet that the dog has ruined and it needs, desperately, to be replaced.

  8. Oh, a new rug might convince my hubby that we should get rid of the ugly dining/living room carpet and go hardfloor!!!!

  9. Our living room could use a new rug- it’s time to get rid of the old funky one I had in college. Thanks for the opportunity!

    P.S.- Maybe Mystery Man’ mom can give us some upholstery tips? Your couch looks great!

  10. Hm, plywood floors or rug… ok, a rug would be nice ๐Ÿ™‚

    /FellowDiyInProgress’er

  11. Could definitely use a rug like this in the living room. Nothing covering the bland floating floor right now. Would look great with the black/brown couches !

  12. Definitely the bedroom. I’m trying to bring in more soothing colors and fabrics, and a new rug is on my want list!

  13. Our living is desperately in need of a soft rug. We bought a fixer upper a couple months ago and had all of our hardwoods refinished. Unfortunately, our lovable, playful golden needs a confined play area so she won’t scratch up the floors and we will need a soft play area for the new addition on its way to our family!

  14. Oh….my daughter’s “everything” room which is a concrete subfloor covered with Home depot’s cheapest carpet now 16 years old could use a new rug…after i put down probably a floating laminate or vinyl plank floor…would love this rug on a dark floor!!

  15. We are closing on our “new” house next week. Aside from the glass-strewn shag in the master bedroom the whole house has hardwood floors that may or may not be salvageable. A nice soft rug would be great for the living room, family room or any of the bedrooms.

  16. I could use this in my bedroom! The hardwood floors are beautiful, but in the winter, way too cold on the warm tootsies. ๐Ÿ™‚

  17. Oh goodness! The living room! We haven’t been able to replace the pea soup green carpet in there. At least it isn’t a shag carpet.

  18. I could really use a rug for my living room as well. We have acres of tile in our house and we all love to lay on the floor when chatting or playing games- a rug would make it far more comfortable! (It’s sad that I’ll break out the yoga mat just because I feel like sitting on the floor.)

  19. Would be perfect in my living room- we went with a dark wall color, so this light color would really pop in there.

  20. We could use it in our upstairs bedroom. We really need to redo the floors – but the rug would hide things nicely until we get around to it!

  21. Yet again, I’m blown away by your insane skills – I know it’s not finished, but that before and after of the den is ridiculous! And my office could use a rug – the one I have in there right now is cute but WAY too tiny. ๐Ÿ™‚

  22. I’d love to be able to roll around on my livingroom floor! Hardwood/laminate just doesn’t do it for me in this regard : -)

  23. let’s see – the lakehouse has a huge need for a rug like this!! also vying for it – my condo bedroom…

  24. So…. the house that we rent has *horrible* 40 year old carpet in it. the carpet pad has totally worn away and in places you can see the subfloor through holes in the carpeting. You think this would be high priority for the manager, who is not at all a slum lord or anything.. but I guess not. Our office area has a very yucky 8×10 walmart carpet in it that does nothign to keep us warm. This is the room we use more often than any others! We would LOVE a new carpet!!

  25. I would love this for my family room, it would be nice to have something softer over my hardwood floors!

  26. We need a rug for every room in the house. Our last (and only rug) was destroyed when we left it outside to air out. Two hour thunderstorm later…..it was toast.

    This would be awesome to have….just hope the dogs decide to not throw up on it.

  27. I need an a large area rug for my bedroom. I recently built my bed and I have been looking for months for an area rug this large that I could afford.

  28. I would have to say over the exisiting living room carpet which is now too too many years old and in need of replacing. I miss sittng on the floor on new carpet knowing that there is no cat, dog or kid stuff lurking underneath!

  29. Our living room has tile floors, which is great for our ferrets, but hard and cold on our feet. I would use the rug there to soften up the room. ๐Ÿ™‚ You are doing a fantastic job on your house and I truly enjoy reading your updates. ๐Ÿ™‚

  30. I’m remodeling our basement right now and have no idea what is going to end upon the floor down there. A new rug would be a great place to start!

  31. We’re about to move from apartment to house. So, the rug could go in the livingroom. Or one of the bedrooms. Or the den. Or the dining room. Can you tell I am overwhelmed at the prospect?!?!!?

  32. Congrats on a space to crash. My hubby and I are shopping for a rug in our bedroom. The hard wood floor is lovely but a bit chilly on a December morning!

  33. Do I loose points if I have two rooms that need exactly an 8’x10′ rug?? Because my living room is totally undefined, and I’ve determined that size rug would define it as a living space, rather than an awkward pass-though. And our bedroom? Who likes climbing out of a warm soft bed only a cool hard floor?

    Also- Where did you get that chair? I love the shape of the back. LOVE the shape. Can you let me know where I might find something similar? Thanks!

  34. I could use a lovely rug for our downstairs living room/toy room. I will be staying home with my son next year and I know we’ll use this space to play in!

  35. We have 25 year old builders grade carpet that we want tp rip up & replace with either tile or laminate flooring – so we need rugs for everywhere and anywhere!

    Everything is looking good at your house – congrats!

  36. I would use it in the bedroom if I were you. The first place to step onto in the morning. But on the other hand, if I win, I will put it into my living room. Decisions!

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