Before and After of our Living room

When we first heard that this house was for rent almost a year ago (from our friends who live downstairs) we were pretty stoked. We didn't know what the upstairs looked like, we just knew it was bigger than where we were living then, and a whole heck of a lot cheaper. So I went to go see it. I was a little dingier than I expected, the carpet was an ugly color (it still is), the furniture in the living-room wasn't well sized so it made it seem very small, the bedroom was a heinous color or brown, the bathroom was sponge-painted by a 2 year old, and the kitchen was very poorly arranged, so badly it seemed like it wouldn't be very good to cook in. But I saw character in the curved doorway to the kitchen, in the built in shelves, and in the porch in front of the house. I saw something that I could love and bring back to a beautiful life. And so, I carefully planned furniture, shopped for the right pieces for the space, carefully picked out colors for the walls (agonizing over shades for weeks) and the day the other tenants moved out, I started painting. And I painted and painted.
This room is SO much lighter and brighter. It seems bigger & much more inviting than it did before. The people who used to live here came to visit and couldn't believe the a gallon and a half of paint made in this room!

(disclaimer: these are very un-recent photos. They are from like, 7 months ago)

Looking in from the front door to the living room before:

And after: (there is a dark coffee table where the white chest is now)

West Wall before:

And After: (we put up white curtains over all the windows now)

East Wall before:

And after:

I don't have a picture of this before, but this is the north wall of the room now:


Maybe someday I will take photos of how it is now, but this is still a really good idea of what we have done to the livingroom thus far. I looooove our livingroom! :-)