This is what the room looked like when we saw it with the realtor.
This is what our living room looked like for the first year we lived in our house. It took me that long to convince my husband we needed to change it.
From the first day I saw our house, I knew I wanted built-ins in this room. My husband had no desire to build them. When we moved our hutch out of the dinning room, it got me thinking. I measured it and it was the same width as the area on either side of the fireplace. My mom happened to have an also identical hutch in storage that she gave us. I found these plans from Shanty 2 Chic website that was designed by Ana White. So after much convincing, we began.
We started with these hutches:
 |
| My mom's on the left and ours on the right. |
The hutches each come apart. We took them apart. Next, we dry fitted the lower portions on either side of the fireplace. They fit like a glove. Victory #1. After that came the fun part, not! We started stripping and sanding down the lower portions. Sorry, I don't have pictures of that progress. It took a few weeks of nights and weekends to get it right. After they were prepped and ready for paint, we built the hutch part. We modified the plans to fit our space. Once everything was built, we primed everything. We again dry fitted everything in the living room. We cut the hutch shelves to fit around the fireplace. I have a bad habit of changing my mind a lot, so we decided not to take the molding off the fireplace in case I wanted to get rid of the built-ins, it would be an easy fix.
Once everything was in, we painted two coats of white latex paint. Then they sat for a few weeks because I wasn't happy. The paint bubbled in some places and the overall feel of the room really, really bright. I thought we made a horrible mistake. The built-ins didn't match our decor at all. So I went to the internet and Pinterest to see what could be done about it. I came across these bookcases from Restoration Hardware and loved them. I love the light, rustic color and overall warm feel of them.
After drooling over these for a few days, it finally clicked with me. I was trying to create these bright, white built-ins like I had seen all over Pinterest and blog land then I realized that wasn't me, or my style, or how I wanted my home to feel. My husband told me years ago when I first moved into his townhouse that he loved how my design made a house feel like a home and he love the feeling of wanting to curl up on the couch and relax. The white built-ins were too formal of a feel for us. I love them everywhere I saw them but at the end of the day, they weren't true to our style. It took me a while to be ok with this. White everything is the trend right now. So my built-ins might not be trendy but they are definitely our style and I love how they make our room feel.
My next task was trying to figure out how to create this look. After a ton of research and days of trial and error. I ended up with this look.
It isn't the exact look but the feel is the same. I love the warmth of them without them being super dark plus it was super easy to glaze over the white paint once I figured out the right combination of paint, stain, and glaze.
After I glazed all the built-ins, it was time to do something with the fireplace. I saw many tutorials on AirStone from Lowe's all over Pinterest. I convince my husband this is what I wanted to do. Again, after much convincing he was on board. The stone isn't stone at all but a thin like concrete material that can be cut with a hand saw hence the name Air Stone. I started by measuring the fireplace out and taping it out on an old rug turned upside down.
Next we installed them. It was easier part of the whole living room. We put the pre-mixed adhesive on the back cutting the ones along the way. It went up in two hours. For the hearth, I wanted one slab of stone but that wasn't in the budget. I found these stones at the Home Depot in outdoor selection. They match the airstone. We laid them out, I made a paper template, we trace onto the stone and cut. We used construction adhesive to adhere them to the marble. Lastly, we grouted the joints. Belong is the finished product. I love it. It cost right at $200.
 |
| Upclose of the fireplace.
The living room last year with decorations.
The living room this fall:
 
The view from the front door.
I don't believe in wasting anything. Especially furniture. I think every piece deserves a second chance or can serve another purpose much to my husband dismay. I took the hutch tops and turn them into useful pieces in our house. I took off the doors and remove the center bar. I added a piece of 1x12 on top and on the bottom to make this into a bookcase.
I took the stain glass out of this hutch top, painted it, and use it as decorations in back of the built-ins but not before using it as a template to use out some 1/4" pine to go into the door openings. I added a pieces of 1x12 on top of the hutch to create a table like surface. Next we cut the sides off below the doors to create a flat surface and added legs to make it look like a piece of furniture. This now serves as our dry bar in our living room.
 |