Extreme-ish Home Makeover

Molly and Jason have a great home, but it needs a little updating, shall we say? They had already done some amazing work to it, but the main floor living spaces (which is where they spend most of their time) hadn't really been touched yet. As they have many big projects still on their agenda, we didn't want to invest much time and money into things that would be changed later (i.e., we did no painting or buying of furniture). However, they were getting a little tired of living in a 1970s bat cave.

So…Molly and I discount-shopped our little hearts out, ripped down dated curtains, rearranged and repurposed furniture and art, and sweated/ached all week to transform the house into an oasis (do I hear Molly laughing?).

We didn’t get to as many things as we hoped, so I’ll just share the family room/kitchen changes. We also spruced up the bathrooms, mudroom/laundry, front hall, and did a little work in their office and dining room. I did not really take any "before" pictures, but I do have this lovely one of the trash pile of curtains we had on the back deck. It provides a hint of what we started with. As for the afters, they are iphone candids with bad light and regular-people stuff sitting around.

 

Kitchen/Breakfast Area BEFORE

Original cabinetry and appliances, in that oh-so-lovely walnut, orange, mustard, and avocado green scheme. So, we worked with it!

Kitchen/Breakfast Area AFTER

We added a throw rug, dishtowels, and accessories to lighten up the space. I hid some ugly cords and odds and ends with a piece of art and some baskets, and Jason hung shades on the windows. He insisted the fake fruit had to go, but last time I checked, Molly said it was still there.

The breakfast table overlooks the family room.

A striped throw rug, dishtowel, and fancy soap go a long way toward sprucing up this area of the kitchen.

 

A light, a basket, and some tangerines hide the mess that was on the wall before.

 

The view from the kitchen through the breakfast area includes a sneak peek into the family room.

Family Room BEFORE

What can I say…DARK? Dark walls, dark table, dark couch, dark chair, dark ottoman...

They had a mishmash of furniture perfectly suited to their last house in Colorado, a mission style home, but it was too dark and not the right style for this one. We had no idea what we were going to do, so we just tried lots and lots of things until something worked.

Family Room AFTER
What worked was adding light-colored things. We replaced the curtains (with dropcloths from Home Depot), added some lamps, hung artwork (stuff they had as well as adding floral calendar pages to some old frames), got some throw pillows and rugs, and added white or light-reflecting accessories around the room.

Thanks to Jason for hanging the window treatments, watching the kids while we shopped and worked, and remaining tight-lipped about the “zebra” pillows.

[FYI: From here to the end of the post, I can't seem to fix the fonts, so sorry about the HUGE letters.]

The new reading nook by the sliding glass doors and breakfast area has a place to stash kid junk.

Bar/game table with lots of light streaming in...see the new curtains made from dropcloths?

View to the sliders from the living area, like a breath of fresh air!

The homemade art on the wall is made from inexpensive teak frames and pages from a calendar of botanicals.

The mirror reflects much needed light into the room.

A few books and photos personalize the space.