Legacy Project: The Living Room

Because this blog is primarily a vehicle for me to keep track of what was done and when, as well as what products were used at 173, from time to time I post about a project that was completed before this blog was established.  

I call these posts Legacy Projects, although they've had a couple names over the years.  Back in 2011, I posted about the 2001 back yard fence project, which was called a Retro Project.  "Retro" was a very popular word (or prefix as the case may be) a few years back, but as time has passed it dawned on me that those projects weren't retro as much as they were just done before the 173 blog got started.  So, now we have Legacy Projects!  And this post is just such an entry.

Whenever I can, I like to include the Moshers, the previous and only other owners of 173.  Here's a picture of the son of Mr. Mosher and his family in the living room:

Now that's Retro!  I love the old sofa and the fish tank in the corner, but I really like that painting.  By today's standard it might be a little out of scale for the sofa, but it's an interesting picture.  And here's another Retro picture:

That's the pater familias of the Mosher clan with the Christmas tree in the front corner of the living room.  Interestingly, the wallpaper in the hallway behind Mr. Mosher was still there when 173 changed hands.  Sometimes I wish it wasn't removed.  But, as it turns out, the wallpaper throughout the house was removed first thing in 1997, and the living room walls were painted an ever-exciting white:

Sorry for the leg shot, but as is so often the case - I have very few "before" pictures, thus - the legs.  And yes, my legs are almost always that white - it isn't trick photography!  Anyway, come about 2004 it seems it was time for a change.  It all started out with having all the ceilings in the house (except the kitchen) sheet rocked.  By '04 the plaster ceilings had become cracked, mostly with those hairline cracks that drive me batty, and I've never been a great sheet rock-er so a couple of friends of a friend did the work.  After that, as you can see in the old journal entry, the ceilings were painted:

$16 for a can of paint!  I dunno, maybe that was cheap even back then!  And, I gotta ask - what exactly is a paint warranty for?  What are they going to do 23 years later when the paint fails?  If the company even exists won't they just say - where's the receipt?  Or, can you prove it was applied properly?  Sorry...I digress.  Here's a shot of the ceiling during sanding:

The it was time to wallpaper.  It turns out this was when it first occurred to me that old houses were almost always wallpapered because it's unavoidable that the plaster walls will develop hairline cracks.  As we already established - those tiny cracks drive me nuts!  So the living room was set up for papering:

The I studied how to hang wallpaper and, as you can see, I was either confused or thinking this is crazy!

There's my old Binford Tools hat.  Some of you will understand the reference.  For those of you who don't, check out the old Home Improvement TV show.  When it came to wallpapering and color selection, we decided we wanted a kind of Tuscan feel for the living room, so we went with Wallquest's Sunny Tuscany, as is so conveniently logged into the old journal:

And here's the pattern going up:

After the wallpapering was done, the radiator needed scraping and painting...

As did the pipes that weirdly run up the corner of the walls...

Then we found the perfect ceiling fan to install.  It was a Hampton Bay from Lowes and just works beautifully for the look and feel of the room.  It was my first time hanging a ceiling fan, so I kind of over-did it in the stability arena, but that thing has never budged - barely even a shake!

Then it was time for new furniture, decorating and so on.  Here's a picture from just a couple years ago.  I had one person say it looked dark, but it really isn't.  We went with an oversized, overstuffed chair, sofa and ottoman for comfort, and I think we achieved the cozy feel we were looking for.  Oh, and look - there's the Linus-Monster!:

Here's a couple recent pictures.  After almost 15 years, the wallpaper looks as good as ever, although I did notice there's a couple seems that need to be addressed.

And one final wider shot:

 Dang it!  that one picture on the left is crooked again!  That thing has issues!  Okay, there's the living room!

And one last bonus picture: