People have been asking me for the next installment of OurCranburyHouse blog. We have many projects going on but nothing that is actually finished. Right now, we are finishing a bathroom, making plans for the kitchen, installing air conditioning, fixing the walls and ceilings, refinishing doors, refurbishing radiators and painting. (That list just made me really tired!) Check out the signs on our lawn! Isn’t that attractive? 

But since you asked, let me tell you about our living room. This is what we call the formal living room and it’s at the front of the house with a column entry from the foyer. When we moved into the house, we filled it with boxes. After all, who needs a formal living space when you don’t even have a kitchen? We won’t be entertaining any time soon. 

Here are the before and after photos. Can you tell the difference? Unfortunately, our “after” photo is a new arrangement of boxes on a new background. But there really is a difference. 

When we moved in, the room was decorated with wallpaper covered in big, pink roses. I kind of liked it but I wasn’t going to keep it. The wallpaper was stained and torn anyway. The trim was full of cracks and stains and looked like a dull gray. The ceiling and wall plaster was full of cracks.  

Before

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David was going to fix the plaster walls throughout the house himself, but he soon realized that it could be a year or more before he finished that project. We recently hired Iorio Plastering and Masonry to do the job for us. We decided to start with the living room. That meant that we need to move ALL of the boxes and furniture out of the room and into other parts of the house. 

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With a professional doing the work, the walls and ceilings were finished in three days.  After taking down the wall paper, we saw that there had been one other coat of paint on the walls. It looked yellow to us but it could have been a white that had yellowed over time. My job is to choose the new paint color. I love yellow but David always groans whenever he has to paint a room yellow. It’s not his favorite. So, for this room I chose: white. Really. Those of you who know me realize how shocking that choice is! Yes, I chose to paint this room white, Benjamin Moore 925 Ivory White to be precise. Doesn’t it look pristine? Next to the dirty trim and other walls, it is just lovely. But don’t worry, I have lots of other colors planned for future projects. 

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David did the painting to the sounds of the live music at Cranbury Day. It was so exciting to see the white primer go on, followed by the pristine paint.  The trim looked nice after being primed and painted. Here is the finished result: 

If only it could have stayed this way.