Living Room Update | All White Everything

living room, monochrome, sherwin williams, fireplace, ikea hack, painted white floors, gabbeh, noguchi table, minimalist living room, home style, home decor

Aside from a down and dirty paint job on a super spooky small bedroom, the third floor was the first room we tackled when renovating the house. Originally, we decided to save our efforts (and dollars) to put towards moving forward on the deli. As we realized that timeline was becoming more and more abstract, our imaginations took over and we slowly began undoing the previous home owner’s years of bad paint choices.

living room before, before, renovation, linoleum, fixer upper

Nearly the entire house was covered in linoleum, but this sickening green was reserved for the third floor. After successfully wearing Ed down, he agreed to convert the front room into an office. Focusing most of our efforts installing shelving and a floating walnut desk, we didn’t put a whole lot of thought into color and grabbed a neutral beige on the fly at Home Depot. We kept some of the “charm” of the original wall color by opting for one of the brightest hues we could find for the fireplace: Intense Teal.

We realized the dire shape of the walls on that first go round, but the inital paint job was such a drastic change that we were estatic with our results at the time. And for the next few years the room served as an office / studio, where we predominantly stared at our computer screens toward a single a wall.

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Read about our first round of renovations on this room HERE

A combination of neurosis and practicality, our living room has shifted forms and geography over the last few years, eventually taking up residence in this space. As my gaze continued to settle on the troubling exterior wall, eventually we decided it was time for another refresh.

While I still dream of painting every room pink, age and Ed have me gravitating more towards shades of grey. The “neutral beige” had not grown on us, and in low light still echoes the original green we were trying to hide. The ceilings on this level of the house are about 2 feet lower than our first floor, so wanting to make the room feel more open, we opted to whitewash the room. We removed the bizarre hodgepodge of masonite they had used to “smooth” the exterior wall, and Ed secured the loose plaster and skimcoated the room.

living room, monochrome, sherwin williams, fireplace, ikea hack, painted white floors, gabbeh, noguchi table, minimalist living room, home style, home decor

The cast iron coal fireplace had been hiding behind a plywood board all along! We matched the black and carried it out along the surround with Sherwin Williams Caviar. The rest of the room got a few coats of Sherwin William Snowbound, the walls in flat, the mantle and trim in semi gloss, and the floors in a high gloss floor paint. Unfortunately their store hours didn’t line up with our schedule, otherwise still #benjaminmooreforlife.

Tiling the hearth, we stuck to a basic carrera herringbone from Home Depot. More detail shots to come, but definitely more of a struggle than we anticipated as Ed has freshly completed his sister’s back splash.

living room, monochrome, sherwin williams, fireplace, ikea hack, painted white floors, gabbeh, noguchi table, minimalist living room, home style, home decor

We’re still working on finalizing wall art and tweaking some of the accessories, but overall super pleased with space!