family room | Hicks House

We’ve actually had the TV room painted for a couple of month you saw a sneak peek of the wall in this post, but I have been putting off writting about it because I didn’t have any photos. Bad Blogger!

This is one of the most used rooms in the house and it’s also Chloe’s bedroom (that girl just does not pick up her toys) and therefore has the most, lived in look and we don’t like any of the furnishings in here – it’s ALL on the to be replaced list so needless to say my motivation to show this room was lackluster. But hey in the long run it will make a great before and after.

The only other time I spoke of the TV room was in this post last summer when we mounted the TV.

One of the best photos of me ever testing the weight limit of the TV mount. The photo also showcases the blase white walls that originally made up the entire house (we’re slowly chipping away at that.) You may also remember from this post that we had selceted Benjamin Moore’s Silver Mink for this room. It’s one of the darkest color choices we made for the entire house as this is the room where we relax and watch TV and we purposefully didn’t want it to be too light.

I was slightly nervous because it seemed so dark and the rooms we’ve painted so far looked so dark when the paint first start and this room was no exception:

But we’ve learned to keep going. We LOVE it

This room still has a long way to go as far as decorating goes here’s the list:

~~Mount TV~~
~~Paint Walls~~
Hang curtains – purchased need to hang
Create custom three canvas art piece for over the couch – canvas purchased need to paint
Get a new sectional – Ken’s TV room DREAM is to have a reclining sectional so we’ve been on a look out
Get a more substantial lamp for the top of Chloe’s crate
New coffee table maybe a cool repurposed trunk that could double as storage?
Get a cool lamp for the corner of the sectional – one of those bowed ones that overhang your furniture?

Here is a super crude mock up of all of the suggested changes:

And the classic side by side showing the difference between Silver Mink and the Revere Pewter in the hallway.

So what do you think of the color? What’s your favorite paint color we’ve used so far?

Since the condo is officially on the rental market and after all the talk the last few weeks of all the work that we’ve been doing to the condo I thought it was about time to show you some before and afters. Since I’m new to this blog thing and didn’t get before shots (in my defense most of the work started pre-blog) I tracked down the original MLS photos from when Ken bought the condo back in late 2009.

Some rooms are more drastically changed than others, personally I think it looks much more updated in person than the pictures convey… but maybe I’m biased.

I actually like the original exterior shot better…

So maybe not the best photo to start with since the previous agent took a better exterior shot… but it’s a condo there is only so much we can do to the outside… Moving the agents car before taking the photo so it’s not in the lower corner should have been one of the things done.

I’m not sure you can tell in this picture but there used to be nasty wallpaper

In addition to removing the wallpaper and painting the walls, the weird wood window valance was also removed (Ken literally just grabbed on and pulled it off), as was that old corner TV. We stopped short of de-almondizing the kitchen. We completely realize this badly needs to be done. But we’re renting and that’s a huge expense… so almond EVERYTHING is.

Another room from the kitchen facing the living room

It’s easier to see the nasty 80’s fabulous wallpaper that used to be in there from this angle. Also, is that a corded phone?! We don’t even own one of those.

Right off the kitchen is the dining room which got a fresh coat of paint, more modern curtains, white trim and a brushed nickel chandelier in place of that old brass one. (extra points if you can spot Chloe’s photo bomb)

living room

This room’s biggest problem was the furniture layout, it didn’t make any sense, we also removed those wall mirrors, replaced the carpet painted the walls, and the trim (that wood piece didn’t get done before the photo shoot… the TV was too heavy)

In addition to saying adios to the toothpaste green color in favor of a dark cool grey, we also painted the trim white and replaced the carpeting.

second bedroom

One of the bigger projects, in addition to patching all the walls (we mainly used this as a gym and some weights may have collided with the wall), painting the walls a more neutral color, and painting all the trim; Ken also made this awesome built in desk in one of the two closets.

upstairs bathroom

Another de-wallpapering project. The previous owner LOVED their wallpaper! This room got a coat of a cool light gray, white trim new doors and just to the left of this shot used to be a brass shower sliding door. (Eww it even had frosted glass) That was removed in favor of a bowed out shower curtain rod and modern white, and gray curtain. I unfortunately didn’t get a picture of the new shower but I have an old one just to give you nightmares…

AHHHHHH!!!!

Here’s some bonus photos I don’t have before’s of:

upstairs hall. Hello pretty white trim!

downstairs hall, the white trim and new doors look fabulous if you ask me

another de-wallpapering project

I have mixed feelings about the half bath. Granted this is a terrible photo. We picked this paint color out two years ago and just got around to putting it up. Now neither of us like it… it may be safe to say we hate it (which is odd because as you know orange is my favorite color). I’m pretty sure if it went up when we first bought it I may have liked it. Hopefully whoever rents it likes it better than we do.

So what do you think? Two months of hard work, better before or after?