Step In To The Great Room

I do refer to this room as my living room, but I just looked back at the old realtor's brochure when we bought the house and they called it the great room--fancy, schmancy.  They did that a lot in the brochure, such good marketers.

Restoring the living room was going to be a snap after the nightmare of removing dusty grass cloth from the music room.  Yes, I truly believed that.  After all, it only needed a new coat of paint.  Three months of working every day is what that "new coat of paint" took.  First, there were cracks in the wall--funny how we just didn't see them until we started the painting.  James got out the plaster and spent days fixing cracks and caulking the woodwork seams.  I cleaned up the dust mess and got out the paint.  All that gorgeous woodwork took two coats of paint and a coat of sealer at the end.  I thought I would NEVER finish.  At last I did, and very pretty it is.  Observe the before and afters:

This is when the former owners lived there, they liked modern stuff mixed with traditional.

Now, this is an Elaine room!  My husband replaced the tile around the fireplace and put in all new outlets, I painted and painted and painted...  Most favorite thing?  The blue ceiling, of course.  This is just half the room, turn around, we will look at the other side.

Once again, we have travelled back in time to the before.  The weird bird thing I just have no words for.

Here we are back in the present in my world.  I just love this room so much.  The minute I walked into it one year ago, I fell in love with the house, but truly thought there was not once chance in hell that I would ever actually own it, but everything just fell into place and I do!

Here is one more view of the room.  I've been collecting old oil paintings for years.  I used to be able to find them every where in antique shops and they were never very expensive.  I am so glad I took advantage at the time, they are much scarcer these days.