Nina's House - Living Room
Part three - the living room! Obviously we were starting with some pretty good bones in this space so there wasn't anything too major that needed to be done. We were really excited to see this room empty as the previous owners just had an absurd amount of stuff everywhere and not a functional furniture layout so starting with a fresh slate was super inspiring!
We started by sanding the hardwood floors. This is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to refresh your space if you have hardwood floors! We tackled this project ourselves at our previous home so we felt like we had a pretty good handle on it, despite this being a significantly larger amount of hardwood to sand. It greatly reduces the golden/reddish tones and we were able to achieve a more matte finish than what we started with. We rented the largest and most aggressive floor sander from Home Depot and started at it. Tanner worked on this while I followed behind with various smaller sanders to get all the edges and corners as best as we could. After sanding, we sealed the floors with several coats of Varathane Nano Defence premium clear, matte, floor finish. This was a product we had also used previously and were really happy with the results, especially with kids and pets tearing around.
The next project was applying our lime paint! This was our first time using a lime paint but it was surprisingly easy, you just have to put in the extra time and be patient with the process. You'll require a special primer so that the lime paint can properly adhere to your walls. And all application was done by a wide natural bristle brush so it's a slower application. We ended up ordering from Color Rare and had a very positive experience with them. They sent a batch of small sample containers to test out before committing on the 3 gallon pale. Their customer representative was also tremendously helpful and steered us in the right direction after explaining the look we were trying to achieve. So if you're wanting to try this yourselves, I highly recommend checking them out.
As you'll see in the photos, it goes on much darker and can take several days to dry so it's a bit of an anxiety-inducing process but once it was done, it gave the perfect amount of texture and variation we were hoping for on the already textured, plaster walls. We still have yet to seal the sections of wall we want to seal (ie, front entry hall and around the fireplace which sees more bumps and sticky fingerprints, etc). The paint is quite porous so you'll notice it marks very easily and wiping/scrubbing an unsealed wall will also remove some of the paint.
One of the last projects in here was removing the decorative, concrete seashells on our fireplace. The same motif was on both sides- the other side being our front entry. We thought this would be one of the first things we did but it proved to be more difficult than we initially anticipated so it got put off for a couple weeks. Eventually we rented a big concrete saw and taped up a poly tent around both sides of the fireplace to help reduce the amount of dust circulating in our nearly completed living room. Thankfully this made much quicker work of the removal and then we just had to patch up both sides to try and match the rest of the concrete plaster work before finishing up our lime paint on the fireplace as well.
Another must for us was to change out all of the wall sconces. This room is entirely lit by 9 wall sconces around the perimeter but they had a mix of styles that we definitely weren't loving. I reached out to Amanda and Danielle of And Ceramic Studio to see if they'd be able to make us a set of hard-wired sconces to suit the size/finish we were after. They ended up making and sending out swatches and then a prototype which was awesome. We were able to confirm the prototype with our lime paint swatches and other fabric selections before pressing go on the full lot. But they made a huge improvement to the room so we're very happy with this choice!
Of course the room is full of many Hut K favourites but also peppered in with some vintage pieces that we've acquired and I love this more electric approach. It still feels fun with colour and texture but also quite timeless. We knew the single sofa from our previous living room would feel quite small in this space so we opted for the Bensen Aura Sectional which fills it out nicely. It's casual but also perfectly tailored with style of the seat and some simple fluffing of the back cushions. And very comfortable! The Carl Hansen Embrace Lounge Chair is an instant hit with most people and Tanner was very happy to claim this for our home. The Menu Knitting Chair was my pick, initially planned for our bedroom but then we were up a sofa from the basement at our old house (see primary bedroom blog post here!) so the Knitting Chair is now happily parked in the corner of the living room with the Menu Androgyne Side Table in my favourite kunis breccia stone top.
The Blu Dot Strut Table was our former dining table but now acts primarily as a craft table for the kids. The size was perfect for this spot and I love having an additional dining set-up when we're hosting a larger group! The teak credenza was a wicked vintage find many years ago, along with our marble and travertine triangular coffee table which I snagged off Facebook Marketplace last summer. It was designed and made by our friends over at Carrara Marble & Tile back in the 80's and it's become one of our favourite pieces!
The rug was a find from Daydream Homegoods like 8/9 months before we actually purchased it. She had posted a photo of a courtyard in Morocco that had this rug hanging from a building and it was love at first sight for me. At the time, it was way too large for our previous home but once we bought this house, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I reached out to her and she was able to track it back down and negotiate the purchase and shipping for me. It really helps ground the floating sectional, absorbs some of the noise in this room and the softer floor is a hit with the kids and animals.
Have any questions about what we've done so far? Don't hesitate to reach out!