Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Inspiration for a Renovation

When I came home today, I noticed a bunch of 2x4's and one really big piece of wood stacked up neatly in my driveway.  This made me sooooo excited because..... this means my living/dining room renovation is about to begin!!!  Yep, that's right, we're getting ready for a big renovation - the plan is to knock down the walls that surround the dining room, opening it up to the living area and hallway.  This is something I've been dreaming of ever since I moved into this little house over 3 years ago.

So, plenty more details on the big renovation will be coming soon.  But for now, I am looking for some inspiration on how to decorate once this is all done.  I'm pretty much planning to start from scratch, while still using some of my main pieces of furniture.  Since the living room doesn't get much light during the day, I really want to lighten up the walls with a cream or light neutral color, which means the rest color pallette is pretty much wide open.  I guess I didn't get enough of the blue and white color palette with Michelle's Beach Condo Design, because I'm still really drawn towards that as I search through room galleries online.  Maybe it's because these colors are so timeless, or maybe it's because I want to feel like I'm at the beach all the time :)

This is actually the inspiration picture we are using for how to structure the opening between the two rooms.  Notice how the trim work around the opening goes all the way up to the ceiling?  That's the look we are hoping to acheive as well.  And I like the neutral colors in this space with the pops of turqouise.  There is something so cozy and happy about this room.


Now here is more of the classic blue and white pallette with a pop of yellow, love those colors together!


Love the three rooms below and am thinking of going with a striped cotton rug like they have.  The third one came from the Something's Gotta Give Beach House, which I read about on one of my favorite blogs, Hooked on Houses.  It's a great place to go for inspiration!






Now that the living room will really be open to the dining area (you'll completely see both rooms as soon as you walk in the front door), my biggest challenge will be how to decorate the two rooms so that they flow together, yet still have their own identies.  Here is a  dining room I like that would continue the blue and white look I am invisioning in the living room....



Or here are a couple pictures with a bit more playful option - adding red into the mix.  I also love how both of them use the full height of the wall to decorate.  Pictures and curtains hung all the way up to the ceiling in the first one, then high shelves display colorful old jars all the way around the second room.




I like this one mainly because of the window seat, which I REALLY want to add to my dining space as well, but that might have to wait for Phase 2 due to the budget, still trying to decide.  If I did add one, it would have to be used for extra storage as well, so I'd want some drawers on the bottom and bookshelves on either side.


And finally, this picture reminded me that I've really been wanting to try and pull off a dining table with a mixture of chairs like this one.


Oh yea, and one more idea that I've been dying to try - Wallpaper!  I just ordered some samples of the Sherwin-Williams EasyChange wallpaper last night... so hopefully one of the samples will be the key to my design!

1 comment:

  1. Renee, We definitely have very similar tastes because I LOVE all the inspiration rooms you chose! We are in the middle of garden renovations now and I haven't thought much about the house lately, but when i get back to it, I am going to go over this post again. Have fun doing yours and post some befores and afters when you are finished!

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