The Entertaining Rooms

Continuing on with our tour a la $$, I decided to group together the living room and the dining room. They were the rooms that had the least amount of work done to them, before we moved in, meaning there is still a ton we are waiting to do.

Can I get a DUH?!

Sometimes I amaze myself.

My whit is so original.

You thought so too?

Good. At least we agree.

Moving on.

So, in our dining room and living room we decided to paint, rip out the carpet, and call it a day. There was wallpaper all over the walls, but because of the state of the walls (i.e. the wallpaper was holding up the walls) we decided to just paint right over it.

Can I get an 'AMEN!' for not having to rip down wallpaper?

'A' to the double 'men.'

'Heck' to the 'yes.'

Overall these rooms were pretty easy-peasy. First, we shall take a look at the before pictures.

Ok, puke.

Get it out...all out.

I promise you will feel better.

Now that it's out of your system, let's talk about the process a bit. Once Jonathan and I took possession, the carpets were our first priority. We knew that they held a bunch of dirt (they looked like they hadn't been cleaned in ages) and some smells that we weren't too fond of. You know, cigarette smoke and a musty smell, weren't really what we wanted to be greeted by on a daily basis. So out the carpet in the living room went. We waited on the dining room one because it was the only one that was completely tacked down.

Then, the living room and the dining room were basically left alone until the month before we moved into the house.

Finally, at the beginning of April, we decided to start working on them a bit. We primed right over the wall paper, picked out wall colors and then painted, and ripped up the dining room carpet.

Things were looking a whole-heck-of-a-lot lighter and brighter! I still can't get over what a coat of paint can do.

Finally, we were ready to move in. We arranged everything we had into the rooms, I purchased a new rug for the living room, we bought blinds for the windows, a ceiling fan, and we were all set to go! Definitely a transformation.

Now on to the cost of it all. We needed two cans of Aqua Lock Primer, one can of wall color for the dining room and two for the living room, one can of semi gloss white for the trim, and two cans of ceiling white.

Paint: $270.00
Rug: $350.00
Blinds for windows: $ 202.93
Ceiling Fan: 109.95
Total: $ 932.88

Now, that may seem like a lot. But, remember, it is for two rooms. Plus, if you are just moving into a house, you won't necessarily need a rug, ceiling fan, and blinds. Just $270 worth of paint will take you a long way.

Like I said, we definitely got the most bang-for-our-buck in the kitchen, but the living room and dining room are a close second. I'm very happy with how they both turned out. It makes me even more excited for stage 2!!!

What do you think of our living room and dining room? Any questions about why we did what we did? Come on lovely readers of mine, feedback please! :)