I feel like this ORC has all been about the kitchen so far, which in reality is where I spend most of my time in my daily life so it makes sense that I put the most time in there on the One Room Challenge. SO it is about time to give the living room some attention!
In case you are just stopping by for the first time, I am doing a whole apartment for my One Room Challenge. We started the renovation in January and hired a contractor to do things like drywall repair, tiling, sink replacement and light fixture replacement. This is our Airbnb home and when we bought the house four years ago the apartment was a mess. We saved up money knowing we weren't going to do the work ourselves and in an effort to be budget friendly and kinder to the earth we set out to find second hand items to use in the apartment.
The living room had carpeting with cigarette burns in it, it was ugly and stinky! When we pulled it up for a peek, guess what we found....wood floors! I was so excited! They were in rough shape and there was a large plywood piece in the corner of the room where I imagine the old trap door to the basement was before the carpeting was laid. I sort of knew the minute I saw it that I was going to tile it and put an electric fireplace on top.
Before on left. After with the old AC unit out.
I decided early on that I wanted to have black floors so the wood was painted black and the hex tile was laid on the plywood and we were ready to hunt for the fireplace.
I saw plenty of cute ones on FB marketplace, like little wood stove styles and intricate mantles but when I laid eyes on a certain mid century beauty with moon cut outs, I fell in love! The shape, the patina, the moons and the glow are all pure perfection! I didn't need a heat source since the mini split is right above and provides plenty of coziness, plus the baseboards are right there too. I love this statement piece so much, it gives me cabin in the woods vibes hardcore.
Next up was the furnishings in the room. I found the boucle sofa, the Room and Board swivel chair, and other random pieces I have yet to show you on FB marketplace.
The light fixture casts the prettiest shadow on the ceiling, I love the vibes it brings to the room.
The final pieces I had to find for the room were the rugs. I needed two, one for the front door area and another for the sofa. They will be very close to each other so I didn't want them to conflict or compete (hi bright red runner in pic above which will be coming back to the barn). I ended up finding an overdyed black runner for the front hall which will mesh well with the painted black floors. The sofa area rug is my statement piece, I love it! It has leaves and flower cut outs and the colors are amazing!
Front hall on left, living on right.
So that is where we are at with the living room! Thank you for stopping by!
Here is a link to check out the other participants' progress this week. Thank you to the One Room Challenge and to Apartment Therapy for hosting this motivating event!