CABIN LIVING ROOM — BEFORE AND AFTER
This might possibly be one of my favorite spaces in the cabin, and it didn’t start out that way. When we first looked at this cabin my eye was drawn to the beautiful brick fireplace. Of course it wasn’t white yet, but oh the potential. The crazy part was that it wasn’t a focal point for anything. It was half in the kitchen and half in the living room. So lets go back and look at the before.
When we first bought it, the only door into the cabin was where our tv is hanging now. We decided to turn the window to the left into a doorway to create more distinct areas. And also, who doesn’t want to add a pretty french door when they can!
We found this door at a Builders Outlet for $150. We usually keep it open all the time unless the weather is chilly and we want to keep some heat in. Ryan did an amazing job of making a custom threshold for it as well as a step for the step down into the porch, which you’ll see soon! This decision to open it up really made the cabin feel bigger and the porch as extended living instead of just a porch.
I told you the fireplace needed to be more the star of the show, and white paint was just the trick to help it out. And I want you to know, I painted it on a whim one day with my same old wall paint in Simply White and it’s been almost three years now and it’s held up great with no peeling!
To save money and space we used the same metal brackets from Cascade Iron Co.to make a floating shelf for the tv to hang over. I also added two large baskets to keep DVD’s and toys in for the kids, because who says storage can’t be functional and pretty:)
It’s amazing what white paint did. We even kept these windows the same, but I added Newpanes to them to updates and modernize them. We also added this Friheten Ikea sleeper sofa. It has storage underneath to keep all the blankets in and pulls out into a queen size bed for sleeping for the kiddos.
If you remember from my previous kitchen post, the old living room turned into the new kitchen, and the living room space now feels right centered around the fireplace and still has great views of the lake. We are so grateful for this cabin and enjoy every moment of family time spent here!
