At this point, we are really feeling pressed
for time. Unfortunately this means that we took fewer pictures that we might have
if we weren't so rushed. But we had to get it finished in time for houseguests at
the end of December!
The floor was scrubbed down real well and then sealed
using the same stuff we used in the Dining Room. Makes the floor look quite shiny!
Then it's time for trim:
I
got the floor and crown moldings up pretty quickly. I bought a finishing nailer
for my air compressor, and it made a huge difference. Then I used both nails
and glue to put the trim in the archways. Once all of the wood was in, I had to
then sand the facing pieces so that the trim is flush with the inside pieces. In
the right picture, you can see that the stain is partially sanded away. Then everything
was stained again, and sealed with polyurethane.
We had quite an ordeal with curtains right
at the end of the project. We went to Pottery Barn for curtain rods since we had
bought rods from them for our Dining Room, and wanted to get matching rods. Well,
they had ones that were close, but a little different different. They changed the
style of fastening to the wall... Better quality, they said. WRONG! They were
unbelievably poor quality, and very difficult to get to stay on the wall at
all. Since we are planning on getting a projectiom TV setup, we bought extra-heavy
curtains. And since the windows are so wide, it takes 4 panels per window. It pulled
the brackets right down. We limped along with them untill after our guests were
gone, then took them back for a full refund and ended up buying decent rods at IKEA
for about one-tenth the price. They're plainer-looking, but hold up to the heavy
curtains well.
Finished,
looking west. One thing that really stands out is that there's no TV. But it makes
for more usable space.
We
still need to hang pictures back up, and install the projector TV system. We will
also either replace the couches or get them re-upholstered.
The
Living Room and Dining Room work real well together now!