Scavenger Chic

Living Room Makeover, Getting Rid of Orangey Oak

• By Joan
• June 2, 2021
• 11 Comments

1980’s Living Room Makeover

As promised I have the rest of the living room makeover pictures from my son’s house.  We used Memorial weekend to put some of the finishing touches on the living room and pretty much finished up this year long makeover project.

Yes, it did take about a year but there were so many mini projects along the way along with holidays and celebrations that you just take it one step  and one task at a time.  With a 2, now three year old running around, each project takes 2 to 3 times as long as it should but it all gets done in the end.

This is once again the before picture of the main wall in their living room, the fireplace wall.

When Kevin and Mollie (my son and daughter in law) first decided to do this room they were kinda at a loss as to what to do with a wall that stopped halfway up.  They would have loved a wood burning fireplace but the cost was prohibitive.  After a few weeks of contemplating, ( picture me deep in thought 8-O) I came up with this idea.  Yes, this was my fine crayon rendering from over a year ago. 

When I dug this picture up a couple of weeks ago I was surprised to see how close I actually came to the final reality.  Tile around the fireplace, wood surround,  wood mantle, shiplap, gooseneck lights, railing…wow, I never plan anything that well.

Last week I brought you the fireplace surround complete with a faux railroad tie mantel and black shiplap wall.

The fireplace wall gets the most attention in this room but there were so many other projects that had to take place to complete this room.  There was definitely orangey oak surrounding the fireplace but it was everywhere else in the room as well.

When the trim was orange, visually your eye seemed to stop at the trim.  After a couple coats of white paint the woods is now the main focus.

Another couple week project was giving the room a coat of gray paint.

Staining Beams

The oak clad beams also had to have their makeover.  At that height, sanding and restaining was out of the question.  We needed a product that would cover the existing finish without a lot of mess.

The first product they tried was a walnut Varathane. A product with stain and varnish  which you paint on in one step.  I’ve used it before with great results but for this project it went on very unevenly and just drooped.  Once you left it to dry this is what would happen to the finish.

If you’ve been following me long enough you know exactly the  finish I’m going to recommend…it’s the same one we used on the mantel, the same one we used on the wet bar you’ll see in a minute or the tops of these nightstands… yes I’ve used it a lot!  It’s the Waverly vintage wax combined with just little bit of the black chalk paint.

The Waverly wax is thin enough that you apply it like paint.  On most projects while the wax is still wet, brush on a few drops of black and wipe off the excess with a paper towel or rag.  On these beams, since we were painting over an already finished piece of wood, the wax did not penetrate so there was not much wiping off the excess as that would have removed all of the wax. In this case the wax was treated like a paint. It did have to have 2 coats to get a deep walnut colored finish.

Rotating Bookcase

One of the other features of this room was this nook on the side of the fireplace.  The former owner had displayed an old airplane propeller but the current owners  just used it to hold their tools while they were working on the rest of the room.

Their solution, a bookshelf to cover the unusable space.

But not just any bookshelf, a secret revolving bookcase door. Let me know if you’d like to know what hardware was used and I’ll get back to you. I wasn’t there for this build just letting you see that anything is possible.

Perfect for storing young kids!

Add Lighting

 

Now for the upper part of the room.  The plant shelf had to go.  But if you remove the plant shelf you’ll have to move all the lighting that’s in the plant shelf wall.

The shiplap is marked for where  the new lights will be installed, but first we still had to bust into the drywall to access the wiring.

We received this picture late one night with the caption “let there be light”. 

Out with the Old Railing in with the New

This was the existing plant shelf from the top.  It currently holds exactly one plant.

Another view of the plant wall/ shelf.  You can see a little of the view peeking out on the side of the wall.

The old plant wall was about to get replaced with a brand new wall to wall railing. When the new railing finally arrived it was time to get serious and demolish that old view blocking old railing and plant shelf.  Couldn’t do it earlier with a 3 year old running around.

The old plant shelf was made very well and put up quite a fight during it’s demolition.

A reciprocating saw levels out the final remains of the plant shelf. 

A 2×6 forms the ledge for the new railing.  It’s being marked for the posts.

Finally the new railing is being installed.  The 2×6 was screwed into the existing wall, the posts are screwed into the 2×6.  Mollie is holding down the top railing while Kevin screws from below.

The railing is from Viewrail.

The new railing is gorgeous and really opens up the view to the family room below and to the woods outside.

Who needs a plant wall when you have a plant stand? 🙄

This is the same view where the plant shelf/wall had been.

From below, only needed trim work now.

The wet bar sits opposite the new railing. Make sure you click on the link to see this DIY makeover from last September.

There are a few itty bitty details to finish up but I am so happy to see this project wrapping up.  Now we can work on the kitchen? mudroom? bathrooms?

I hope you enjoyed these makeover pictures.  If you need sources for any of the materials feel free to ask and I’ll check with the happy homeowners.

Until next time, stay inspired.