Before and After

I spent most of my Spring Break redecorating my family room downstairs. For some time it has been cluttered with junk and useless furniture that got piled with more junk and it was, in short, not a very pleasant place to be. I didn't manage to get a really good "before" picture, since much was taken care of before I thought about it. So take the following pic, and add for me, mentally if you will, a ping pong table, blue, against the left wall, covered in folded laundry and assorted junk, a desktop computer and monitor (and miscellaneous computer paraphernalia) on the desk in the back corner, four monitors gracing the sofa and chairs, books stacked any which way on the tall shelves, and paper stacked a foot high on the near table. Only then will you get a true idea of what I started with.

Here's another one of the general clutter. Notice the wrapping paper with no home, the CD player that doesn't work, and the boxes of records.

So first of all, I decided to paint. White walls are all well and good for hospitals, but I was tired of the lack of color. I bought a grayish blue paint, which looks very much bluer on the walls than it did in the can, but it's ok. This pic is only after coat one; coat two covered its imperfections nicely. Notice also the new light fixtures in this picture. Verily, I believe they provide twice as much light as the previous ones.

During this whole process, Colleen's room became the stacking site for, well, pretty much

everything. --Don't worry, it's all better now...

We built a shelf specifically for folding laundry upon. Here it is, stained, but not yet varnished. Ahh, through this I suffered. The stain had to be removed from our hands with oil, and the finish smell made us decide to sleep with the windows open and the fans on. This shelf really represents a great deal of work. Mom measured it out originally; Kyle cut the boards; Kevin helped Papa and I glue and clamp it; Mom and I sanded and stained it; Papa and I varnished it. It is cool.

After observing that the old baseboard molding was small and ugly, we decided to replace it, and paint it a darker shade of the wall color. I am a bit sentimentally attached to the stuff. Isn't it lovely?

So, then, here it is, as well done as my time and limited financial resources can make it. The back left corner has been dubbed by the Mother the "library corner." It's a shame I can't just turn the entire room into a library, but it must serve other purposes.

The Craft Table, complete with shelving and convenient corner lamp.

The view towards the Laundry Corner, along with view of sofa area. The exercise equipment, not pictured here, sits to the right, just out of this frame.