Less Paneling and Wallpaper.

For those of you who have actually been to my house I hope this post rocks your socks,  I am just so happy with the transformation!  Last month when the Pinterest bug bit me and I started ripping out the fireplace, I also was secretly giving paneling in our family room the side eye too.

Five years after moving in I decided that the 1970's particle board had to go.  When we started the project, I was most surprised by the fact that the wall was nearly perfect underneath...like there was nothing wrong with it, fortunately for me.  I always thought people slapped it up when there was something ugly to hide.

Phase two was the wallpaper and wouldn't you know it came down super easy too?  I sat and watched Jon pull down huge pieces at a time and I'm not kidding, it took maybe thirty minutes to rid the entire basement of the wallpaper we have made the throw up face at for five years.

Not only the evergreen trees, but the moose, bear and fish border.  Ugh!

But I guess that's better than what was underneath, right?  Trees and pink flowers...what the hell was the old owner thinking?  Or smoking.

I took some before, during and after pictures so you could see how totally different this basement looks. Maybe I'm still just in shock, but it's just like a brand new room!

You can bet your ass there won't be any fish, moose or bears in my new room...I have to decide how I'm going to decorate before I put anything up on the walls.  Oh and I've got to start saving pennies like a mad woman before that idea comes to me. 

{When We Moved In}

{Today}

I'm just so in love with how it turned out, although Jon thinks it's a little too dark for a basement.  That just means some cute little lamps or something right?  I was thinking of like a really big black framed mirror for one of the walls.  I think that black would be a good accent with the gray and white.

Sometimes I wish the old lady who used to live here could just walk through and see how many improvements we have made to the house she spent her whole life in.  So she could really understand that cobalt blue counter tops are not acceptable, nor navy blue ceilings or wallpaper of any kind, or yellow carpet...my gosh I could go on for days.