THE HOUSE ON VICTORIA COURT LIVING ROOM RENOVATION
Hi there! Thanks very much for joining me here. Today I’m delighted to share with you The House On Victoria Court Living Room Renovation. Step on inside the front door and take a look at the BEFORE. The walls were paneled in knotty pine, something you see a lot of in old Lake Arrowhead “Charmers”. I like a lot of wood, but feel the stained and varnished paneling is no longer relevant when considering today’s preferred design aesthetic. While the wood gives the room character and charm, it is also dark and dreary and needed lightening up.
I liked, and have kept, the front door. Curiously however, the knocker was on the inside of the door, so we remedied that.
As you view the “before” photos you will see that the previous owners were channeling a cowboy theme throughout. Note the red cowboy throw pillows and the natural cowhide pillow on the couch, the cowboy hat hung by the front door, and as you’ll see in the next few photos, a wagon wheel coffee table and chandelier. While I don’t mind cowboys, Lake Arrowhead is not the “Wild West” and I didn’t feel a cowboy theme was appropriate for our forested mountain community. But I could see cowboys for a little boy’s room, and for that reason I have put some of the cowboy-themed accoutrements in storage for possible future use in a themed kid’s room.
I didn’t hate the braided rag rug but it didn’t match my color scheme for this remodel so it too got put in storage.
Adjacent to the front door were 2 overstuffed chairs, one of gray leather with a saddle embroidered on it. The other chair was a Mission/Craftsman Style chair. Both chairs had good bones but were too large for the space, so they too were placed in storage and may reappear in a future renovation. The horrible tab-top curtains are now goners. I can’t stand tab-top curtains (“Tell um how you really feel Celia”). What is your opinion on this ready-made type of window treatment?
I thought the mid-century-modern floor lamp was interesting, and as you will see in upcoming photos, I transformed it into something that we have kept.
The centerpiece of the room is the stone fireplace, made from granite stones indigenous to these mountains. The gray color of the stones was what inspired the overall color-scheme I have used for the renovation of The House On Victoria Court.
The vintage, bronze sconces that flank the fireplace I found attractive, and they inspired me to incorporate bronze into the renovation.
My Color-Pallet & Mood Board
While I did not end up keeping the cowboy-red bookshelf in the room, I did find ways to use the collection of vintage books it held. Books always make great room accessories.
To the right of the fireplace there was a small table, covered in a vintage cowboy-print tablecloth with fake leather fringe. There is a place for everything, usually, but in this case the table and the tablecloth needed a new home. Plus their positioning was all wrong in terms of proximity to the kitchen.
I did make use of the wooden chairs as you will see in the “After” photos.
Now let me show you The House On Victoria Court Living Room Renovation. We started by making a long, builtin bench where the two large chairs used to be. This area is just across from the kitchen so it made perfect sense to turn it into a dining area.
Builtin benches with interior storage are one of my trademarks. I have used them in many previous renovations. They look great, are practical, especially in small spaces, and they provide much needed extra storage in small homes.
Next I designed, and my carpenter built, a beautiful custom dining table to fit the space just perfectly.
Above the table we installed a Bronze colored Classic Metal Bell 3-Light Pendant, $349.00 from Pottery Barn. It provided extra light and also complimented the existing Bronze colored wall sconces. The existing wagon wheel chandelier is a goner.
I sewed pretty curtains to replace the terrible tab-top ones that had been there. We used galvanized pipe for curtain rods.
And this is what the dining area looks like today. The walls were painted in Cool Ashes from Behr Premium Plus Ultra.
I had an upholstered cushion made for the bench and topped it with an assortment of pretty pillows.
- Diagonal-striped Cushion Cover, H & M Home $17.99
- Cotton Basketweave Pillow Cover, on sale now from Pottery Barn $20 (many colors)
- Washed Velvet Pillow Cover, on sale now at Pottery Barn $20 (many colors)
The cushion is made from a rich gray fabric I picked up from Dorell Fabric Outlet in Fountain Valley, CA, my favorite off-price fabric house.
The old wooden dining chairs got a coat of gray paint…
and the table was set using the following items:
- Place Mats from IKEA – $1.99
- Washed Linen Napkins, $2.99 From H & M Home (many colors)
- Porcelain Plate in Dark Gray from H & M Home – $2.99 (many colors)
- Sawyer Wooden Cutlery from World Market – $11.96 / 4
- Amber Pressed Glass Wine Glasses from World Market – $23.96/4
This is what the fireplace looks like now.
Remember the old books? I covered them in brown craft paper and tied them up with gray, grosgrain ribbon. The oil painting came from my previous fixer-upper, The House on Cottage Grove. Didn’t use it there but it was perfect for this home. I also found an old pair of ice skates in the home and placed them on the mantel as well.
The original home came with this funky metal thingie where matches were kept. I painted it gray and placed it next to the fireplace. I like it now!
I designed the coffee table to compliment the dining table and my talented carpenter made it for me.
I painted an old iron basket gray, filled it with pine cones from the yard, and added some deer antlers for decoration. Under it I placed a lovely wool/cotton blend area rug, $199.00 from H & M, the same type that lines the adjacent staircase.
The couch is Ektorp in Dark Beige, $499.00 from IKEA. And remember the old floor lamp from the before photos? We reworked the electrical, painted it gray, and now it looks perfect in its original home. The cashmere throw from Italy was a splurge, $100 from Home Goods.
I designed one more piece of furniture for the room, this accent table which we placed against the wall in front of the stairs.
I also kept a beautiful antique cabinet along with the Mid Century Modern China it contained. This was original to the home and is quite lovely.
The final thing I made for this room was a small pillow, sewn from 2 antique, hand-embroidered handkerchiefs I found in The House On Victoria Court. For each of my fixer-uppers I like to create something sentimental, made from something left behind by the original owners. I hope whoever purchases this home will find some value in it.
So, that’s about it for The House on Victoria Court Living Room renovation. But please stay tuned, as I’ll be sharing all the others rooms in the house in the coming days.
If you or someone you know are looking for the quintessential mountain cabin in beautiful Lake Arrowhead, California, this home is now on the market. Please contact my agent, Lynne Wilson to view the home: 909-337-2080
And, in case you missed them you can see more of The House On Victoria Court here:
- The House On Victoria Court
- The House on Victoria Court Kitchen Reno
- The House on Victoria Court Bunk Room
- The House On Victoria Court Master Bedroom Renovation
So there you have it: THE HOUSE ON VICTORIA COURT LIVING ROOM RENOVATION
Thanks so much for dropping in!
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