The first project we tackled was the dining room and then we moved on to the living room. When we were buying this house, we knew we wanted to immediately do two things with the living room: remove the 50-inch-long mirrors covering the wall above the fireplace mantel and paint the entire room a different color than the ugly off-white/beige/light yellow that the entire house is painted. So here’s how we tackled the living room makeover.

The first step was to remove the three mirrors. After we covered the mirrors in packing tape to help prevent them from shattering, we used a few shims and a small pry bar and pried the mirrors from the wall. Some spots were easier than others but regardless, the glue from all the mirrors did the same thing: remove pieces of the plaster wall in varying levels in the entire area. A few spots were down to the lath where I discovered the horse hair that was used to hold plaster together way back in the day (a bit of knowledge I picked up from watching Nicole Curtis on HGTV’s “Rehab Addict”). After several days of applying a whole lotta joint compound to fill the holes, then covering each hole or crack with mesh tape, and then reapplying the joint compound and sanding everything down, we were ready to paint the room.

In Progress: The holes in the wall after we took down the mirrors.

The horse hair found in old plaster.

In Progress: The wall in the middle of getting patched up.

Daniel painting the wall Behr’s Powdered Snow.

My idea for the living room was for it to be a fun, playroom type of area with that feeling reflected in the colors. Everything that would go into this room would have to be bright and colorful with a few exceptions. So, when it came to painting, we decided to paint the entire room a bright white, Powdered Snow by Behr. After two coats, it was perfect. The bright white opened up the room a bit and made the cozy living room feel just a bit bigger.

As for the fireplace, we liked a very happy bright yellow and bright orange and tested out two colors: Citrus Splash (yellow) and Summer Citrus (orange). You can see from the photos that we went with Citrus Splash. Oh, hellooooo yellooooow!

Pretty colors.

Citrus Splash vs. Summer Citrus.

As for the rest of the living room, it’s all a work in progress. More to come for this room.