Glenwood Part 1 - Living Room
Jason moved in with me July 2021. We worked on my apartment all the while pining away for a bigger space. We viewed countless apartments at the height of inflation and nothing - NOTHING - measured up to our tiny little abode nor made packing and moving seem worthwhile. Meanwhile I was busy learning candle making and making huge messes in our kitchen (silicone rubber and melted beeswax on the dining table!) I tried out a local makerspace, renting a 9x9 square of space, but that wasn’t right either.
One day last October while browsing online I saw a listing in our desired neighborhood, in our budget. 1/2 of a duplex. A house! We signed the lease and moved right in. We are so much happier with our new space but it cries out to be loved and turned into a drmworld.
In our third floor apartment we had 1 eat in kitchen, a living room, balcony with amazing sunset views, a bedroom, bath, 2 walk in closets, and storage and laundry in the basement. It wasn’t bad for a single gal but a growing couple needs room to spread. The duplex has no stairs, a front porch, 2 bedrooms, a 3rd bedroom loft for our office, bath, a full dining room, living room, laundry room, 1/2 of a back yard, and a basement for my candles. Even though we are renters I feel like I’m the home owner and feel such pride in our new space. And that pride (and landlord approval) extends to making it our own.
As always and for some reason unknownst to me, every room is painted the eye-gouging, soul-wrenching shade of Builder Brown. I absolutely cannot stand it. The apartment was also this abysmal shade of cardboard. Since it was pretty much Thanksgiving when we moved in and with the Christmas holiday around the corner, we decided to wait a couple months, live in the space, then paint in 2023.
Glenwood Mood
We tested seven shades of green before landing on Behr Copper Patina.
The paint color is pretty much the only thing I knew for certain in the space, the moment we saw it. I knew I wanted a green room. I also finally gave in and consented to a new sofa. I have been hanging onto the hope that my vintage Milo Baughman-style broken-in-all-the-right-places velvet sofa would eventually be recovered. Maybe one day. For now, we are loving our new seating.
This was the first time I have painted a ceiling and we definitely learned a lesson here: if you want a high gloss mirror ceiling you have to put in the work. We patched over some rough places but this home is built in the 1920s and we’re only renting. We couldn’t justify the time nor expense to skim coat, sand, paint, sand, paint, sand, ad infinitum.
The ceiling is glossy and reflects light, just not quite to the magnitude I imagined. However I am so glad we did it. I would wager I may never want a flat ceiling again!
The fireplace is non-functional and was a disgusting sooty mess. It’s pretty rare to find fireplaces with their original brick. In all the homes I’ve seen in our area they are painted. Our landlord requested we did not paint the brick which I guess I understand. However! the home has radiant heat and a large radiator is occupying a lot of wall real estate opposite the fireplace. We decided the only option was to forget about the fireplace and place the new sofa in front to use as much square footage of the room as possible. I’m totally fine with it, even if to some people it might look odd. Why make something non-functional/ architecture you can’t enjoy the focal point of your room? Nah.
I scrubbed and scrubbed the brick with a mixture of Dirtex, dish soap, and warm water. It is so much nicer without years of soot and grime. And we painted the mantle to help it fade away into the green walls. We also removed the glass doors from the built-in. While I love historic architecture, it felt fresher to remove the uneven doors and the painted on hardware. Now our books and collected objects have a happy home. I enjoy seeing them set on on their new perches.
We painted the plaster walls a matte finish and semi-gloss on the trim. The home sits on a shaded, tree-lined street and has east facing windows. I wanted to make sure we captured as much sunlight as possible because the house feels so dark in the day, especially with the yuck brown paint. The apartment was bathed in sunlight all day; probably the only thing I miss. The Copper Patina green looks brilliant in early morning, beautiful throughout the day, and so cozy at night. I also love the beveled glass front door and the way it reflects prisms of color on bright sunny days.
These are just cell phone images. We still have decorating to do: like finding a proper overhead light (no ceiling fans ever!), hanging art, switching out the living room chair, maybe a new coffee table, covering the radiator, and installing tile mirror above the fireplace to bring more light into the room. We’re off to Nashville this weekend for an antiques show. Hopefully we’ll come home with a treasure or two!
I am so smitten with our new space and can’t wait to tackle the rest of the house! Soon we’ll be painting the adjacent dining room and refinishing an antique banquet table I found on Marketplace.
In our old space I felt so good sharing it with Jason. I grew a lot there before I met him. Now we will grow together in our new home. He proposed to me in December. Glenwood is special for so many reasons and I’m glad we get to add our story to its 100+ year old history.
