The Good-bye Tour: The Den

Back in May of 2011, I wrote a post titled "The Den, Done."  Just like with the living room, I now laugh at what I originally considered finished decor.  Of all the rooms in the house, even the "finished" version of the den I'm about to show you was the least finished in my mind - I never quite reached a state with this room where I was 100% happy with how it looked.  However, it's really Justin's room (albeit overtaken in the corner by Anna's toys), and he was happy with it, so that's what is important.  Incidentally, I could now write a post titled "The Den, Undone," as I'm sitting on the floor in the shadow of a pile of boxes, but we'll focus on the pre-moving decor...

Let's start at the very beginning:

Be sure to note both the neon orange paint, as well as the smoke-residue outlines of everything the previous owners had hung on the walls.

Although the decor and furnishing has been an ever-evolving project (perhaps in part because this room, while it's supposed to just be Justin's office, has needed to be too many things for too many people, including an entrance way and toy room), the den was the first room completed in terms of renovations.  It was our "master bedroom" (term used loosely for the messy mattress-on-floor situation we had going on; picture below) for 4 1/2 months from the time we got married until we finished the upstairs.

(Wall sconce = tie rack.  Classy.)

We went through many iterations of chair placement, toy storage, etc, etc, etc.

And finally, over time, it became this (which is much less embarrassing for people to see immediately upon entering the front door):

Transformation occurred by the following:

- Ripping out the carpet and refinishing the floors

- Painting the walls

- Replacing the sconces

- Adding trim to the windows

- Adding furnishing, window blinds, and art

(More before & after shots of details here)