Living space

Room four in the tour of the "before" status of the condo (because I should be moving boxes in the studio and I'm procrastinating).

The living room is actually larger than it looks in these pictures (about 19 x 18), particularly since the ceiling goes on and on, up to the ridgepole of the unit up in the loft.

First, for reference, the living room as seen from the loft. The thing at the right is the foyer closet. This picture faces the front of the unit.

This is taken under the loft balcony, from behind the couch. Behind my perspective is a single step up, leading to the doors to the bathroom and the sewing studio.

The brown thing against the wall in the foyer is the wonderful, deeply on sale Little Giant ladder that was my Christmas present to myself. It arrived the day the pictures were taken. That foyer is one step up from the living room (the living area is "sunken" by that one step, just six inches lower than the foyer, bathroom, sewing room and dining room - you need to watch your step when you are in a hurry).

Looking back from the foyer to where I was standing in the previous picture. Those curtains cover extra-wide  patio doors. The plant is sitting in front of the door most often used. The lap top lives more or less where you see it, on top of a cute little folding table that was a gift a number of years ago.

The door in the background is the first floor bathroom. Note the exceptionally low ceiling - only for that three foot square section of the condo.  I have no clue...

Another view of that corner, elevated a bit to show the giant wall. Those windows go all the way up to the ceiling, following the upward slant of the junction of wall and roof. The curtains will come down for the painting, and will not go back up. That's an eastern exposure, with no neighbors high enough to see in, and no view in if you are standing outside on the ground. Any curtains would need to be either custom made or altered (probably by me); it's not worth the effort.

On the far right of the picture, you catch a glimpse of the fireplace hearth. The wall on which the fireplace sits sticks out six inches form the window wall, if you follow me. That fireplace wall - and only that portion of the wall - will be an accent color, to help break up the gigantic expanse of the walls in the room.

And here is the fireplace. See what I mean about it sticking out? Honestly, I think the designers back in '69 had a contest to see who could design a place with the most odd angles.

The patio door and window curtains will stay; at this point I'm not sure with what to replace them. Still pinch pleated semi-sheers, but until I live with the new wall color for a while, I don't want to invest in new drapes. I've a sneaking feeling the white will "work" just fine. Once expense I can put off for a while.

The carpet, however, will make me crazy. It's pretty much white, and shows everything. I had it cleaned before I moved in, and have spot cleaned the traffic areas at least three times thus far. I give up. The plan is to put down laminate; that, however, is something that will take both extra saving and more planning. The sewing room will get laminate before this room...I think I've decided I'm not crazy enough to try to do both at once, as originally planned.

Looking back towards the (messy) dining room (I think I was in the middle of making the charity quilt when I took this - note the sewing machine on the table). The bookcase is going to live in the sewing studio, I think. I've a treadle sewing machine in a gorgeous cabinet (my grandmother's - a wedding present back in 1925) to put there instead. The only questions are where to put the radio/sound dock, and where to put the power strip for charging all the miscellaneous electronics.

The small chair against the wall is a little armchair my grandfather, an upholsterer/furniture maker, made for me for my first birthday. After we moved to the new house when I was five, it went to live in the attic. A dry attic and no mice means it's still in great shape. The color has faded significantly; if you lift up the skirt, you can see it was originally a particularly bright shade of coral.

That's it for the living room.  I'd better get back to moving out the breakables. Actually, the living room is mostly done, it's just the studio that needs some attention...