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f you like room makeovers, you’ll enjoy visiting ROOM TOURS on The Inspired Room!
If you have ever had the {insane} idea {like we did} of buying an extreme “fixer upper” you know that some rooms are so bad they really cannot be truly “fixed” with just a few well placed accessories or a pretty new lamp.
It would be a little like putting lipstick on a donkey (that saying cracks me up!)– you may as well just leave the poor thing alone until you can do some serious work on the foundation of the room. And, if you are on a budget like me, that can take some time.
Our house in Portland had a room on the lower level that I really hated. For lack of a better word, it was icky. It had faux 1970′s style paneling that was really hideous. It actually stunk or I might have considered just painting it. Gag, it had to go.
It was so bad I am bummed that I don’t have a true before photo of it (pre-blogging days, before I knew I would ever want to see that room again). But I do have photos of the process of ripping it apart.
This room was not one of our first priorities — so sadly, with our limited budget, it had to just sit there being ugly for the first couple of years while we worked on other projects.
Finally about two years ago, it was finally time to fix up the room to use as a guest space and office, as well as to have the flexibility to someday be appealing to a buyer as a library, media or game room.
Fortunately for us and our budget, my uncle had a few weeks of time to come and help rip out the old ugly paneling. Had our walls been in perfect condition, paint might have been a quick fix. But, when you are dealing with an old house like this, quick fixes aren’t always possible. Instead, we decided to install new mahogany paneling to tie in with what was in our main living room just down the hall from this room.
You can see the original 1930s mahogany wood paneling in the living room below, which was where we took the inspiration for the new room makeover. The original wood is absolutely gorgeous.
We bought the new mahogany panels from a lumber store, stained it to match the original wood paneling in the house, painted all the trim, doors and ceiling antique white to contrast with all the rich wood.
As you can see from the photos below, when we ripped out the horrible faux paneling we found this interesting wallpaper underneath! You never know what you might find when you start tearing things out!
BEFORE WITH WINDOW
AFTER WITH DOORS
We replaced an old window (before and after, above) with double glass doors to let in more light and make the room accessible to the patio. That alone made an enormous difference in how the room felt. It was no longer closed off to the outside!
In a matter of about a month it went from a dingy basement room to a more classy old world library-inspired room that was right at home with the style of the house. And now that the room itself looks better, it will be much more fun to decorate in the future. Of course, we won’t be those people since we had to move. To a new house this time, where nothing stinks or needs to be ripped out.
BEFORE
AFTER
(yes, that is a deep sunken tub in the bathroom!)
If you missed my kitchen redo, click here. Or if you want to read the story of the house, click here.
Tell me, how many of you have ever thought about buying a fixer upper? Or actually bought a fixer upper that needed more than a new shade of lipstick to fix it up? Tell your extreme room makeover stories. Was the process fun or did you regret getting yourself into that mess?
Check out ROOM TOURS, click on the big gray button below!
