The 2022 Review: Before & After
A common theme in my life is that I often feel as if I’m not doing enough, moving fast enough, or accomplishing enough. I’m competitive and I tend to compare myself to a lot of DIYers who are doing this as their full time jobs. I work in the tech industry and between a full time role, advisory boards, and consulting, I have a lot of non West Ave Woods work going on. I’m actively working on being more present, appreciating the work I’ve already done, and not always focusing on a never ending to do list. Looking back on the progress over the past year really helps keep me motivated, grounded, and helps me celebrate all the work that has already been done (life is too short, celebrate everything).
With that, let’s cut to the best parts of all the work - the before and afters!
Primary Bedroom
I actually forgot that we took out the carpets across the entire second floor of our house. Wall to wall carpeting is a divisive issue, but for us with two giant dogs, it wasn’t working - plus I prefer to wood floor aesthetic with area rugs over it. We used the same flooring that we put in our attic (and we’ll likely continue that flooring to the first floor eventually as well.
As part of that project, we also replaced all the baseboards. Our baseboards were a little too decorative for me (as is all the trim in our home and I’m slowly replacing it).
But the biggest new addition to our primary was the built in electric fireplace. This has been a game changer - even if we don’t have the heat functionality on all the time, the ambiance it gives off without the heat is so cozy!
2. Pantry
So we had this coat closet when we first moved in. It had two doors on it and a wire rack and it was just a giant waste of space because we have a mudroom that connects our house to our garage. Almost immediately, we turned it into a pantry with some cheap wire racks from Ikea. It was…ok. Because the doors were closed, it got disorganized fast all the time and ended up being a condiment graveyard more than a functional pantry. I had this vision early on to open the space up and create a little bar like area - this year I made it happen. You can check out the progress guides here and here.
3. Guest Room
There are not words strong enough to express how much I hated this room. The boob light. The set up. The blank wall. Not pictured but we had a tv mounted uncentered across from the bed. The Peloton stuck in the corner. There was no end to my hatred. So, with some square board and battens, 2 DIY side tables, updated bedding, a beautiful new ceiling fan, and a painted ceiling, I now LOVE this room. I love how cozy it feels inside, I love how it looks from the hallway looking in, and I love riding the Peloton in there and having guests stay over.
4. The Hallway
Our home was quintessential builder grade when we moved in - and EVERYTHING was grey. We had already added board and batten to our primary bedroom and ensuite bathroom and I wanted to extend the look into the hallway. The boxes were frankly just a bit old fashioned for my taste. In addition to changing out the flooring, I redid all the lower walls and we had gorgeous Farrow and Ball wallpaper installed (I don’t DIY wallpaper). I love the juxtaposition of the straight lines in the board and batten and the curves in the wallpaper. I can’t even tell you how much larger this space became the moment I removed the chair rail (that was about 2 inches deep and as far as I can tell, it’s only job was collecting dust).
There are a few learnings I’d take away from this: I initially had the plan of doing very dark grey trim (and actually painted it at one point). The goal was to bring out the wallpaper as the brightest element in the space. Also, because it’s a hallway, I was afraid of going too bold - so while the print is loud, the colors are not - just beige and white. What I don’t love about this is that the wallpaper doesn’t complement our new flooring - it makes it look a little too beige. My husband and I have been busy designing some more colorful artwork for the walls that I hope will break things up, but I think if we stay in this house long enough, I may swap the paper out for a different colorway of the same print.
5. Brian’s Office
This was such a fun project because I got to work on it with Brian. He had these peel and stick wooden planks up behind his desk and they were fine but a bit too rustic. It was time for a change. Don’t tell anyone. but he also had a white accent wall (which is pretty much my least favorite design trend). Plus, he had been admiring the Farrow & Ball paint color I had in my office (more on that below). As an easy fix to the wall - we put up vertical shiplap. We painted all the walls the same color (yay!) and brought the paint down to the baseboards which is a great trick to make your ceilings look higher.
We also swapped out some furniture and used this camel leather couch from West Elm that we had in our bedroom and the colors just freaking pop now!
6. My Office
I had a month off this year between when I left a job I had been at for almost a decade and when I started my new job. to get ready, I felt like I needed a fresh start and frankly, I was sick of having a black room, but wanted to maintain the dark. In addition, I had to redo the board at the top of the bookcases because my initial handiwork wasn’t holding up. So I took the opportunity to do that, replace the lights with something a bit more modern, repainted it all with Hague Blue from Farrow & Ball, and finalized the decorative molding on the wall that the desk is on. I’m so happy with the outcome.
That’s it for big before and after but there were countless other little projects that popped up across the year. I’m so excited to enjoy these spaces AND for all the projects to come in 2023!
Happy New Year!