I am sharing with you today all the eyesore removals that I managed to knock off my list!
I hope you all had a great weekend! Although the title of the post sounds like I’m talking about surgery, today I’m going to share some fun {to me} changes that have taken place around here lately. We returned home from a tropical trip late Wednesday night, I went to work Thursday, and by that evening I was really sick. The perils of travel. In fact I was sick most of the weekend, so I didn’t get to wrap up my painting yet for the January Year of Change project reveal on Friday. However, we were able to make some really simple changes and remove some eyesores that have been on our mind lately {or since we move in}.
Removing The Ceiling Fan
First up. This has only been talked about for over two years, but we finally took down our ceiling fan in our living room – even though we still haven’t found a replacement. I have a major aversion towards ceiling fans, and recently, one of our cats has really been freaked out by this one. In our last house he literally almost had a heart attack one day while it was on in our bonus room – he ran around in circles, crashed into things, etc. all while staring at it and going crazy. Long story short, we have never been able to turn on a fan since! After he had surgery the first of this month, his fear of the fan has returned – even when the fan is off. We’re blaming the cone he still has to wear, as it limits his sight. Ultimately, we decided to take it down for his sake {or so I say} without a replacement. But already, the space feels so much more open and it’s like a dark cloud has been removed from overhead. A little dramatic, but mostly true 😉
If you look closely, you’ll see the plastic cap on the ceiling that hides the light box. Now that I see the space without anything on the ceiling, I actually really like it – especially given that we don’t actually need additional lighting in the room. A new light would likely just block the view of the TV, which, if your house is anything like mine, is completely unacceptable. Just for fun, here’s a look back on just how far we’ve come. Here are some before pictures – before we moved in and then after some changes but before I had painted the fireplace stone.
See how the ceiling fan just added to the other dark elements? The room already feels less cramped and so much brighter! The end result one more time, just because I love the dramatic change:
Next up, we removed another eyesore temporarily to test it out. If you remember back last year when we talked about updating our kitchen {the current state and what we want to change here and the plans here}, one of the things that bothered us, but we weren’t sure how to fix, was the situation with the microwave. It feels like an afterthought in our kitchen. It has a shelf jutting out from the kitchen cabinets to hold it and then there is just empty space around it. If we’re going to invest in our kitchen we knew this problem had to be solved.
We were talking a few weeks back that that problem could easily be remedied by simply relocating the microwave and removing the shelf. We did some measurements and found that we could basically remove the middle section of cabinet entirely {from the shelf up to the top of the small solid doors} and insert a full set of cabinets, or we could simply buy full-sized doors and remove the upper ones.
Here’s how it looks now with the microwave removed. The picture is incredibly blurry and crooked {even though I had it on a tripod?} I’m blaming the sickness.
Already, I can fell how much lighter and brighter the space is – minus all the junk on the countertops. The microwave removal also proves even further how cream/pink our cabinets are since the microwave box is inset and has a slight shadow. The color is coming on strong! We’ll plan to live with our microwave in the pantry for a month or two to see how we like it and if it functions well. If so, we’ll plan to order to full-size cabinet doors to replace over this area. Does anyone know from a resale perspective if this is a bad idea?
I’m just happy these changes have already made a big visual impact for us – and they were free!
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It’s amazing how something so simple makes such a large change!! I’d love to see ideas for light fixtures you would consider putting up in a living room! We’ve got ceiling fans that will be gone by the end of February. Unfortunately, we need the overhead light and will need to out something back up. Extra long living room, so two matching!! I’ve started the search but haven’t fallen in love yet
We just built our home last year. And when it came to where to put the microwave in the kitchen it was an afterthought. We decided to put it in the pantry and we love it there. I will be interested to see if it would affect resale also. It was a question we had as well.
OK, I have to admit that I smiled a bit about the cat and his fear of ceiling fans, but the room looks great without it! As for the microwave, Amy had hers located in the lower cabinets in her last house and it looked great. And Jenny over at Dear Lillie has hers on a kitchen cart and it also looks wonderful–so they don’t have to be in top cabinets to be functional and pretty. Just my $0.02; I have no doubt that whatever you choose will look great! XOXO, Christy
Our custom built home has the same type of cabinet for a microwave that is way too large and the shelf sticks out. We did not approve it and the builder would not change it. I despise it so much that we never put a microwave in the spot. I have used it to display an adorable, colorful platter on a stand along with a plant and have also used it as a bookshelf. Maybe you could try one of those ideas before you put doors on it. If you do, I’d love to see what you come up with!!
Feel better, girl! Love the changes. And, must admit I’m a bit jealous you took down the fan … dear Hubs is a ceiling fan fan so I’ve not won that battle yet here … Both spaces look so bright and cheery – love it! xx, b
It looks so much better without the fan! Much bigger and brighter. I too have an aversion toward ceiling fans! I needed a fixture for the vaulted ceiling in my family room and my husband suggested a ceiling fan and I shot him down right away.
I like your room with out the ceiling fan. I wish I could get rid of mine (we have them in every room), but living in South Texas is bad enough without something to move air around in the summer!
Definitely like the room without the fan. Is there a microwave you can purchase that’s about the same size as the space for it? Just wondering….
A hated ceiling fan until I moved into my house and they’re almost a must. The amount of air they move around the room is great on days when it is over 70 degrees (in Seattle that’s most of the summer). That being said, they’re still not the most attractive things in the world so I totally understand why you would want to remove it (in addition to it freakin out the kitty). The living room looks great!
The changes you’ve made in the living room are so great! It’s so bright and welcoming now and I can imagine just walking in there and hanging out on the cozy couches in front of the fire. Nice work! Btw, we had a similar microwave eyesore happen in our kitchen and moved it to the pantry. It’s nice to have it out of view, but I’ve since found out I have an OCD problem with open closet doors. So I manically open and close the door every time I mess with the microwave and drive myself crazy. Just something to think about. Maybe you’re not a weirdo like me though!
Girl — I love love love your living room…in fact, your whole house! It’s crazy how we sit on those little things…I have so many of them, and funny thing is, I’ve spent more time thinking and saying, ‘we need to fix that,’ than it would actually take to do it!!!
Hope you are feeling much better. And those little changes make a big difference. Just love your living room
Some great changes… it is amazing how the little details make such a big difference. I am curious to see what you end up deciding about the microwave. I wish I had had the room to design a space inside our lower cabinets for a microwave, like you see on big kitchen islands… but ended up with a countertop model. I didn’t want to build it in anywhere. So far I like it there (though I tried to talk my husband into putting it in our panty to no avail:)