French Vintage Eclectic: A Before & After Home Tour (part 1)

BygoneVintage
by BygoneVintage
Today I am sharing Part 1 of a Before & After tour of my French Vintage Eclectic home. If you like dramatic renovations, this one's for you!
Up till now, I haven’t shared many photos of our home. If I had to describe it in three words, they’d have to be French Vintage Eclectic. 2 parts French country, 2 parts traditional vintage/antique, and 1 part farmhouse rustic, we’ve acquired quite the mix of elements in our home over time.


Now that we’re planning a move and putting our beautiful home on the market (sigh…) I thought I would give you a home tour via some before and after photos. You’ll see the photos used in the sales info when we purchased it from the previous owner, and our own current photos of the home, and I’ll share some design insight on how we transformed a definitively traditional 70’s Georgian home to the French country vintage eclectic styled home it is today. There’s quite a few photos, so we’ll make this a 2 part blog series.


Now, I want to put a DISCLAIMER out there:


If traditional Georgian is your style, please take no offense to our changes. The home was lovely when we bought it (otherwise we wouldn’t have purchased it in the first place), but it was rather dated for our taste and in need of some updates to breathe new life into it. In a previous post about just the changes to the exterior of our home, I received some rather harsh backlash to the fact that we changed it so drastically. Many people said it was beautiful as it was, and were not receptive to our changes AT ALL, even saying they thought it was better before. We are all entitled to our design opinions. I can appreciate that. The changes were already completed when I posted the article, so I wasn’t looking for an opinion as to whether I should do it or not but rather sharing our experience and inspiration for those that might be considering some big changes such as ours. If we had been able to find the exact, ideal looking home in our price range and in the area we needed when we were looking, we would have bought it and saved ourselves the headache and stress of a full renovation, but we didn’t. So we chose to use some vision to take the “good bones” of this home and make it exactly what we wanted. Ok, soap box put away. Now on with the tour!


So, where shall we start? As I said, I’ve previously written about the changes to the exterior of our home, and you can read that post in my profile here on Hometalk or on my blog, but just to bring you up to speed, here’s the before and after from the curb:


Before:
Red brick Georgian with faux upper French doors and balcony.


After:
Painted brick with cream and black accent colors and stonecast façade. New pitched roofline, double front doors with oversized English hardware, & refined landscaping reminiscent of a Provence chateau.


Doesn’t even look like the same house does it? Well if you think that’s a switch, wait till you peek inside!


I’ll start with the biggest room in the house, our Living Room or Family Room. A large space with room enough for 2 full seating areas, our living room is full of natural light from a 2 story wall of windows looking out onto the backyard and a sea of tall neighborhood trees.


Before:
All-over white paneled walls, golden oak wood floors and scattered traditional furnishings.


After:
Gray walls, white ceiling, and darker gray fireplace and built in cabinets/entertainment center, black stained floors, and 2 clearly defined and unique sitting areas to maximize the ample space.


With all that natural light, we were confident that darker paint colors and wood floors would not make the space feel cold. Keeping a bright white ceiling draws attention to the height and openness of the room. Tighter, cozier sitting areas make the room feel more intimate and sociable and the neutral, natural color palette of the furniture keeps it relaxed and inviting – a lot less stuffy than the previous look. Flashes of gilt gold add some formal contrast.


Another view of the Living Room…


Before:
Current built-ins disappear in the sea of white and a small dinette takes up unutilized space.


After:
Built-in cabinetry is reconfigured to accommodate display shelving and an inset TV. Focused lighting brings out all the colors and textures in the shelves. A collection of vintage bird prints creates a gallery wall up the stairway.


This tufted sofa is everyone’s – including our great dane’s – favorite place to sit. Who would have thought a sofa that’s NOT in front of the TV would be so popular. Maybe it’s the view outside or the fact that it’s next to the fireplace (though here in Houston it doesn’t get used very often.) The banister and railings had to be brought up to code, so while they were being redone, we added some girth to the end posts and gave them some contrast with white paint and a stained handrail to match the floors.


Next up, everyone’s favorite gathering place – the Kitchen:


Before:
More white cabinets. I loved the brick floors and subway tile backsplash, but it just felt bland.


After:
We darkened the floor, walls and ceiling and took the cabinets from a dingy white to a cool silver white to make them pop.


Though not visible in the prior photo, we removed overhead cabinets over the stove to open up the area. A small furniture find from Home Goods was repainted to match the walls and given new purpose as an island and extra work space. A distressed rug, vintage inspired wall décor, a black chandelier in the hall and pops of color on the countertops add a whimsical touch. Don’t take us too seriously. We like to have fun in the kitchen. The stain on the brick floors is chipping up here and there, but we don’t mind. It seems to add more character giving it an old world feel.


The kitchen from another angle…


Before:
An oversized table and bulky chairs swallow the space in the breakfast nook under an outdate light fixture.


After:
A smaller table, French style bench and vintage chairs take the bulk out of the seating area, allowing space for a built in china cabinet.


This caged chandelier was a favorite find from Joss & Main. Even though it’s large, the sheerness of the cage keeps it from feeling disproportionate. The wall graphics over the window were personally designed for my bygone bakery décor and now add a touch of nostalgia in our home. Would you believe those nailhead trimmed chairs came from a thrift store for maybe $40 total?


Wanna get a peek at the before and after photos of the dining room, formal living/parlor, and sunroom? Then head over to the blog for the full article and more! http://abitofvintage.com/before-after-home-tour/
BygoneVintage
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Go
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 13 comments
Next