First things first. We WON! This space is stunning to see in person and the nearly 20ft high fireplace is my favorite part. Let’s talk about the road to the finish line here in the living room.
If you recall Episode 1, this space originally was a kitchen, complete with all the plumbing, cabinets, and extra storage. We instantly saw a wasted wall going all the way up to the second floor. What else could possibly go here? More on that later!
My thoughts were all over the place. Where will seating go? We need a fireplace. We need a dining space. We can't forget about the view. And Allison reminded me, more seating is never a bad thing for a beach house. And as someone who works from home and lounges all around the house, I fully agreed.
We had a really fun trip to a local antique store with a surprise competition to create a light fixture using only items that weren't already lighting! Sounds easy enough in an Antique store, right? Not at all! Brandon was ready to go big. As a licensed electrician, he could put together any light we could dream of. Knowing that we had the opportunity for a major statement with a chandelier on that high ceiling, we went BIG. The wagon wheel alone wasn't my favorite piece, but with the glass bottles, it was the perfect balance of beachy boho.
I found some amazing teakwood panels from Wayfair that had an asymmetrical pattern and various warm wood tones. I thought these were a good balance of contemporary and eclectic and they would look amazing on our white walls. I wanted to bring in some earthy tones with the furniture as well, so green chairs, earth-toned pillows along with a multicolored rug, really made the space cozy.
The banquette and chairs around the dining room table were the perfect way to have optimal seating without obstructing the view of the beach. And did I mention that almost everything in this space was built from scratch? Just wow. I'm proud to win in any space, but it feels even better to know that Brandon and I really rolled up our sleeves and got it done with mostly custom builds in the living room.
What do you think of the space?
Secrets Revealed:
Brandon spent a good amount of time cutting those glass bottles that were about 4in. thick at the bottom. After carefully cutting the bottom out, we had to make a hole through the top. This required drilling through metal, very carefully as to not break the glass. Brandon handled these steps thankfully. Next, I was on shaving duty to remove all the sharp edges of the glass. The next step was to make it a light. I fed the pendants through each bottle as Brandon wired everything together. This piece was truly one of a kind.
The dining room table! We went back and forth between deciding to use the expensive $900 table we purchased from World Market or making one. Brandon was completely on board to build a table that wowed like the kitchen bench, but I wasn't down with the math of it all. It was a huge risk to make a table with such time limitations and
The fireplace has secrets too! That's all I can say for now...
Tune in every Monday starting June 3rd at 9pm on HGTV to see us makeover an entire house and compete for a $50,000 cash prize against 2 other teams of DIYers. You can stream all episodes on Max the next day.
Be sure to follow me @toolsandtransformations on Instagram for all the fun details!
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