We didn’t really have the budget to do a ton of exposed brick (a quality mason doesn’t come cheap), but when I realized we had found a fireplace and that the entire wall was beautiful brick, I couldn’t cover it back up. So we have an entire wall of exposed brick that was cleaned and sealed with a very low sheen. The fireplace doesn’t function, but makes a fun place to display plants, books, and other objets d’art. 

And then, the floor! Now, we all know the original builder never intended for that heart pine subfloor to show, but little did they know we’d drool over it in 2023. The floor refinishing crew was worried when they saw how rough it was, but look, if I wanted a floor to look new, I’d buy new flooring. The imperfections are precisely what I love in the warm, rich planks, and what help make this room unique.

A few bits of the original trim were salvageable, and we kept what we could, and for everything else, we worked with a trim carpenter and a millyard to source trim that was as similar in style and size as possible to the old. (With 12-foot ceilings, the baseboard couldn’t just be run-of-the-mill stock!)