Home Improvement, Part 1 of ?

Our house was built in 1950. We bought it from the daughter of the first owners. Her mother lived here until she was in her 90s, only moving out a few years ago. When we first saw the house, we were really excited about the space and the original wood. We were less excited about the plethora of window coverings, the glass chandelier, and the carpet, which left a continuous musty smell.

Last week, we pulled up the dining and living room carpeting, replaced the light fixture, removed the window drapes, added new window valances, and generally spruced the place up. Here's how our dining room changed:

And our living room:

We're very pleased and enjoying our "updated" rooms. Now if only the air condition can be serviced to help us with Pittsburgh's near record high temps of 90+ with humidity. It's been a heat wave here!