Nine Lives of a Fireplace

***UPDATE BELOW***

The Hearth Room Fireplace is really cool. It has some lovely shapes and architecture. It also has gas logs, and during the Winter, we use it nearly every weekend morning, as well as many evenings. It has gone through multiple transformations in three short years.

This is the Fireplace before we moved in, during the initial cleaning. My mother, always prepared, has her water bottles lined up as she took on the cleaning of this room, which includes the kitchen. (I'll have to ask her to guest blog about that adventure one day soon!) Also, notice that the floors have not been redone yet. One thing you can't see is that the metal trim around the fireplace glass was painted with fleck stone paint over brass and it was flaking off in huge chunks.

Here, the floors have been redone, but we haven't moved in. (Wow! I almost forgot how many nights and weekends we spent at the house prior to the move. We got the house on August 15th, and moved in on November 28th.) Notice the light above the fireplace. It was supposed to point to the fireplace, shining light on it, but my mom broke it cleaning it! That still makes me laugh. At this time I had also taken the glass doors off, scraped off the fleck stone and repainted with high heat black paint--like you would use for a BBQ grill.

Next, we decide to paint the wall and the trim around the fireplace. The mantle was enameled wood, but, aside from the tile, everything else was wall. I sanded the mantle, primed everything and then painted it all Bulldog Black. I struggled with whether or not I should paint the baseboard and crown moldings black, or leave them white. In the first go round, I left them white, knowing I could always paint them later. We also replaced the floor's plain vent covers with some decorative and sturdier ones from Lowe's.

When we redid the kitchen and added the Bar/Entertainment Center, we also had the fireplace re tiled. We used 1x1 polished Emperador Dark tile, which matches the mosaic work behind the cook top. The polished catches the light in the most interesting ways--so sparkly! I also went back and did the baseboards and the crown in black...MUCH better.

We chose to have the floor tile replaced with hardwood. (Not a big deal, as we had moved the appliances, which caused some necessary repatching in the kitchen proper.) ***UPDATE*** The decision to put the wood in on the diagonal was RYAN'S! Thanks, mom! the Hardwood Floor Guys did an excellent job executing, but the idea goes to Ryan***Our Hardwood Floor Guys suggested putting the wood in at a diagonal into the already existing square surround. This simple change also makes the space feel bigger. When pushing your chair out from the table, you don't 'bump' onto the tile, but the hearth is still implied.

We replaced the white wood blinds with 2" stained wood that matches some of our kitchen cabinets from justblinds.com and purchased and hung a different light over the table. We discussed moving the box to center it, but ultimately decided that swagging the chain was acceptable. (I don't even notice it any more.)

We thought we were done. Then summer came.

The rear of our house faces Southwest and during the hot summer months, the sun came BLARING through the transoms, especially that one over the door to the deck. We tried heat film on it, which did help, but the kitchen could be as much as 10 degrees warmer than the rest of the house during the evening.

So, as much as I hated to cover up the windows, we purchased another set of blinds. After hanging them, you could immediately feel the difference. And I am pleased with the way they look.

Now, I just need some curtains, and this one room might actually be done. GASP!! However, that will be a very long time, as I have NO idea what kind of curtains would look good here. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Linked to Metamorphosis Monday @betweennapsontheporch

Entry Foyer Light

We started with a VERY long list of projects for the house. One project that was NOT included was replacing the entry light in the foyer. But, as fate would have it, as we were at Rensen House shopping for a bathroom light fixture for the Family Room Bath remodel, we happened upon a beautiful light fixture that had been marked down from $1200 to $235. What a deal! And I do love a good deal!

After talking with the sales guy, we also knew that an electrician to install the light on our 18 foot ceiling would be a MINIMUM of $225. My good deal wasn't quite as good. We went home to think about it.

Turns out, as we took our evening walks around the neighborhood, we had both been secretly jealous of a home, similar to ours, with a beautiful light in their entry.

AND, Ryan decides that with the proper equipment, we can install the thing ourselves. Thus, we decide to go for it.


The next day we go back to the store, and the only light left was the display, which was ALREADY PUT TOGETHER. Yay for us! After getting it home, Ryan rents a very tall step ladder


from Home Depot for $17, and we install the light within the hour.

Only one hitch, as Ryan prepared to install the decorative plate that hides the hole in the ceiling, he realized it was positioned on the wrong side of a rather large hook, thus it would not go flush to the ceiling. He told me to scurry (!?!) up the ladder and hang onto the light for dear life, as he unattached it from its secure mounting and reworked the plate. It took him nearly 20 minutes to do this as I shook and moaned. (He claims it took less than 3 minutes, but this is my story). And it worked out great!

Entry Light in Foyer Before and After

Whatcha think? Should we have left the old light and saved the $$ for another project or a night on the town?

The Family Room Bar and the "Wine Cellar"

My FANTASTIC s-i-l, Renee at Modus Operandi Designs and the Southernly Challenged featured our Family Room Bar Remodel on her blog.

Yay! How fun is that?

It made me really want to share the unfinished space we were able to claim from Cluttered Storage to "Wine Room"/Full Kitchen.

I also must add that much of what we have redone in the house is inspired by Renee and her design aesthetic, which is impeccable. She provides much-needed input, but also helps us feel that, ultimately, we have the freedom to choose what WE like (within reason (hah!) and budget (boo!)).

Before we redid the bar, the far wall stopped and there was a small, unfinished space behind it. After we had decided to use the space for more bar, we had the option to tear out the wall completely or do a pass through. Doing the pass through was cheaper, easier, and I think, much cooler.



This is the "wine room" side. We have decorative wine storage, stemware storage, cabinetry and an open shelf for Ryan's fancy whiskys. We tiled the back with a stacked stone and it was AMAZINGLY easy to do.


And this is the side with the range. I like that it's tucked around the corner so you can't see it unless you go looking for it, plus, the entire bar is small enough that it's still super functional. The kids have already put it to good use making frozen pizzas, cookies and Bagel Bites. We used the same glass tile behind the oven that we used for the bar-proper, but installed it vertically instead of horizontally.

We chose a different door style in these cabinets than for the rest of the cabinets, and chose to paint them very-slightly-distressed black. I was a bit concerned about it being too dark in the little room, but it's not a problem. And Ryan installed a decorative undermount light that shines on the stacked stone on the wine side...looks really cool at night.

I like that it's "hidden"-but not hidden and still very accessible. I also think by Ryan doing that arch in the opening made a huge difference in the overall look. That was one of those things that took us awhile to figure out. First, that we WERE going to do it and then second, HOW we were going to do it.

Renee, I can't wait for you all to test it out!

Peer Pressure and Plumbing Fixtures

The hardware on the doors throughout our house is brushed nickel. When we redid the Master Bath, we were planning on buying pulls and plumbing fixtures with that same finish. When the time came to make the purchases, we changed our minds. Our cabinet guy was all relieved and said, "Thank goodness, you have decided to go with oil-rubbed bronze!"

Ummm, NO! Not ORB! We had decided to go with the shiniest silver finish we could find.

He was shocked and blown away and made it obvious he thought we were going in the wrong direction. We did trust his opinion and had some fears the shiny might look cheap, and although the fixtures we wanted were cheaper in the silver than the ORB, those suckers weren't cheap. We went back and forth and back and forth questioning our decison and finally went with our gut.

We were shooting for that high-end hotel suite feel...lots of clean and shiny surfaces, and I really think the silver finishes helped pull that together. And the best part?! They were literally 1/3 of the cost of the ORB!

IR Repeaters - Keeping the components hidden

When we built the bar/entertainment cabinet in the Hearth Room, we wanted to hide the components, but we didn't want to use fabric in the cabinetry. The answer, an IR Repeater. Cost: around $100.



I was concerned because we had tried an el-cheapo version in the bedroom and the delay was so long it was painful. Ryan promised me this one would be better, and, yet again, he was right!


The components all go inside the cabinet.

Next, Ryan DRILLS A HOLE in our brand-new, custom-made, not-cheap cabinetry. He then installs the All-Seeing Eye This is where it gets technical.



Our son comes along and hooks up the ends of all these sticky wires to the blinky part of each component where the signal from the remote goes.



We shut the cabinet door. It works like a dream.
Not a component in site and ZERO delay!



AND I get another Harmony remote for this set up. SWOON!

TVs, or, REALLY, why I have allowed so many TVs in our household

We have a problem with televisions in our household. It's not the reception, and it's not even watching too much TV; it's the sheer number of TVs. We have Nine working TVs, with plans to add 3 more. And that is for a family for Four. The cable guy had to put some kind of booster/amplifier thing on the incoming line to get the signal to go to all the TVs.

And I blame Ryan.

For one of his milestone birthdays (40th..sorry, honey), he wanted a 60 inch TV. I thought it was ridiculous. First, to spend that much money, and second, I thought a TV that big was both ridiculous and wasteful.


So, 40th b-day rolls around, and we get one. And, once again, I was proven wrong. Wrong! So Wrong!

I love Ryan's TV. I mean, like, looooooooooove, Ryan's TV. And I love it in a sinful way. With the kind of love that should be saved for living things.

When we watch baseball on it (and I do not enjoy watching baseball), I love every minute of it! You can see every blade of grass in the outfield, and when the cameraman pans the crowd, if you were seated behind third base, I could point you out and text you what logo was on your hat.

And when we watch the Travel Channel, I no longer have the need to go to exotic locales because it's like I am there ALREADY! And my bathroom is nice and handy and (somewhat) clean.

Then marry that Sony WEGA up with my Harmony Remote. GLORY BE! Or I think I meant I want to marry Ryan's TV AND the Harmony Remote. A fantastic threesome and Happily Every After.

Family Room Remodel - BAR

When we moved in, there was a bar in the basement. It had fairly inexpensive cabinetry and had been sloppily stained: streak marks, runs, etc. This was it.
It had a sink and a dishwasher, but no place for a fridge. Who puts a DISHWASHER in a bar and no fridge? The hook up for the fridge was around the corner, down the hall, through a door, to the right about 5 feet, in an unfinished part of the basement.



SERIOUSLY.



This was our temporary solution.



We talked about trying to remove some of the cabinets and put a fridge in and then paint the remaining cabinets. It would save money, plus there wasn't really a lot we wanted to change about the layout.



THEN, we realized that we could access more unfinished basement to make the bar a full kitchen, but still give it the bar feel.



When facing the sink, the wall to the right had an unfinished storage area behind it. The area was attached to the workshop, and we used it to store stuff that we did not need.


Ryan got the bright idea to cut a hole in the wall and expand our bar into the unfinished area: thus, we got a spot for the stove and a cool "wine cellar". The bar AFTER: We got new cabinetry from our cabinet guys along the back wall and in the "new" room. And they were able to reuse the bar portion (the part painted black). They unattached it from the wall and took it back to their shop to replace the doors and paint it.


We got a new fridge, sink, faucet, stove and wine fridge, but kept the dishwasher. #1 it works. #2 it's paid for and #3, what I am hoping is that we use it so much in the next year that it BREAKS, and then I can somehow justify replacing it with a stainless steel drawer dishwasher.