Monday, February 14, 2011

a very noisy V-day

My family room went from this:

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To this today (pay no attention to the man behind the curtain):

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Our friend Jeff (of the bathroom remodel) is back again and this time he’s giving our fireplace wall a little facelift.  Here is a little rudimentary computer drawing I did to show Jeff what it I wanted it to look like.  Basically, a cabinet will be added to both sides, which means a lot of the brick has to be ripped out (hence the plastic tent to control the dust).  The brick will also be painted, but I can’t decide if I want to go with a white or something like a charcoal gray (like I tried to show below).

family room built-ins

The reason we’re having this done is because we didn’t want the TV sitting on the hearth anymore (shocker, right?) and you can’t tell from the picture, but it would be too high if we put it up above the fireplace.

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It will also give us a spot to put a DVD player and any other stuff we want hidden behind cupboard doors.  I can’t wait to see how it turns out!

As soon as there were no more air hammer sounds in the air, the girls and I enjoyed a little dinner that included artichokes (our tradition for V-day) and then had a treat before bed.

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Patrick made it home in time to chase them up to bed so the two of us could snuggle up and enjoy Ken vs. Watson.  I have no idea how Watson is doing it, but he is SMOKING Ken.  Come on, buddy!  Pull it together before double jeopardy!

Favorite quote of the day?  When Emery said to me (completely unprovoked), “I’ll be your Valentine, Mom!”

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10 comments:

Isa said...

As for most things on life: go gray. :D

Also: have you considered hanging the TV on top of the fireplace (where the red painting is hanging now). You could use an extendable arm thingie.

Just an idea. I'm sure anything you do will turn out great! (I really like the red and yellow vases, btw)

Unknown said...

I can't wait to see how it turns out! It certainly is an interesting arrangement right now, so I'm sure it will be an improvement no matter what color you end up going with! That's an awesome rendering you did.

merathon said...

isabel-- we did consider putting it above the fireplace, but when you're sitting on the couch, you would really have to crink your neck up to look at it. this is definitely a much more expensive solution, but i think we'll be happy we did it!

Jenny said...

I'm glad Chris and I weren't the only ones that watched Jeopardy on Valentine's Day. Geek alert: I record it every night!

emilyaaa said...

I cannot believe that you're already starting this! When you were explaining it to me, i figured you get to it in the next, oh, 5 years or so! Probably because that's how I work :)

Anyway, it's gonna be great! your sketch is different than i'd understood it, but it looks awesome!

Marliese said...

You don't waste any time, Mer. One might think you're turning this into your "perfect" house so you could stay there forever, basking in the CO winters...haha.

And those brownies look yum! Especially for being low-fat, which I know they must have been.

merathon said...

emily-- the way i explained it to you was different than the way i ended up deciding to have it done, which is why you're confused!

mar-- i don't know about forever, but we gotta make this place better than we found it! hopefully we can help the house actually increase in value this time (unlike our last home experience)! and you are right-- the brownies were definitely lowfat. i've tried doing lowfat ones from scratch, but they've never turned out as good as the lowfat boxed mix, so that's what i always use! it's this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Betty-Crocker-Fudge-Brownie-20-5-Ounce/dp/B000S85LDK

The Dahle Family said...

Why are your heads cut off on that romantic V-day shot of the 2 of you? I'm confused. Maybe it's just my computer...

Heather said...

So fun! I love all of your house projects! it is making me want to do one of my own. i like the brick the way it is! I vote no paint. Not that you really care about my vote : ). I like the contrast and texture it brings to your room. Maybe it is because I just saw a blog about how a girl had painted white brick and painted it back to looking like brick. I'll try to find the link.

Heather said...

http://www.prettyhandygirl.com/2010/08/painting-brick-fireplace-from-white-to.html

here is the link I was telling you about