My Goal is Simple

a blog about my life a few people read

Tag: Red Door Lodge

February 20, 2012

It’s Lovely to See You, Fireplace

Rejoice! Our television is no longer chillin’ on the hearth like a causal acquaintance that won’t stop talking to you about how the South Beach Diet changed their life. As explained yesterday, we decided to build a surround for the fireplace to rest the existing mantle. Remember – the original mantle placement was too high and we didn’t want to cut into the stone to secure it slightly lower. After a couple of coats of paint, we hoisted the new shebang into place and set the television on top. I may or may not have let loose a tear of joy.

{yesterday}

{today}

As you can see, we’re still working on the hiding of the cords solution but we’re confident we can make it work. Also, you can see the protruding stones on which the mantel was originally resting. We have plans to ‘hide’ those as well. But gosh darn it, I was just too excited not to share our progress.

Let me just say that I love this color we choice. We looked at a couple of different colors and even briefly entertained the idea of white to match the built-ins, but in the end, we decided that we wanted to make the piece muted and not necessarily a stand-out piece, so to speak. The color is Cooper Adobe Brown from the Valspar Signature Collection at Lowes and we used the paint & primer-in-one. Seriously, we couldn’t have asked for a better match with the stone, it plays off the various colors in the fireplace without competing. Perfect!

In the future, we’re probably going to attach a mounting system to the mantle so we can tilt the television downwards. At this point, it isn’t necessary for comfortable boob tube watching but it will help the experience. But we’re not any any hurry and planning on enjoying our new television arrangement for some time. I am looking forward to adding more pops of color to the room. As it is right now, it is a bit too brown-centric for my tastes. To illustrate my point, here is a view from the other direction…

Little pops of color, but not enough. <insert sad face>.

Price breakdown:

  • 6 pieces of wood = $39
  • 1 quart of paint = $12
  • 4 pieces of trim = $5
  • TOTAL = $56 (includes 10% military discount)

Happy Presidents Day!

(PSA – there is no apostrophe…)

{source}

Clay has the day off so may get a little wild and buy some bar stools. I know, I know – it is tough keeping up with us and our crazy adventures.  If we’re really feeling rambunctious, we might even go to a couple of thrift stores. Watch out!

5 comments
January 9, 2012

Officially Ours

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We officially living in the new house. With no Internet (thanks goodness for
smart phones), no sense of organization, and a heaping dash of overwhelmingness (did I just make up that word?). But we are SO excited.

We closed on the house Friday afternoon and moved all of the main furniture over the weekend. Our nights are spent unpacking while watching a RedBox movie (so far we have viewed ‘Friends with Benefits’ and ‘Crazy Stupid Love’) and christening the wet bar. Good times.

I’ll be back when the Internet Gods bestow their presence among us between the hours of 1 and 5 on Wednesday afternoon. Now if you excuse me, I must return to organizing the master closets while managing a toddler.

7 comments
January 5, 2012

A Quick Little Peak

My sinuses are beginning to clear and making room for the excitement that accompanies when one purchases a new home. Since we had our walk-thru yesterday, I thought I would share a couple of pictures with all five of you – specifically the aspects of the house that made our hearts go boom-boom, boom-boom.

But before we embark on the quick pictorial adventure, let me give you a bit of background information about the soon-to-be-ours casa. First of all – it is not a new house. This is new territory for us because the house we own in North Carolina was new construction when we bought it in 2008. But this house was custom built in 1983 and has a unique look. The neighborhood actually blends into a couple of other neighborhoods (i.e. tons of sidewalks, parks, a lake, neighborhood school, etc…) and there is not one house that is the same as another. A couple of weeks ago, I spilled the beans that we’ve been affectionally calling it The Red Door Lodge (see small picture on the left sidebar). I think every house needs a name…I mean, people name their cars, why not their houses, right?

But that is enough background chatter – let’s take a look at some of the boom-boom, boom-boom inducing elements of the house. Again, remember that we bought this house knowing that updates are necessary and we have no trouble seeing past the white walls and outdated fixtures. This house has potential, y’all. Okay, now we’re ready…

I literally gasped when I first saw the fireplace in the family room during our first viewing back in October. The imported stone is the same that is one the exterior and the unit has been converted into gas (easier to use and maintain). The built-ins are perfect but we’re going to need to make adjustments to the mantle for the TV to work. I’m a sucker for TVs above fireplaces so there aren’t multiple focal points competing with each other.

Just a normal set of doors in the family room, right?

Nope. It is a deliciously sweet 80s wet-bar that could easily be found on the set of Dallas. There is another one in the study but we will save that for another day. There are ducks involved so it merits it’s own post. Ducks, people. Ducks!

I was delighted (no, seriously!) to discover that the previous owners left the hanging porcelain cow in the kitchen. I have big plans for that cow.

The backyard is filled with shade-providing trees, has plenty of room to run, and a big patio on which to spend long summer nights. Everybody is invited over!

Looks like a nice enough shed, right?

It is actually half shed/half playhouse. The door to access the shed is on the other  side and Weston is showcasing how to enter his new playhouse mancave. Right now, the decor is a bit too girly so we have big plans for making it appropriate for a wild and crazy two-year-old boy. I am not going to lie, this is one of my most anticipated projects.

So there you have it – just an inkling of some of what we fell in love with at the house. I will share more as time goes on. Until then, keep calm and do it yourself. Hasta la vista, baby.

12 comments