Fireplace Wall Makeover

When we moved into this home, I knew instantly what I wanted for our family room wall. Built-in bookcases on either side of the fireplace. It only took me a year and a half to finally start the project. It took a ton of planning before I felt ready to take this on.  Before committing to an plan, I drew it up in Google Sketchup.  Here's where my idea started:

Up until this last month, this plan didn't even include updating the fireplace.  When we first moved in, the wall was dark brown, with nothing but rounded edged mantle, the same color as the wall.  When we had our fence replaced in the backyard, I held onto some of the wood and gave the wall a little character by adding some planks all the way up to the ceiling.  But it still looked to bare to me.
Once I got really serious about starting the bookcases on either side of the fireplace, I realized something: That I would really regret doing the bookcases if the fireplace was still ugly. I'd be creating more work for myself in the long run if I built those and wanted to change the tile or mantle down the road. So, ambition took over and I demoed the tile the next day.  Honestly, at that point I was a little nervous about pulling the whole project off. You see, I've never tiled before...

This is what it looked like when I started taking the wall tiles off the surround.  Definitely had to replace the drywall now too.  

The tileless fireplace.  Deep breath.  You can do this.

Guess where I have to go next?...or maybe I went before demo, I can't remember!

Here's kind of a before pic...less the tile.  Lots of bare wall on either side.  Tile was 12" square beige stone looking - not terrible, but definitely outdated.  

Here you can kind of see the old tile in the background.  You just have to look past my cute family. 

Here's how I gave the fireplace insert an uplift.  I used a roll of painting paper and taped everything off. Then I spray painted over it with a nice semi-gloss black. I actually started with a  heat resistant spray paint first (to be on the safe side), but it was too dull for my liking, so I put a couple more coats on with a regular semi-gloss spray paint. 

Tile and fireplace paint completed.  The tiling was the biggest challenge for me.  But for a first timer, I think it turned out ok.  I panicked a little the night I started tiling, because I wasn't so sure it was going to work.  I had a hard time getting tiles to stay in place, I only had a manual tile cutter (score/snap type) that didn't always make clean breaks, and the fireplace insert wasn't very flush with the drywall. 

Next came the mantle.  I decided to remove the existing wood top I had made and give it a fresh look, which would add contrast to the wood on the wall.  Measurements were the trickiest part.  I decided to build the columns and mantle out of mdf, since I knew I wanted to paint it.  I got lucky and found sheets of mdf at HD for 75% off!  I had HD rip the MDF for me so I could easily transport it home and it was a huge help to already have such long pieces cut to size.   I built the columns first so I could put them in place and measure how wide the mantle needed to be.  

The picture above is what my hubby came home to after being gone on a  business trip.  It was in it's original form before he left.  I never sent him pictures or told him of my progress, so he was quite surprised!  (Honestly, I was so worried about failing that I didn't want him to be worried about it as well)  But he knew I was up to something with the fireplace. 

Now for the bookcases.  I originally had planned to build all the bookcases from scratch, but ultimately I was intrigued to try a hack.  I found these $17 bookcases at Walmart and realized that two of them would fit almost perfectly on either side.   I raised the bookcases on a frame made of 2x3s, which allowed me to add baseboards on the bottom.  

I secured the cabinets to each other and to the wall.  (I had to add a piece of wood to the top inside of each cabinet so I could then anchor the cabinet to a stud).

I used 1x3s on each side of the cabinets (by the wall and between the cabinet and fireplace column) by attaching a 2x3 cleat to the side of the cabinet and nailing the trim piece to it.

Then I cut a top piece from more MDF, which was also tricky because the walls aren't straight! After a few coats of paint and silicone caulk, it was looking good! 

At last, I added doors.  This was a lengthy process, especially tedious in measuring.  Eight doors in all, framed with my kreg jig.  I used a decorative aluminum sheet for the inside of the door frame, mainly because I was concerned that our wifi equipment might overheat or experience signal loss if the doors were solid.  Maybe it would have been fine, but I kind of like the extra character anyway. 

No longer a boring wall.  Hit Hobby Lobby for a few decorative elements and now we have some more storage for the books that are still in boxes in our bedroom closet!  

4 Little Ghosts!

This year we're doing a playgroup for my 3 year old.  Every Monday they get to have their own boys club (there's 5 in all - one boy didn't make it this day).  Today we learned about the letter "G" and made some cool windsock ghosts.  They may not have wanted to put that much time into making them, but they for sure ran around outside for a half hour "boo-ing" while flying their ghosts all around the court.  Totally worth it.  Dane even slept with his ghost for naptime.

Welcome back Franky!

Happy Halloween!  After our move last year we personalized our new door for Halloween.  Frankenstein had to make his way back this year...it just took me a couple weeks to get around to it.  He at least brings a little personality to the porch.  Someday I'll make time to give that a little more attention.  But for now, Franky will have to take the spotlight.

Supermarket Sweep FHE

As I sat down to dinner with my kids tonight, I knew I still needed to come up with some kind of Family Home Evening Lesson (what we do every Monday night).  Dad was out of town again and I was already feeling backlogged with dishes and laundry and hadn't thought much about  a lesson.  When I mentioned needing to have FHE, my oldest said, "Can we please do something FUN instead of just sitting around and talking?"  Ugh, extra pressure now, I thought.  I told the kids I had a lot I needed to do, so it probably needed to be something quick and easy, and then it hit me:  I really needed to go grocery shopping and maybe we can somehow make that fun.  Visions of "Supermarket Sweep" came to mind - the exciting game show I used to watch as a kid.  Contestants would race through the supermarket to get all the items on their list the fastest and within budget.  It was decided.  We would do our own version of Supermarket Sweep!

Prior to leaving we discussed grocery store layout.  I actually drew a birds eye layout of the store on a piece of paper and pointed out where all the food categories were located.  We also discussed how to "shop around the edges" of the store for healthier choices.  The kids then helped make grocery lists. They helped inspect the fridge and the pantry and wrote down what we needed.  We split the list in two so each team had one.  The boys would be with mom and the 11 and 6 year old sisters would go off on their own in the store. I told the kids that we had 30min to get everything on the list...including ice cream for a reward.  

I guided the boys a lot, but the girls were totally into it and didn't want me to follow them at all!  At checkout, they bagged their own groceries, then helped me load/unload and put away.  I was impressed that they all did so well and it was one of the fastest grocery trips I've ever made (with kids)!  Plus, they were really excited to see who guessed the closest to the cost for groceries. 

On the ride home, we talked about what they thought about it and what seemed hard.  A couple comments included: "It's expensive to feed a big family" and "It's hard to shop with kids and not get distracted". Maybe they don't have to be all grown up to 'get it'. There's nothing like teaching great life lessons while being able to cross some to-dos off my list!  A special thanks to my 4 helpers tonight.

A Tribute to HOME

Almost 9 years ago, our little family moved into this home.  It was a dream house for us at the time, moving from a townhome with no garage or backyard.  We didn't gain much living space, but we felt so blessed to own a single family home where we could continue to raise our children - in a great neighborhood in our hometown, right across the street from the school! 

Our oldest was 2 at the time, and I was expecting our son, who arrived 3 weeks after we moved in.  We scrimped and saved every penny we could to make ends meet.  We were essentially "house poor" for quite a while, but it felt worth it to live near family and in a place we loved.  We are frugal by nature anyway, so we found ways to make our home a beautiful place that we could enjoy.  This home may only be 1153 sq ft., but it's loaded with love, memories, and some elbow grease.  It's hard to say that this structure is "just a house".  It has been way more than that to us and we're going to miss it.  

The chorus in the song "Little Houses" by Doug Stone sums it all up:

Love grows best in little houses,

with fewer walls to separate.

Where you eat and sleep so close together, 

you can't help but communicate.

If we had more room between us, 

think of all we'd miss.

Love grows best in houses just like this. 

I won't be able to post this saying in our 4000 sq ft. home that we're moving to, but there's a lot of truth to these words.  We can appreciate being close as a family and having to 'make-do' with the space we have.  Is a bigger home going to feel great?  Yes.  But I already imagine that we will have to make a bigger effort as a family to stay close since we'll have a more 'personal' space to avoid some of the communication opportunities that you get in a really small home.  (On the flip side, it will also be beneficial that we will get to keep some of our conversations to ourselves in a bigger home!)

Whichever way you look at it, there's so much to appreciate.  This is an exciting change for our family, yet I would never take back the experiences and memories that have come with this home. We've had several birthday parties, after school play dates, co-op preschool, and family gatherings in this place.

I may have mentioned before that I have a tendency to rearrange furniture often and redecorate my spaces more often than my husband cares for.  As a kid I constantly rearranged my room and deep cleaned it as I went.  I find it rejuvenating.  The only problem had been that there was very little space to change, but that didn't stop me.  Here's a visual of how many times the  2nd bedroom changed in the last 8 years.  I guess most of it had to do with the beds changing, but this kind of sums up my need to change things.  

It only took me 6 years to convince my hubby that we needed to knock down the wall between the family room and kitchen.  It finally happened 2.5 years go.  We've never looked back.  It changed my life.  I will forever love this part of the house!  Here you can see the transformation take place...

 ...A Tribute to our HOME.  We will miss you!

                            

                            

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