The House that Jack Built- Part 1

You know, I have no idea who this "Jack" is or why he built so many homes that have completely stupid issues.  But, darn you Jack.  I raise my closed fist in the air and shake it- cursing you Jack the Builder. "Curse You Jack!!!"

Now, let's back up a hair to a conversation between Jeff and I.  It went like this:

Jeff: "Wow, Kim those stairs turned out a lot better than I expected."
Kim: "Yeah, I know."
Jeff: "We really should ponder updating our delightful 1982 house."
Kim: "Yes we shall ponder this, first let me get us both another adult beverage."

I got us a beer and the crazy talk starts. We discussed how we were doing a stay-cation at home, and how these simple projects should be knocked out by Sunday.  Providing we start them on Saturday, it should be cake, right?  Our project list was as follows:

1. Paint Family Room
2. Update ugly timber of a mantle in Family Room (yes, some people LOVE rustic wood -- this wood is not the kind you love, it's the kind you want to chuck in a bonfire)
3. Update 1980's Bookcases flanking fireplace in family room (new trim and paint backs of bookcase)
4. New carpet in hallway and master bed room (to be installed by professionals, the carpet saga is a post all it's own)
5. Tear out and replace vanity/sink in master bath "dressing" area (our master is designed as a Hotel Style Master bedroom/bath -- very popular in the early 1980's)

Then we had a last minute add-on due to a sale price we could not pass-up...

6. Remove laundry chute box that empties laundry into the pantry, and replace flooring with $10 per box Mohawk laminate flooring. (it was a special order item that someone returned to the store, so instead of $56.00 per box, we got them for $10.00 per box- a STEAL).

OK, looking at our list.  Painting, should be easy.  New trim, should be easy, heck removing the old trim should be cake.  Removing and old vanity/sink, putting in a new one (after the carpet is installed).  Everything on our list is something we have either done, or had done something similar.  Nothing was really out of our scope of DIY. 

The one thing we forgot was... THIS was the house that Jack built.  This is the house that does NOT want to give up it's 1980's grandeur.  This was a problem.  I blame this on Jack; a neighbor suggested it may be the previous owner thwarting our updating progress. He has recently passed, and he could be having some heavenly fun causing us some issues.  But, his taste and our taste are polar opposites.  I mean for goodness sake, at closing he exclaimed how much he loved THIS wallpaper:

Entry Hallway 2007

Let me tell you how much fun I had with my steamer and my Mom ripping out every inch of that wallpaper, and every other scrap of wallpaper, and boarder in this house.  We were officially declared wallpaper/boarder free in February of 2008.

BACK to the Project at hand, Project Family Room.

Our family room is a giant rectangle. The back wall is the brick fireplace, flanked with the bookcases.  Easy-peasy.  Here are a few is before pictures, some from 2007, some a but more recent...

This beautiful 1/2 wall with spindles lasted 30minutes before we pulled the spindles the day we closed.

 

Party 2011

 

 

My beautiful Fireplace at Christmas, 2011. 
All we did when we moved in was to paint the walls green...



So, let's find a close up of the ugly beam...

 

Really this, mantle/beam was more of a rail road tie. It was uneven, splintery, unable to dust.  Like Paul Bunyan cut down a timber and Babe slapped it up on my fireplace.  I hated that "rustic" ugly beam.

 

Knowing we would not paint brick (it's a SIN, right up there with coveting your neighbor's wife), we were left with, let's do something to update this area. After looking, and pricing "ready made" mantels, our best bet was to create our own. We found some trim, and a nice piece of wood.  Jeff decided, let's use the ugly timber as our base and pretty it up.  I was all on board (ha, ha-- board!).

 

To tie in the ugly bookcase, I wanted to update the trim on the top.  I wanted to get rid of this:

Yes, I chipped off a piece of the wood after 15 minutes of wacking.

The goal was to SIMPLY remove the ugly trim, and I was all for making a straight cut and simply re-staining the cut end.  Therefore, it would be a rectangle, not a scrolly, country looking thing.  The bookcase had other ideas... I wacked on it, Jeff wacked on it. We removed screws, nails, etc. And that stupid thing DID NOT MOVE.  It's like steel covered in wood. Let's Plan B it....

Let's cut it out! Cutting it out, smoked the blade of the sawz-all.

Frick, that stupid book case trim WOULD NOT BUDGE.  Wacking, sawing, cussing at it, NOTHING. Stupid bookcase.  But, at least the paint and primer stuck to the back of the bookcase.  So, at least there was that.

 

After a lot of thinking, and a few trips to Lowe's/ Home Depot (Jimmy's House and Joey's House), we came up with this.....Plan C, let's match it to our mantel.  And we did, and here is a bit of a preview, while getting a close look at the mantel.

 

 

Golden Pecan... I know some people HATE light wood.
But, we wanted LIGHT; there is enough Dark Walnut in this house for 10 houses.

 

Let's look closer at the wood trim.... Ohhhh-Ahhhhh.....

 

 

 Finally, let's look at the finished product, and voyeur around my living room a bit...

A little side by side, old versus new...

Pretty!  And please say Hi to our Mags....

The complete living room, toys and all.  Color used was "Lemon Balm" by Behr. 
Yes, I know, it looks crazy similar to the paint I painted over in 2007.

Cincinnati Zoo art I found for $20

The "gallery" wall



 

We accomplished our first 3 items on our check list.  Painted family room, new mantel, and  updated bookcase.  The dollars and cents?  Not bad.  The wood trim was more than I anticipated, but a pre-made mantel was 5ft long and $99.99.  Our Mantel is 6ft long and come in at $80.  Then add in the bookcases, we came in at about $100 for the complete project.  Paint was about $66, my art was $20.  So, all in all, a new look, updated for under $200.  Not bad!

 

Oh, and how long did this take? I started painting Saturday night at 9pm... Then, we did this complete project during naps and at bedtime, and we added in a Zoo trip and a dentist adventure on Monday.  Tuesday evening everything was 100% complete.   Another DIY, Jeff and Kim project complete.

 

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the House that Jack Built, the vanity from hell...