Living room explained

This room was expanded by the addition of the east "half". If you look at an earlier photo (circa 1980) of the house you will see that it was more rectangular than "L" shaped. The living room front wall which held the entry door was opened up and a new addition was created. The front door was relocated to face the south and the wrap around deck was added. The original living room measured 15 3/4 feet by 9 1/2 feet. With the addition if now measures 15 3/4 feet by 28 feet.

This addition however was never completed prior to our ownership and still had the wood underlayment as its only flooring.

Timeline / Action Items
This room contained little refuse (well comparably) and required cleanup.

The first item was the removal of the baseboards around the old part of the room. Since the new section did not have these we decided to install new boards instead of trying to match the existing ones. It was also decided to remove the baseboards in every room of the house and just replace all of them. It was decided that all baseboards would be custom made from 1x4 and a router.

There was the installation of a new front door as the current door had some small dents and such. My wife also preferred the front door to have a window of some sort.

The next item was the installation of a new ceiling fan box on the west side (original area) as this area never had a ceiling light. We also prefer ceiling fans as a way to distribute heat and cooling thoughout our home.

The most ambitious thing done to the room was the removal of the houses original wood burning stove. This is the only heat source for the house and there was considerable smoke damage from it over the years. The wall behind the stove was opened to allow the installation of an electrical outlet and a gas line. The brick hearth was tiled over using the same ceramic tile used in the kitchen and utility room and the wall behind the stove was also tiled as a way to reflect more heat and to protect the wall. To trim the tile I selected a decorative door casement molding. This was modified by only using one Plith block (the piece usually at the bottom of the door trim) at the hearth level and one rosette piece. The corner was mitered and the trim terminates at the hallway doorway trim. This molding was painted to match the wainscot color in the dining room as was the front door interior side. A nice touch if I do say so myself. A new gas fireplace/furnace was installed atop the hearth with its thermostat located in the hallway. Again this is the only heat source in the house but as it puts out 32,000 BTU the house is heated nicely. This installation was done by the second of our four subcontractors.

Since I had the tiling tools I was told by my wife that I WILL be putting in an entry foyer. I therefore installed a 4 foot by 5 foot entry made from the same tile as the fireplace. This tile makes a natural transision from the dining room to the front of the house and adds a nice effect. PHOTO

The ceilings were textured with an acoustical spray by a local contractor named Scott Duncan. Scott was one of the only four subcontractors to work on the house with us. Ironically due to an oversight in the 2nd bedroom (more on that page) Scott was contracted to paint the living room along with the utility room, hallway, and bedrooms. When you hear the phrase "Right tool for the right job." believe it. He as able to paint the room in minutes while it would have taken us days.

Next came the installation of the ceiling fans and the replacement of light switches, electrical outlets, phone and cable outlets. While this was not necessary the original items were old and needed to be updated for cosmetic reasons. To my amazement (and others) I failed to electrocute myself during this process.

Next came the installation of the carpet. (four subcontractor) The selection process for the carpet was somewhat of a task as we hoped to pick a color that would accent the tile and would provide the ability to mask the red clay soil from showing. The upside was that we knew we wanted Berber carpet as this will hopefully provide a longer lasting carpet. The carpet that was selected is perfect as it does meet all the above requirements and looks very nice.

Finally, as people were viewing the house, my wife was installing the miniblinds over the three windows in the room. These were purchased through a JC Penny's close out catalog at were VERY inexpensive. The effect of them however is quite dramatic. As a side note these are the thinnest miniblinds I have ever seen. We began to call them microblinds in the end.

Before and After
Living room