The planked wall framing out the TV is shellac’d and painted!
HH did the shellac’ing. I did the painting. Except for the top five boards. I couldn’t reach them even on a tall ladder! The plank below the TV is removable to access the TV and we painted it separately. For fun, let’s take a look at the evolution of this wall.
The ‘before’ is a picture from the first time we toured the house. The ‘progress’ shot was taken during renovation when the walls and ceiling were demo’d. We removed walls separating the living room, kitchen and dining room to create an open living room / kitchen layout. The ‘after’ was taken today, nearly two years after we started renovations. It’s been a long time comin’. Before, the tall and wide mantel completely overwhelmed the living room. Now, it looks less ominous even though it’s the same size. It’s amazing what raising a ceiling and painting everything white will do for a room.
So, this is where we watch movies, warm ourselves by the fire and generally hang as a family. It’s pretty awesome. Even with the boob speakers. I give HH a hard time about his nerdy love for all things tech-y but, you know what?, it makes him happy so I need to let up. This is a real house, not a show house.
After the paint was dry, HH caulked where the planked wall meets the drywall and ceiling. We did not caulk in between each plank just like we didn’t on the planked ceiling. I think it looks less perfect and more charming that way.
HH used simple corner trim to frame the TV opening. I was adamant about not wanting chunky or beveled trim. The simpler, the better. HH outfitted the *removable* bottom plank with a mesh speaker screen to allow sound from the two boob speakers under the TV to travel into the room. The screen is paintable and HH painted it to match the tongue and groove. Before he installed the bottom plank, HH placed a piece of wood on either side of the speakers, angled out from the back of the wall, to direct the sound forward. He’s really happy with how the speaker setup turned out and I don’t think it’s hideous so we’re still married.
I’m pretty dang excited about being able to shoot at different angles in this room. For the longest time, I’ve been purposefully shooting around the fireplace wall because it was such an eyesore. Can you spot the Skylander that Mabrey placed on the hearth? She is a funny one. The moment the camera comes out, she sets to work placing the littlest things just so. I guess she thought a gaming figure was missing here?? She dug through our media basket for this particular guy then set him on the hearth. When she stood up she had this look on her face like, “Perfect!” #ministylistintraining
There are still a few trivial things that need to happen before we can officially call this project D-O-N-E. We need to install trim where the mantel and drywall meet and where the floor meets the brick. But we’re so close we can almost taste it.
Also, I wouldn’t mind painting the gas shutoff to the fireplace {seen here as a silver circle on the wall} the same color as the drywall.
So far, we’re really loving the lightness and brightness of the fireplace wall. It could be because we’ve had nothing but snow and gray skies for two weeks. We’re open to changing up the drywall if things start to feel cold or blah. Paint? Grasscloth? But, for now, we’re good. Very, very good.
images: Dana Miller for House*Tweaking
budget decor, DIY, renovation