The Legend of Frankenmantle: How John the Carpenter Saved Christmas

I realized that in yesterday's post I mentioned the Frankenmantle without explanation.  Forgive me.  Today I will regale you with the story of how Frankenmantle came to exist.

It will be much more entertaining with visuals:

BEFORE:  moving day.  Gotta love the pinksplosion.

I will point out the not so obvious flaws in the mantle that we bought along with the house.  

-it is mounted about 4" too high on the fireplace, making the gap between the top of the opening and bottom of the mantle awkwardly sized.

-it is about 2" too small on either side, making the side to side appearance also very awkward.

-it is very ugly.

So the tale begins...  

...we lived with it and exorcised the pink from the living room, wallpaper from the hallway, bizarre brass carriage lights from the fireplace and hideous pink backgrounds in the built-ins flanking the fireplace.  Yet we still didn't like the mantle.  It was just not a good fit for us and the house.  So onto craigslist it went...

DURING:  picture from the craigslist ad and our new, but long-term temporary lights.  

 ...and miracle of miracles, someone wanted to buy it for their house.  They showed us pictures of the room it was going to and it was a much better fit.  I hope it is happy and I wish it nothing but the best and hope it enjoys its new life.

Now we were left with 3 sad bolts sticking out of the fireplace and nothing to attach our Christmas stockings to.  Oops.  Here is where our hero John the Carpenter enters the story.  

I went to pick up Will from school and when I came back we had welcomed Frankenmantle into our home.  Behold...

AFTER:  Awww. In process of being Christmasized

AFTER:  Now there is a place for stockings :)
Christmas is saved.

Here is how it went down.  We had the paneled piece left over from the powder room vanity project

See it there?
Notice we had lovely brass carriage lights in there as well.

In an incredible flurry of awesomeness which took place in the 20 minutes it took to get Will from school - John the Carpenter achieved legendary status by:

1.  bolting the leftover piece from the vanity to the wall

2.  finding and then attaching a random shelf that we had moved from 2 different places to the top (we used the top of the vanity piece above as the backsplash for the new! improved!! vanity in the powder room)

3.  cutting and staining a piece along the side that he needed to add to balance the visual

AND

4.  beginning to decorate it with Christmas decorations

The Legend of Frankenmantle:  How John the Carpenter saved Christmas.

A new holiday classic.

Boom! Something got done!!

You know it.  Mark the date.  We have a finished project.  By finished I mean that we don't need to touch up paint, caulk, buy a new toilet, etc..  I mean it is done enough that I don't feel like it's missing something and I can move forward until it drives me crazy again and I do something else to it.

Here is a before:

Moving day.

Ok, so it's a smallish project.  On moving day the plan was to make this cabinet in the living room a bar area.  I thought of a mirrored background to add light to the corner and sex it up a little.  So Exactly 4 months after moving here, it is done.  But when I look at this picture I notice some other things that we've done in between:

-pink carpet - gone
-wallpaper in hallway (you can see it above the cabinet) - gone
-brass carriage light on fireplace - gone
-the mantle that was too small and mounted too high on the fireplace - gone

Wow.  Just look at this.  The pink background inside the cabinets was exponentially more hideous in person.  I believe it actually clashed with the pink carpet.  In fact, it was not even a week into living here that John and I freaked out late one Saturday night and broke out primer and painted over it so we didn't have to look at the PINK! anymore.  We literally got up from a football party coma and started painting at 11PM.  All the pink made the fireplace brick read pink as well, it wasn't until the new carpet that we realized that the brick has more brown than pink.  But no longer my friends - the pink is officially all gone.  Yay!

Behold the after:

Hard to tell how cool it is, but trust - it's cool.

Sexy, right??

OK, I got a few more things on the agenda for this area (but I'm calling it done - for now).  The mantle clock will return to the mantle when we build a more permanent one.  The frankenmantle John made on the fly is awesome in it's own right, but not quite what we have in mind for the long term and definitely not sturdy enough to support the weight of the mantle clock.  Basically we needed somewhere to put the Christmas stockings....

So snaps to the Christensens.  I'll post better pictures when we get some sun around here and take down Christmas decorations.  It'll look like a proper bar then, I swear :)

Another room done (almost)

Do you see a theme here?  Almost done rooms.

So. The powder room.  Here was moving day plan for that room:

-strip wallpaper from walls AND CEILING.
-get a new vanity/sink/counter/faucet combo
-new sconces
-paint

BEFORE:  there it is.  On. The. Ceiling.

BEFORE:  Wow.  Just wow.  

Fortunately, the wallpaper stripped right off the walls.  In nice big sheets that I could neatly fold and throw away.  Unfortunately, it left behind the backing paper and glue.  I used the steamer to get the backing paper off and after asking Google, I found out that all I needed to do was get some wicked hot water and wipe off the glue residue.  It took forever and a day, but after some serious scrubbing it was clean.

DURING:  Notice the glue residue on the walls.
The ceiling still has the paper AND the glue.

On to the vanity.  Here is where living with your situation for awhile can save you time and money.  We fully intended to go buy a new vanity/sink combo, install it and call this room done.  But then we started looking at vanities.  Hmmmm.  There were a few that we kind of liked, but $1000 + price tags we didn't like.  At this point I should mention that we also measured and determined that the room was built around the vanity, so we would have to take off at the very least the door trim.  Or else take an axe to the vanity and chop it to bits to get it out Bath Crashers style.  So we waited.

Then we had friends over for a football game.  Our friend Jay returns from the bathroom and we are joking about the state of the room (see above, with cleaner walls).  Then he says "I'd keep the vanity, no one else has anything like that in their house".  John and I looked at each other and silently agreed that Jay just saved us some serious cash.  

Next day we decide that all we need a new sink and countertop.  Since it is a piece of furniture and not a standard sized item, we would need a custom countertop made.  Also, you can tell from the picture below that it has that lovely part in the front that juts out 1 1/2 inches.  That pretty much eliminates finding a scrap piece of stone on the cheap since it would need to be customized.  Let's just skip right over the discussions about countertops (tile, granite/quartz, laminate, even concrete) and agree that it was going to be more money than we ever thought.  

So.  Now we have a room with clean (now primed) walls, bare lightbulbs hanging out of the walls and a monster of a vanity that needs a new sink and countertop.  If you check the list above, we've done about 1 1/2 of the items and it's been 2 months since we moved in.  We knew what kind of sink we wanted so we went ahead and ordered the sink and faucet.  In the process of measuring for the sink some of the tile surrounding the sink came off.  Then we started imagining how the vanity would look with the wood top sanded down and stained to match the existing wood and resealed.  Then we did just that.  The End.  Actually - John did that so I don't have much explanation.  I do know that he did a fantastic job and it looks amazing. 

DURING:  Ready to be stained & sealed

Paint.  The general rule around here is that I pick paint colors and John does most of the painting.  I didn't imagine that once we decided to sand and reseal the vanity top the project would move so quickly.  Especially since the sink/faucet arrived in 2 days.  I decided on Martha Stewart Rainwater.  But since time was of the essence I just mixed a bunch of paint we had around the house together and came up with something nearly identical to Rainwater.  Suck it Martha!  

Long story short, here the the finished project.  A note about sconces.  All along we thought we'd want some modern brushed nickel sconces to make the room look updated.  Then at the last minute I saw these on Overstock and bought them.  They match the hardware on the vanity.  The mirror is ours, it used to be above the fireplace at the old house.  

AFTER:  My photog skillz need work.  But my
paint mixing skillz are dope.

AFTER:  See what I mean about my photo skillz?
But the vanity is pretty.

Here is the almost done part.  Look closely - do you see how different the sink and toilet look?  The toilet.  It's almond.  So very sad. And now the room is all clean and bright, it looks really almond.  Ugh.  I'll think about that tomorrow.  Also, artwork and soap dishes...  tomorrow, I promise :)

One room done (almost)...

We are very good at starting projects, not so good at finishing.  Check that.   I am good at starting and not finishing.

Moving on....  Back in September (!) we did manage to finish something and then forgot all about it.

When we moved in, Sam's room was the closest to being "done" in our eyes.  The carpet was a nice color and the walls and woodwork just needed a fresh coat of paint.

Here is the before:

BEFORE:  Such a sad closet...

BEFORE:  I've forgotten about the diamond window inserts
and shutters that make everything dark.dark.dark.

The shutters in theory are a good idea.  They open and close just like a window blind but have a little extra somethin'-somethin' going on.  But as you can see in the picture above they need a fair amount of space to open and close.  We figured once we got a bed, desk, dresser and chair in there there was going to be no room for the shutters to open and close properly.  So they came down.  And since their frame is built from the floor up and into the wall, we patched holes in the wall and carpet.  

Then we painted the woodwork white and the walls Benjamin Moore's Moonshine.   I spray painted the closet doors glossy black and Sam painted his bed frame oil rubbed bronze.   Done.

AFTER:  The closet is much happier now :)

AFTER:  Oops messy bed, but you get the idea, right?
But I'm giving him props for having it made at all...

So there you have it.  We still have to put up some artwork and paint the back of his door in magnetized or chalkboard paint (he hasn't decided yet).  But I'm calling it.  Done.  Well, 95% done anyway...

Progress?

The current background of this blog is what our hallway was wallpapered.  Did you notice, I said was.

Yeah baby, that's right - it is G to the O to the N - E!!  

It started out on a Sunday night a couple of weeks ago.  The weather was beautiful, we had spent the day outside trying to get the outdoors in shape for winter.  So, after dinner I'm thinking if I sit down now I'll never get back up.  John ran out for a minute (fountain soda), I took a deep breath, got the steamer out and went to work on some of the walls in the hallway that I could reach.  I figured if these walls were the only thing that got done, it would be that much less to do when we tackled the project as a whole.

BEFORE
The walls that started it all on the right...

BEFORE
I can't describe the level of claustrophobia this invoked... daily

Suffice to say, one thing led to another and next thing we knew we were renting scaffolding and fighting about paint colors :)  

IN PROGRESS
Lovely view from the kitchen table...

IN PROGRESS
The point of no return...

After narrowing the color scheme down, looking at an insane amount of paint samples, and more than one argument, we decided on Benjamin Moore Camouflage.  It is reading sage greenish in the pictures, but it really isn't... it's more grey-brownish-green than sage-green if that makes sense.

AFTER
Not so claustrophobic now are we??

We still have to paint the lower part of the walls in the hallway.  Also, when things settle down a bit around here, we are going to wallpaper - I mean pay someone to wallpaper - the wall above in some lovely grasscloth.  For now we just painted it so we didn't have to look at the wall without paint or paper on it.  Which, I should mention is why we chose the paint color, it goes perfectly well with the grasscloth we're going to order, and once it is papered it should look divine.

We are so not done here.  

Proof (sorry for the bad picture, it's cloudy today):

1. patch holes
2. prime
3. decide on paint color (v. hard)
4. paint

John and I would also like to thank our loyal helpers, without them this project would have taken much, much longer.  Sam and Will  I mean - Rick and Vera!!

Next up:  lighting and a gallery wall - I can't wait!

Pink carpet is so 1980

I'll say it right now.  Pink carpet has no purpose in the 21st century.  I know there have been mini revivals amongst decorating folks of pink for a few years now, but the only ones I can get behind are the retro 1950's & 1960's tiled bathrooms.  And even if I owned such a bathroom - I'd still rip it out. Hey, that's just me and I don't have a pink bathroom (mine is yellow and blue, thank you very much and believe me when we have the money - it's going).

Back to pink carpet.  Even though the carpet was very high quality and installed well we decided to chuck it.  I would even go as far as to say that if the carpet was in a range of tones that would be considered acceptable to John and I (browns) we would have kept it for a good long while. Sadly, it wasn't brownish, it was pink.  Like pepto bismol, bubblegum or an 8 year old girls bedroom - PINK.

Proof:

Hi Will!  Thanks for modeling our nifty carpet!!

This picture doesn't do it justice, it was WAY darker pink in person.  So I called my fantastic cousin Marc who runs a local carpet installation/cleaning company and voila, new carpet!

Enjoy:

Yay!  No more pink :)

We went with light toned, mid range (price wise) carpet.  Here is why - we've got 2 boys who have many friends.  Those boys and friends walk and hang out on this carpet.  And now we have cats.  I saw no reason to spend more than I needed to to fret about wear and tear on carpet caused by humans and pets.  When an accident eventually happens, I can just shrug it off and move on, knowing that I'll have a chance in 7 or 8 years after the boys mature and the cats learn to use the litter box properly (cross your fingers for us - please!) to replace it with exactly what I want.  Plus I saved money now to spend on other fun stuff for the house.  Win - Win situation, I'd say.

Moving isn't very much fun. PLUS new pets!!

Well, we've got all of our things here at the house now, 30 - 40% still in boxes.  We have also started approximately 10 projects, none of which have been completed :(

So in the meantime, meet Sir Richard Astley Flagsworth and his sister Vera Flagsworth Tibbles.  They are the new additions to the family.  They are brother and sister and are about 14 weeks old.  Sir Richard (Rick) has emerged from his self imposed exile from behind the washing machine and now spends most of his day in between the washer and dryer and Mme. Vera is working on her litter box skills.  

Sir Richard Astley Flagsworth

Mme. Vera Flagsworth Tibbles