I've mentioned that to keep busy and my sanity, I've been remodeling my front room in my free time. When I built the house, I had some ideas that I wanted to try out that didn't end up the way I wanted them to. Part of it was from trying something new, the other part was from letting Steph decide on how it would look. While I was fine with what she came up with, it wasn't what I would have done. Now that she's gone and I'm here by myself, I wanted to make the changes to the way I have always wanted the place to look.
I started with the ceiling, which is sanded bead board and oak beams that I cut myself with a chainsaw. The stain was red oak, which was just too red for me. I stained a large piece of bead board in red oak, and then did sample areas with a dozen different stains. Dark Walnut killed the red color the best and gave me something that I liked. I restained the ceiling first because of drip issues.
The walls were a color that I can't describe. While not ugly, it wasn't what I wanted. I had originally done a rough trowel finish so I could paint and glaze the walls to look old and weathered. My goal was for them to look like an old lodge. I painted the walls in a color called "coffee cream" and then glazed over them. The glaze was very dark, but lightened in a couple of days. The look is amazing and I'm very happy with it.
My doors are your basic white metal exterior doors from the box stores. I was trying to come up with a color to paint them to add to the lodge feel of the room, but failed at every color I came up with. Nothing looked right, so I decided to try staining them with a gel stain. The stain went on nicely, but when I was done, I hated it. The color was all wrong and while it looked like wood, it was the wrong shade of wood and way too light with my dark ceilings. Since I didn't think I had anything to lose, I put on another coat of the same stain. The change was like night and day. They no longer looked like wood, but more of an old world, patina, stained wood. They really look perfect for the room, and I got very lucky on how they turned out.
My floors were stained concrete that I have come to hate. I've seen a few stained concrete floors that I like, but mostly, I hate the whole idea of it. Dirt just shows up really bad on them, and they are so very cold in winter time. I also don't think it looks very nice, and while it was worth trying, it's not something that I'll ever do again. I put tile down over most of it last year, but was unsure of what wood I liked for the family room. I didn't want to spend top dollar but the only thing that I really liked was an engineered wood floor by Bruce that was sold at Lowes.
Then I trimmed out the doors and redid the window in pine that I stained to sort of match the rest of the room. I had massive green curtains on the window before, but like the furniture, it left with Steph. I really struggled on what to put on the window until I saw the dark bamboo blinds at Home Depot. I had never thought about bamboo before, so I was surprised that I liked it so much when I saw it.
I trimmed everything out in pine that I stained. Most of the trim is in 1x4's except for the baseboards. I hate it when dust settles on baseboards, so I bought pine baseboards with a skinny top, that I stained to match the rest of the trim.
I bought a new brown leather, nail head sofa that's 7 1/2 feet wide. I can lay out on it and take a nap without touching the ends, which was a requirement in a new sofa. I've always thought they were a timeless design that just said "LODGE" when looking at them.
When I built my coffee table, I went with MDF that I painted black and wood for the top. It's a look that I like, so for my end tables, I did the same thing. The boxes are 2ft cubes made out of MDF and the tops are pine that I put on at an angle. There are two halves that allow one half to stay in place so you don't have to take the light off to get the other half off. They are very simple, large and cheap. They also fit the room and it's Lodge feel.
Behind the sofa is where my desk is. Space is limited, so I decided to make my desk 18 inches deep and 7 1/2 feet long. Since I eat here all the time, I wanted a surface that can handle hot foods and spills. I went with a solid black formica that I trimmed in pine to match the rest of the room. I also have three file cabinets that I put a pine top on that extends out past the file cabinets 18 inches to create a corner desk unit that all fits together. On top of that top above the file cabinets, I built a book shelf with adjustable shelves. I've had desktop computers hidden away before, but found that I really prefer them to be out in the open and easy to get to. Same with the printer. I used the same type of sanded bead board for the back as is on the ceiling, and the rest is made from pine that is stained to match everything else. I bought two, brown leather, desk chairs for the desk. One is all I needed, but it really looks better with two.
My kitchen is open to my family room and I wanted to make it have that lodge feel to so both spaces would compliment each other. I never liked my backsplash, but wasn't sure what I wanted. I started buying different tiles to see what they looked like on the wall, but didn't find anything that I liked. I bought a total of 12 different tiles without any success. Then out of the blue, I got this idea to break them all up and use all of them. To avoid looking like a rainbow, I bought a full case of one that was fairly neutral and then three more of one that was really light in color. They are all earth tones with dull to rough textures. Some are thicker then others, and some have such variation in color that when broken up, you wouldn't believe it had been the same tile.
I broke them with a hammer on my shop floor with a goal of making them from 2 to 2 inches in size. Nothing bigger, but some are smaller. Some are tiny. I then scooped them up with a flat shovel and mixed them all up. Then I scooped up a shovel full and dumped them into a small bucket. I used a small trowel to put on the thinset so it would ooze out of the sides. To keep it random and look natural, whatever tile I grabed from the bucket, regardless of shape or color, is what I used. I put them up as tight as I could get them, and is the larger gaps, I used the smaller pieces. For grout, I used a non sanded grougt called "Earth" in color. The outlets where all bright white, and really jumped out at you, so I tried brown, but that clashed with my black appliances. Black looked too shiney and also clashed with the appliances. There was a really nice color for the phone jack, but none of the outlets came in that color. Ivory looked good and I could get that for everything with soft plastic face plates. Due to the uneveness of the tile, I wanted the soft faceplates. I don't know if that was needed, but it's what I used.
I now think my remodeling is done for those two areas. I have more to do, but that's mostly just painting. I don't think I'll even bother with it this year, or at least not until it gets cold out again. When my big screen TV dies, I'm going to do some more remodeling to the front room, but until then, I'm happy with the way it looks right now.
With the nice weather, I'm working outdoors again and having fun making my land look nice and working towards my goal of building an RV Park. The divorce is still moving along without any issues and should be final in another couple of weeks. I have to wait until May to get a court date, and then it's just a matter of seeing the judge to make it all legal. Steph and I are no longer talking and have gone our own ways. I don't hate her, but I don't want to be friends with her either. What's done is done and I'm looking towards my future and what lays ahead.
Thank you to everyone for your support and well wishes. It really meant allot to me, and especially when this first happened. Every day was better then the last, and tomorrow looks to be even better.
Eddie
