My Projects

The Living Room (Winter 19989/99)

The living room was the last room in the house to be remodeled. Paint was chipping from the ceiling and walls in large pieces because they were improperly prepared. The coat closet had a shortened door that did not allow access to a storage shelf. The slate floor in front of the fire place was coming loose and a large stone planter at the front entrance was deteriorating. We competed the room in two phase explained below.

Picture to follow	The first phase. The walls and ceiling were scraped and patched, and a primer was applied. Because of the flaws in the ceiling, we decided to have it textured to give it a more uniform look.
	The shorten closet door was removed and replaced with a standard height 24" wide door.
	A new coat of paint was applied and wallpaper and border were added.
	New light fixtures were placed at the front entrance and hallway
	The front entrance door was striped of many layers of paint to reveal a beautiful pine door. It was refinished in a white-wash on the inside and a combination of stain and paint on the outside. Both sides were finished with a satin varnish.
	In the second phase that was began in January of 1999, the stone planter was removed.
	Removal process continued....
	During the removal, it was discovered that a 2" thick cement footing had been pored to support the weight of the stones and mortar. The subfloor had been strengthen to hold the 1300 plus pounds the planter weighed.
	Because the footing was about a half inch below the top of the oak floor, a choice had to be made on what to do with it. The first choice was to remove the footing and form, remove some of the adjacent oak flooring, repair the subfloor and then patch in the oak flooring.
	The second solution ( the one we opted for) was to lay a piece of half inch plywood over the cement footing and sand it to the same level of the current oak floor. Then a new free-floating 1/4" laminate oak floor was placed on top.
	The completed floor.
	A new 90 gallon aquarium and oak stand was placed where the planter once stood.
	The slate in front of the fireplace had to be leveled before the new laminate floor could be laid.
	A laminate floor was also laid in front of the fire place. A trim board will be added to lock in the floating floor after the new carpet is laid.
	The old carpet and pad were removed to reveal the original oak hardwood floor.
	Many boards were damaged and large nails had been used at one time to try and stop the floor from squeaking.
	New carpet finished the floor in the main room and hallway
	Another look toward the fireplace. (This photo shows the old mantel)
	The fire place mantel was last on the list. The plywood and pine mantel was replaced with a new one.
	The top was constructed from oak veneer plywood. The front trim in pine, and the remainder of the trim is in red oak.
	It was stained a 'golden oak' to match the furniture in the room.
	The front trim is designed in a leaf pattern and hand painted.
	The bricks of the fireplace were also hand painted with several different colors of stain.
	The finished look. The room is now complete.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Back to