Monday, July 14, 2008

Uber TV invades the house

Reading houseblogs and other design sources, the TV is something to be hidden in a deep dark corner of the house out of view. Yet when you watch TV it's supposed to be convenient. Hmph. The 13' width of the rowhouse limited our TV space to one of the side walls. Add the fact that bookshelves fit so perfectly into the niches to the side of the (non-functioning) fireplace, above the fireplace was the only good place for the TV. While we admire our new 50" TV nightly, we get a crick in our neck while laying on the couch.

_MG_1073

We also decided to refinish the mantle instead of painting it white. After stripping the brown paint off the top, we were happy to see it was oak instead of the pine that I expected. There are multiple cigarette burns around the edge. To me, this just adds to the charm. After 5 coats of poly, the mantle looks HAWT when coupled with our $1 a sq/ft subway tile. We also decided to collect little birdies with the mantle serving as a great perch.

5 comments:

Summer said...

looks awesome! did you get the tilt mount for the tv? the neck crick thing blows.

lol at the burns on the mantle. I agree... your house has a history!

THE BRICK HOUSE said...

ohhhhh i totally need to steal your idea and build shelves around my fireplace. were those prefab shelves or did you make them?

love the subway tile, totally sexy with the mantle. white subway tile makes me all warm and woozy on the inside.

Alex said...

I've got the same question as Summer; the tilt-mounts really help in this regard.

Now you just need the fireplace or the fish tank channel.

Corey said...

summer - definitely got the tilt. i figure my neck crick is the equivalent of women wearing uncomfortable shoes as long as they look hot. A necessary evil.

brick - check the tags for bookshelves on the right of the page, it will give you the full history on my hungarian bookshelves. done myself, and they are pretty easy. for other bookshelf ideas check out http://booksathome.blogspot.com/.

alex - the tilt helps, but it only tilts so much. the fish tank channel? ooh la la!

Anonymous said...

So glad you refinished the fireplace instead of painting it white. Adds so much character to have a little wood in the roomm especially since it is a period home! I like the contrast between white window and door trim against the black door. But, you might consider some colorful flowerpots on the steps to show off that beautiful marble and the new door! House is looking better and better every posting. Keep up the good work!

the 'rents