Projects Plenty

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Working on the Kitchen Dining Area: Kitchen Dining End Chairs

Our kitchen dining set with stained wood and upholstered leather chairs seemed blah, boring, one note...

...too much brown.

To fix this, my thoughts were to add an area rug and get end chairs that are different. When I saw this wing back chair I thought a pair might be interesting as end chairs. I liked the lines and the height... at 52 1/2" the chair is 4" taller than our current kitchen dining chairs.

It was a nice chair, but it had too much brown, the color I wanted to avoid. After looking at various fabric and leather options, I ordered a pair upholstered with hair on hide, shaved in a zebra-like pattern. I didn't go crazy with color, but went with a bold pattern. This is the hide sample:

After several weeks they arrived:

The chairs have hair on hide, except for the seats and the arm rests, which are leather. The same leather with nail head trim runs down the front of the wings and below the arms...

The white part of the hide is shorn hair and the dark part is shaved down to the hide. This close up of kind of shows this:

Side view...

Back view...

The chairs at the kitchen table....

I am looking for an area rug and am still deciding whether I am going to keep the wing chairs at the table or not. A bonus of the chairs not actually being dining chairs is that I can use them elsewhere as occasional seating.

Linking to:

Motivated Monday at Be Colorful
Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life
Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style
Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Cast Stone Fireplace Surround

We chose a linear, rectangular shaped fireplace for our kitchen hearth space. Although on the modern side (not really a style in our home), we liked the look. Also, since a 75" TV will be placed above it (husband's idea), the thought was that a vertically oriented firebox would make for a balanced look. Below is the fireplace wall after the dura rock underlayment was hung.

Here is a profile view of the fireplace wall (far left), projection into room is 18" (still with just dura rock on surface).

We decided to go with cast stone cladding for the fireplace surround for a clean, simple look. Each stone 'tile' is 1 1/2" thick. This is the schematic of the cladding design.

Early picture of the cladding installation...

Ceiling and floor trim....

We went with an 11" decorative moulding placed between the fireplace and TV space to help make a break between them.

The cladding finished....

The fireplace face measures 60" x 17." Here are some close ups, including the stone media. I tried to get a picture of the flame when the unit is on, but wasn't very successful. I lightened the image and the flame can kind of be seen.

I am debating whether to apply a cast stone "frame" around the fireplace, but am going to wait till the TV is up to make that decision.

We are looking forward to getting the area finished and furnished so we can start living in the space.

Linking to:

Motivated Monday at Be Colorful

Inspire Me Tuesday at A stroll Thru Life

WOW Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Monday, April 15, 2013

Expanding the Kitchen Hearth Living and Dining Area

For the last six months, we have been in the process of expanding our kitchen hearth and dining area. This is the area where we spend most of our time and the original space seemed cramped, especially with three large dogs. After consulting with an architect, we decided to incorporate the exterior roofed upper level patio (lanai) that was just beyond our kitchen dining and hearth into interior space and then build on a new lanai. Here is a picture of the area before we started construction (the original fireplace is not in view, but is in on the left, in front of the couch.).

Another view from the far wall of the area...

To begin, a small foundation had to be poured that would support the new lanai (see below). The boxed jut out (with that God awful roof vent above it, that is thankfully now gone) is where the old fireplace was located.

Below, through the windows, workers begin demolition of the old lanai. On the left is the previous hearth area. I always thought that the fireplace looked like it was crammed in the corner.

Below is an exterior view of demolition involving removal of the old fireplace and wall... lots of media wires.

Interior construction beginning... this is after the previous fireplace was removed and an elliptical window was hung in its place. Heavy plastic draping was placed ceiling to floor to try help protect the interior that wasn't involved in the project. This is when the party really started... not.

Here is an exterior view showing early construction of the new lanai (on left with Tyvec sheeting).

Here is the new area early in construction, showing the pair of windows that flank the new fireplace.

The image below was taken after beams were installed, distressed and stained and beginning of the install of the new tile flooring.

... tile flooring almost complete.

Here is a view looking toward the lanai after the flooring was done.

Below is a view of the wall across from the fireplace wall. We added five rectangular windows to the three windows that were there originally.

Here is the new fireplace and the two arched windows that flank it. I didn't go traditional with the fireplace, instead choosing a 65" rectangular shaped unit (face/viewing area of the fireplace is covered by card board in the picture).

Looking back toward kitchen...

So this is where we are... still work to be done, but getting closer to completion all the time. We think the space will be nice to use...

and our Dobermans love the extra 'sunning' space. :)

Linking to:

Feathered Nest Friday @ French Country Cottage
Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Lower Level: New Hide Chair & Rug

The furniture ordered for our lower level finally came. One piece is a replacement (due to upholstering defect) for a hide arm chair that I had already purchased. The chair that was replaced is shown below. You can see the defect in the second image (middle back).`

Here is the replacement chair. It is fine, but I preferred the hide on the original one.

This image shows the hide that is on the right side of the new chair.

Here is the original chair I kept (purchased a pair):

Side view...

...the pair together.

Other furniture for the lower level that came are a sectional and an ottoman. I haven't taken pictures of things in place because I need a rug for the area. Here is a shot of the sectional showing some of the fabrics, leather and hide on the piece.

The croc embossed leather on the inside arms is the same leather as on the back of my leopard fabric wing chair that is upstairs (see back of chair, below, for close up of leather).

I found a rug that had the colors and look I wanted, in kind of a tribal pattern. It's vibrant and probably not for everyone, but I think it looks good with the upholstery fabrics. Below shows the rug at the store (on floor at bottom of rug are sectional pillow fabrics).

I like the rug, however it measures 9' x 12' and ideally I wanted a rug more along the lines of 10' x 14.' I could get a larger size of the rug, but since it isn't a "production" rug, I would have to custom order it, wait 6 - 12 months to get it and have no guarantee as to how close the colors and pattern would match. To put icing on the cake, the larger "custom order" rug would be quite a bit more expensive (I got the 9 x 12 at 25% off) and would be non-returnable. Once I got the 9' x 12' in the space, I thought it was "passable," but have decided to order an oversize natural fiber rug to place underneath it. Below are some samples of sea grass, sisal and binding fabrics I brought home. I'm leaning towards sea grass.