When I originally worked with my interior designer on the master bedroom, one item that I neglected to finish was upgrading the old ceiling fan to something that better fit the design style. I finally got around to that recently, and installed a new wifi-enabled smart ceiling fan that really nicely integrates with Amazon Alexa, and also looks excellent. Wiring the fan was an adventure, since I had to first wire in the wifi transceiver.
Once the wiring was done, I installed the rest of the fan.
Once the fan was connected to Alexa, along with the table lamps on either side of the bed, the look of the bedroom was transformed!
It’s been awhile since my last post… Once fall hit, I took a short break from home projects after all of the pool craziness from last summer. However, since the new year I’ve been busy. One small project involved a pair of TV upgrades with very different circumstances. First, I finally ordered a four seasons TV for the hot tub area and installed it, along with an outdoor sound bar.
It has excellent picture quality and sound, and has made winter mornings watching English football a lot of fun!
When buying that TV from Best Buy, I noticed how cheap 85 inch TV’s have become, and I got the itch to upgrade the main living room TV.
The previous TV had been in a TV hutch, which looked nice but limited the TV in size to around 55 inches. For the new TV, we wanted to go with a TV console that had a built in fireplace insert, and was more minimalist than the previous hutch. My wife found this option, which fits with the rest of our furniture in the living room really nicely:
Once the furniture was selected and ordered, I installed the TV. It took two people to hang it, which was a first for me with a modern flatscreen TV. The sheer size of it makes it pretty impossible for one person to manage. Once on the wall, it dominated the living room space in a good way.
After hiding the wires, it looks really clean even with the old console in place.
After installing the two new TVs, there were a few cleanup tasks to perform. First, I moved the previous living room TV up to the master bedroom.
I also did some work to fix the broken TV lift in the three season room, converting it from a motorized lift (which had been nothing but trouble despite multiple replaced units) to a manual lift with a latch to hold the lifted TV in place.
All of these minor upgrades have had a pretty dramatic impact on the house’s TV landscape!
Once the pool concrete pouring was done, the pool was fully usable but there was still more work to do. First, the fence had to be installed. I went with an aluminum fence in pre-fabricated sections, which made it easy to anchor into the concrete and install.
The end result looked really good, and fit with the aluminum railing style from the deck that went in last summer.
Once the fence was done, the pool cover was installed and I assembled some pool furniture. Given how far back ordered most higher end pool and patio furniture is, I went with what I was able to get from a local big box store, and it ended up looking pretty decent.
The current pool cover is a simple hand-cranked cover, but I wanted the option to install a powered cover in the future. To facilitate this, the electricians installed an outlet on the far side of the pool, that can power the cover as well as future lighting or other things that require electricity.
Lastly, I removed as many rocks from the dirt as I could, then hand tilled the dirt and planted some grass seed and threw down some hay over top of it. In the spring, we’ll do it properly and have top soil brought in and re-plant much of the grass, but I needed to get something growing before winter to help prevent erosion. It’s coming in fairly nicely, and will at least do the job until spring.
In the meantime, there are still three more weeks before we shut down the pool for winter, so my wife and I are trying to get as much use out of it as possible for as long as the weather cooperates!
Despite the pool excavation being a little more involved than anticipated, the project to install the pool managed to roll on mostly on schedule. The Patio Pleasures team arrived, and started installing the pool walls and setting up the pump, filter, and heater.
Next, the plumbing went in, along with the liner, and we could start filling the pool. For the initial filling, we used a vacuum system to keep the liner tight along the walls and floor before the weight of the water took over. The installers also had to wait to cut the liner for the stairs until enough water had filled at the bottom of the pool.
While the pool started to fill, the electricians got to work wiring the pump and heater, running circuits for the pool lighting, and installing a grounding ring around the pool that grounds all metal and prevents us from getting electrocuting, which is a good thing.
We still had to wait for the pool to fill with enough water before moving on to the next step. I installed a WiFi smart faucet that allowed me to control filling remotely, since the pool could only be filled during daylight (so the liner could properly stretch) and needed around five days to fully fill.
After the water levels got high enough, the installers came back to cut in the liner around the stairs:
With the stairs cut in, the pool could start filling again. While that happened, the gas installers from Consumers Coop came and ran LP lines from our primary propane tank to the pool’s heater.
As the pool finished filling, I took care of some ancillary tasks like installing outdoor security cameras from Arlo and buying furniture for the pool deck.
With the pool full, I added chemicals and for the first time, we were able to use the pool!
One of the main uses I’d envisioned for the new three season room was watching sports with all of the windows open, so we could have fresh air and the feeling of being outside will being shielded from the sun and the rain. The challenge to this is that all of the walls for fully windowed, and I didn’t want to block any views with a TV (at least when not in use). My solution was to install a motorized TV mount, that would lift the TV out of a cabinet when needed, while allowing it to sit below the window frames when not in use.
After the TV and the motorized mount were installed, I had to figure out a cabinet setup. I ended up buying a bookcase from Wayfair that was the right size, with the intention of modifying it to fit my needs. I first assembled the bookcase frame, leaving out the shelves and the back. By leaving out the back, the TV could still be used while in its lowered position, which is great if you just want to have it on in the background while people are hanging out in the room.
This just left the question of how to allow the TV to lift up out of the cabinet. Instead of going with a complicated hinge system, I decided to simply cut the top of the shelf, and then anchor the back of the shelf into the wall to make up for the lost structural integrity.
After some additional work to conceal cables and wire all of the accessories in neatly, the end result worked really well!
My wife and I have used the new setup a lot in the past few weeks, especially as fall weather arrives. The cats are big fans of relaxing with us while watching TV too.
While the deck and three season room project isn’t completely done, it’s definitely getting close. Over the past couple of weeks, the three season room has turned into an actual building, complete with windows, doors, siding, and a (mostly) done interior.
While the interior still needs trim, window casings, and some other minor touches, having the shiplap painted and the furniture plus other decor in place makes it feel like a pretty complete room.
I’ve also got the railing done, and the deck furniture set up.
We had a party last weekend, and our guests were able to use the space and enjoy it. The cats have also really enjoyed sitting out there and looking out the windows.
In August, I’ll wrap up the project with the new hot tub, new TV’s, the remaining trim work, and the outdoor kitchen. It will be a lot of fun to see the vision I had for this project during the winter fully realized!
As the weather has warmed up and the pandemic is starting to be firmly in the rear view mirror, it was time to open the lake house for the spring.
While this year won’t involve any major construction projects at the lake house (there was more than enough of those last summer, including painting the entire interior of the house and replacing all of the flooring), I’m planning on doing a lot of landscaping, and I also replaced some of the aging furniture in the basement with furniture that had been displaced by all of the remodeling and design work at the Verona house.
I also did some minor electrical work, including adding a switch box for the water heater so that it can be turned off with a switched as opposed to using the switch in the fuse box.
The last thing that needed to be done to truly be open for spring was to get the boat in the water and setup the awning on the boat lift. I picked up the freshly detailed boat from Skipper Bud’s, and with the help of my friend Bret got the awning installed.
This weekend, my wife and I took the boat out for the first time on a beautiful 80+ degree day. It’s time for summer!
After redoing the flooring in the theater, I wanted to redo the rest of the room as well. I removed the old shelving and ceiling mounted the projector, and also moved the electronics to the back of the room. I installed built in shelving in the alcove that used to house the old free-standing shelving, which is much more space efficient and better looking.
I then installed the theater electronics, and also added decor to the shelves.
In addition to the shelving, I added window treatments with a complementary pattern to those in the library, but with different colors that better match the theater.
Next, I added a vintage popcorn machine to play up the “theater” theme.
Last, and probably most important, I replaced the old couch with two rows of actual theater style seating. The seats recline, have adjustable headrests, along with cup holders and lighting. They make it feel like an actual theater, as opposed to just a media room.
The final step is adding an area rug and risers for the second row of seating, both of which are in progress.
The rug should be ready in early June, at which point I’ll install it and the risers to complete the remodel.
My big spring and summer project this year is going to be replacing the deck at the Verona house. It’s not just going to be a new deck, however; it’s going to be a deck with an outdoor kitchen, a three season room, outdoor TVs, and a new hot tub and lower level patio that is much larger than the current deck and patio.
Plans are still being finalized, but I have initial sketch and material selections picked out.
Aside from selecting and ordering materials, I’m also in the process of selection options and customizing a new Bullfrog Hot Tub, which will be a massive upgrade from the current tub. I’m working with Patio Pleasures in Madison, and next week I’m going to finalize jet, deck, and tub colors so that the order can be submitted for the tub to be completed and delivered in June or July.
Stay tuned for more news on this project! I’m planning on construction starting towards the end of April, assuming that the weather cooperates and spring continues to warm up here in Wisconsin.
Prior to the next round of flooring installation, I had various parts of the house (and especially the guest house) that needed to have drywall repaired. In the main house, there was a piece of drywall that had been damaged near the bar, and in the sunroom a corner near the ceiling had sustained water damage due to a roof leak.
After repairing and replacing the drywall, it looks good as new (aside from repainting).
The more complicated repair was in the guest house, specifically the guest house bathroom. When I originally built the bathroom, I used the existing drywall from the guest house garage which was not in great shape, and also had to be cut to install new electrical lines.
That drywall needed to be repaired, and then skim-coated to smooth the surface. First, I removed the trim and moved the toilet and vanity + sink out of the bathroom.
After that, the drywall repair and skim coating could take place.
The end result turned out really well, with a nice, even texture and perfectly smooth walls.
Next week, the walls will be painted and I’ll re-install all the plumbing and light fixtures, and the guest house will be ready for new flooring in February!
