Category Interior Design

This is a little bit of a past project post, but I realized that I hadn’t posted much about the interior of the lake house. Since the house has a midcentury modern style, we went with a lot of midcentury modern style furniture (much of which was from IKEA, although some was from higher end brands), complemented by more “lake house style” decorations. This involved a run to IKEA that filled an entire trailer, plus the back of the F250, with furniture:

The upstairs has several sectional couches connected together that are pointed outside, allowing everyone to have a nice view of the woods and the water. There is also a TV area (even though we keep TV to a minimum at the lake house, Game of Thrones still calls occasionally). The master bedroom has the bedroom set that used to be in the master bedroom of our main house in Verona, which fits the space and style well.

Downstairs, there is a sleeper sofa and some other seating around a large TV mounted on the wall, which will create a great space for watching Badger away games in the fall. We go to every Badger home game, but for Saturdays when the Badgers are away from Camp Randall, it will be nice to come up to the lake house with friends and watch the game on Saturday morning and then hang out on the lake afterwards.

Finally, we have a full bar setup upstairs, which again fits the style of the house well and fits a lot of nice glassware and bottles.

Since moving in, we’ve gradually been adding art to the lake house. The crown jewel in the upstairs living room is a beautiful framed canvas-printed photo from Mike Behr Photography in the twin cities. It is hung from the main ceiling beam where it intersects the chimney above the upstairs fireplace.

Prior to closing and moving in, here are a few more pictures of the currently empty lake house’s interior, before I have the chance to start any remodeling projects:

As discussed in two previous posts, I began my first foray into crown molding, which is now complete. It was definitely a learning experience and there are some things I would do differently in the next place I install it, but that was the purpose of starting in a guest bedroom. In any case, I think the final result looks very good!

For the staining, I used two coats of Minwax Colonial Maple, and one coat of Minwax Clear Semi-Gloss Polyurethane.

For previous posts in this series, check out:

• In Progress: Crown Molding
• Crown Molding Update

I am getting ready to stain the Crown Molding that I have installed in my guest bedroom. After several rounds of wood filler and sanding, the molding is smooth and seamless, and so all that is left is staining:

I still have to make a choice on stain, and am exploring my options. I am leaning towards a semi-opaque stain, to further disguise the spots where wood filler was required. I will post the final product when the staining is complete!

Another update mid-stain:

As mentioned in a previous post, I’ve been learning how to do more advanced trim work and been applying it throughout the house. One of the first projects was to install crown molding in our guest bedroom. It was an initial challenge to learn how to compute and accurately cut compound angles, but I eventually settled on a solid technique. For the actual crown (angled part), I use a miter saw at a 45 degree angle and flip the trim upside down such that the deck of the miter saw represents the ceiling. I calibrate the clamps on the saw to keep the trim at a 45 degree angle pointing up, and that gives me the correct compound angle for everything to meet correctly. This project is still in progress (I have yet to sand and stain the installed trim), but the results look really good so far:

Whenever I go to New Orleans, one of my favorite things to do is to shop for antiques on Royal Street (after grabbing a $1.50 lunch martini and New Orleans style barbecued shrimp at Mr. B’s). Royal Street is known for antiques, specifically for chandeliers. On my most recent trip, I wanted to look for a chandelier for my library, specifically one in wrought iron to complement the existing dark woods and wrought iron in the library:

Several blocks down Royal Street from Canal, I walked into Royal Antiques. Royal Antiques, located at 309 Royal Street in the French Quarter, is a fourth generation family business specializing in 17th, 18th and 19th century English, French and Continental furniture and decorative accessories:

After getting a tour and talking with one of the saleswomen at the store, I found an incredible wrought iron chandelier from the 1880’s that was originally from a wine bar in Marseilles. I like that bit of history, since my library is right next to my wine cellar, so the wine bar vibe was cool. The chandelier was originally used to hold candles, but had been retrofitted for electricity sometime in the early to mid twentieth century. After negotiating the price down a bit, I bought the chandelier and had it shipped back to Madison. It only weighed 33 pounds, so shipping came in at $70, which certainly beat trying to carry it onto an airplane. Thankfully, it arrived in one piece:

The chandelier didn’t come with many of the components required to install in the library, it basically just had two wires sticking out the top, and a chain from which to hang it. I went to the Home Depot and bought a Screw Collar Loop Kit from Westinghouse, which gave me the hardware that I needed to anchor the light into the ceiling light box:

I spray painted the loop and bought a wrought iron s-hook, and with some simple wiring, the chandelier was operational!

It provides great light, and really complements the look of the library: