Built-ins are completed

by David | House

We never really liked what Primont Homes had done in our family room. They created a bulkhead for the vents, but on the left-side of the fireplace it was about 11″, and on the right-side it was about 27″. It never really made any sense, and it always looked off. In addition, the fireplace was about 24″ deep, and stuck out of the wall like a sore thumb.

For about 2-years Rosalee and I debated what we should do in the family room to make it look more polished. We drew up at least half a dozen ideas, and we finally figured out exactly what we wanted to do. Our initial idea was to build cabinets on both sides of the fireplace, and then bookshelf the other wall. But then we moved the television off the fireplace and put it on a folding table along the other wall. We lived with it there for about 4-months and decided that we liked that layout much better. The TV wasn’t so high, and we were utilizing the floor space better. It also allowed us more room to play Wii!

So we were off to find two things. 1, a person to build what we wanted; and 2, a nicer tv stand than a folding table.

I was in contact with Black Diamond Construction (Facebook fan page) regarding landscaping and patio, and found out that Colin, the owner, also does home renovation projects. We hired him to do the construction, and we couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. He took our vision, and made it happen. The framing and drywall that Primont Homes had done was uneven. Colin had to do a lot of repair and fixing to get the shelving to look right.

Colin built the shelves off-site, brought them in and attached them, then did a lot of framing to make both sides of the wall the same width, then he did the drywall and a ton of plastering to be able to bring the wall on the left-side out to the same depth. Applied the trim, and then painted.

The work kicked up quite a bit of dust, but we’ve since cleaned all that up.

As this was going on, Rosalee and I started the search for the perfect media console. We ended up at The Country Store near Bayview and Eglinton. They have a company they contract in northern Ontario that custom manufactures furniture. We were happy with one of the styles they had in their showroom, and ordered it. They told us 4-6 weeks, and it turned out to take about 12 weeks. Having said that, we’re VERY happy with the unit we ordered.

You might also notice that we removed the ceiling fixture and put in pot-lights. We did that about 16-months ago through Alex Moldings. As well, the 2 chairs in the original photo are now in our living room, and we bought the new chairs from HomeSense. We also took down the paper “blinds” and put up California Shutters from Jeffrey Paul Home Improvement Co. (416.436.3926, jeffsap@aci.on.ca).