The conversion of the front room begins...

So here are some images of the front room for
comparison...the "before", as it were. The images cover the two walls that will be covered with bookcases. There will be shelves on both sides of the chimney and the chimney itself will be covered with wood paneling to tie it all together (we will also be covering the cheesy "rebuilt" bricks in tile...the best solution we could come up with short of rebuilding it.

We will be shelving over the radiator with a reflector and fan integrated into the design. That wall, once finished, should be quite lovely and will be the first thing one sees when they walk in.

The back wall (facing the bay window, the corner of which can be seen in the first image), will also be covered with shelving...running over the doors. My favorite part is that there will be a very narrow case running up between the two doors...basically wide enough for two or three books per shelf.

Built into the "end" of the of the case at the far left (just beyond the closet door) will be a ladder (to reach the top of the 11 foot shelves). My understanding is that there will be a "notch" at the end of the shelf at the wall so that the ladder can be held in place when not in use.

The "boxes" have been built and are being lacquered. We decided to paint them in the booth because it allows us to lacquer them...same color we intended, but *much* harder...it should hold up pretty much forever. We will be spraying the shelves, too...but then I will hand paint the trim fore-edge.

We have begun the painting the room...which is great because it gives that sense that something is actually happening. We are using Pratt & Lambert paints: Wolf (25-20) for the walls, Manchester (29-27) for the trim and shelves and Half-Tone (29-25) for the inside of the boxes. If you are *really* interested, you can "Launch Color Visualizer", choose "Explore our Colors" and type in the color code in the "Quick Search" field. In short, the walls will be a dark grey/clay, the trim a light grey and the inside of the boxes a sort of pewter. It should be quite striking in the end...or horrid. Time will tell.

Brian has moved in already and the rest of the floor is now filled with bubinga furniture. Brian is particularly fond of this wood and uses it a fair amount. I'll put up an image of the coffee table that will be in the front sometime soon. Amazing. More to follow as images/events require.