In a word, nothing.
After we bought the couch and the pillows and made the decision about the rug, we sort of stalled out.
What's the hold-up you ask? I will tell you. It is this:
That's the built in entertainment center in our living room. It's nice, I guess....but we just don't really like it that well. So we've been playing around with the idea of taking it out and replacing it with a fireplace.
So, I wanna know -- what do you all think? Should it stay or should it go? If you were buying a house, would you prefer an entertainment center like that or a fireplace?
And before you make your decision, let me just give you the short list of reasons why I think it should go:
- It's HUUUUUGE. Not only does it take up a ton of wall space, but have you checked out the spot where the TV goes? Massive. Clearly our TV does not fit and we have no plans to buy a TV that will require that much square footage. Our next TV will probably be a flat screen and a hole that deep would just seem like overkill.
- I don't really want the TV upstairs anyway. We have a nicely finished basement and I'd prefer to keep the TV down there.
- I think a fireplace would really "cozy" up the room. I want it to be warm and inviting and I'm just not feeling it with that massive hunk of oak hogging all the wall space.
That being said, there is a part of me that would just sort of feel bad tearing it out. I mean, somebody spent some extra change to have it put in, and it's not like its a horrible eyesore or anything.
Or maybe I am just a wimp who is too scared to take on a DIY project of those proportions. I don't know.
So tell me whatcha think. Not that it will make any impact on our decision, but I'm curious to hear the opinions of the masses :)
5 comments:
If I were you, I'd probably leave it in...only because I'm lazy and that'd be the easiest thing to do. :)
However, what I think YOU should do, is remove it. Most people looking at the house to buy it in the future will probably not have the correct TV for the space anyway. Flat screens are taking over, and that space will just be unnecessary for the most part.
I do love the shelving space, though. Maybe you could put in the fireplace, and keep some bookshelves surrounding it on both sides. If there won't be room for a TV in that room anyway, it could turn into more of a library atmosphere. (I'm now speaking from my own desire - I'd LOVE to have tons of shelves for a library room.)
SO........I have two questions about your dilemma...
1) How "attached" is the entertainment center? Will removing it leave scars on your wall? (if yes....I'd think twice...)
2) Are we talking permanent fireplace or the 'portable' kind? Personally, I've never seen a real convincing 'portable' fireplace. Not saying that they don't exist....just sayin :)
3) I lied....I have 3 questions :) Would you consider moving the 'entertainment center' to your basement? I think that's a good idea...just me. Some kind of 'built in' is nice , but I agree, it kind of eats up the space that you do have.
This is a tough one... but I guess my decision would come down to if you have another "family room" of some sort in the basement. According to Katie's comment, I would guess so.
If this is the case, I would agree with her to move it to the basement. When Lily gets older, you will cherish all that storage space for her games, puzzles, movies and what not. You could even add in a shelf above the TV to make the space less massive... or not... I don't know how that would look...
A fireplace would definitely "cozy up" the "formal living room" (if that's indeed what it would be). I have seen a few at fireplace stores that are beautiful,if you're okay with a bigger price tag.
If you want to keep a TV in the living room, you could always hang one above the fireplace (although we tried that and realized our necks would be permanently kinked if we kept it that way, so we moved it to another wall).
I'll be excited to hear what you choose to do! Isn't it funny how when you ask for advice, everyone's always happy to dole theirs out and you get more comments than ever before?!
Katie (Johnston), to answer your questions -- the entertainment center is quite attached, meaning we'd probably have to do a little drywall to fix it. That doesn't concern me too much because my dad is a drywall whiz and he thinks it would be fairly simple. As far as the fireplace, definitely a real one, not portable. And I would definitely not mind moving it to the basement, if it would fit. For some reason it seems like it would be too tall but I think the ceilings are the same height so that would definitely be something we'd consider!
Sarah -- love the library idea! That is actually totally what we had in mind -- we thought it would be nice to cozy up to the fire with some books -- if we could keep those shelves on the side and still have it look good with the fireplace we definitely would!
And Katie (Brooks) I totally agree about the storage space -- the cupboards on the bottom are HUGE and right now they are hiding all of Lily's toys :)
Love all the comments and suggestions, keep 'em coming :)
Since the unit is so tall, I would leave the shelving on the side, build the fireplace in the bottom half and fill the top with stone. To go even cheaper, they have synthetic stone facing that looks pretty real without having to do any masonry and/or paying for actual stone. I think Kim and Blake L. did some work in their townhome using similiar materials. You could always ask her...
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