Steve & Audra's Family Room (Home Theater) Remodel, April 2000

In case you didn't already know what we're doing or why we're doing it, here's a brief answer... In the two and a half years we've been here, we've *never* used the fireplace, though we watch TV several times each week. We're shifting the position of the TV and the fireplace, along with several other room enhancements, many of which should (hopefully) add to the value of the home.

• Remove old brick hearth, fireplace, and chimney.
• Remove old single-pane sliding glass door.
• Frame in opening from old fireplace/chimney, with drywall inside and stucco outside.
• Install new Heat-n-glo direct-vent fireplace in far right corner. This fireplace will actually heat the entire family room and kitchen.
• Install new Andersen double-pane (wood over vinyl) gliding patio door.
• Install tile around outer perimeter of room, across front of fireplace, and on fireplace face.
• Paint family room, inside and (some day) outside.
• Install mantle of some sort (tbd).
• Install new carpet (after the room is painted).
• Have new couch/chair delivered (after the room is painted and the carpet is installed).
• Install new lighting (track above fireplace and wall sconces).
• Install new custom Audio/Video cabinets around Sony 53" rear-projection TV.
• Install new Dolby Digital home theatre system (with existing TV, DVD, LaserDisc, and TiVo) into cabinets.
  This is Steve's dream-come-true system, consisting of the following:
  • Yamaha Dolby Digital receiver (5 channels @ 100 watts per channel)
  • Four KEF RDM speakers and a KEF center channel speaker
  • Triad 18" subwoofer w/built-in 500 watt amplifier

We initially made some drawings and pictures of what we thought everything will look like, but I haven't posted those yet...

Click on any of the links below to see detailed pictures, or on either of the Before/After pictures on the right: Before: The way it was... Day one: Out with the old! Last batch - all together (not yet sorted into separate days)

Before:

After:

These pages were created on a Macintosh PowerBook G3, using Claris Home Page 3.0 and GraphicConverter, and uploaded with NetFinder.

All images and movies were captured (at HQ resolution: 1600x1200, medium quality) with my new Olympus C2020 Zoom digital camera, and transferred to the PowerBook using the MicroTech Digital FlashFilm PC-Card reader for SmartMedia cards where I reduced them to 800x600 and 160x120.