I took this shot a few weeks ago. This is one of hundreds of boring interior photos my kids scroll through on my phone when looking for shots of themselves. I wanted to show you though that when building something as simple as a Great Room Fireplace there is so much going on here. For instance, the architect drew the TV niche as centered over the firebox to the right, and we have a projected mantle that is to span left to right centered over the firebox as well. Awfully heavy to the right What we ultimately decided to do here was to open the niche all the way left to right, leaving a massive amount of space for todays ever-changing TV scene. This allowed us an opportunity to lengthen the mantle as well, which we are going to wrap in a cool custom wood to give the appearance of a grand beam of wood. Now this space looks ten times better than the plan shows, and I have notes all over it just to remind myself. I’m always walking around with a marker and paint because it helps serve as a visual reminder to everyone of what we’re trying to accomplish. I call it “dummy proofing” and in a custom home you can’t do it enough. Remember you can mark on anything with the proper instrument. Red crayon for drywall, pencil for painted walls, black markers for framing and paint for framing. Now let’s go build something.
