Almost Perfect

We found the coolest dresser to put in our entry way--it was everything we were looking for! We'd been wanting to replace this piece for a long time:

We wanted something with legs high enough to allow the heat to escape, enough storage to let us hide our junk, and character. And last week, lo and behold, there it was:

The size is perfect and the shape is definitely something unique to break up all the somber dark brown squares that make up most of the living room furniture.

My problem is the color. You may remember that my first loves looked like this:

Cream and gold are just not doing it for me--it really doesn't work with the grays, reds, blues, and browns we have in the living room. And while I have refinished some furniture before, I'm not sure I have the time or inclination to tackle this rather massive project (massive thanks to all those beautiful French provincial scrolls). So for the first time ever, I'm debating hiring someone else to do it. It would about double the price (but we did get the piece for a steal) but my do-it-youself nature is really conflicted. Thoughts?

D got busy with Photoshop and here is a mock-up of what we are thinking we want:

We like how glossy it is and we like that the trim is a different color from the main color (it's gold now, so we're thinking silver, but there's no reason it needs to be metallic). So anyway, let us know your thoughts on color and on whether we should splurge and get someone else to do the dirty work for us.

Rocky has left the building

Rocky, as my friends have affectionately names our little houseguest, seems to have moved on. We played loud rock music all day right into the fireplace where he'd taken up residence and that seemed to do it. However, that doesn't mean we're getting off cheap here. Ooooh no, not by a long shot.

We had two different chimney companies come out (and one more than once) and give us estimates for what needed doing. These were in addition to the guys who came last year and told us we needed a new liner.

For reference, our chimney has three different flues in it--the one to the front of the house goes to the basement fireplace, the middle one goes to the upstairs fireplace, and the back one goes to the oil burner. I had no idea they all fit in there like that! We have one cap installed on our upstairs fireplace (middle flue) but that was all. Rocky had settled into the lower fireplace, just above the damper. So here is the breakdown:

As a refresher, Chimney Company 1 said last summer that we need to immediately replace the liner in the furnace flue for about $2000. Masonry work around the top of the chimney was also necessary. We didn't really trust them and decided that we would look into getting some additional opinions this year. The raccoon was good pretext for having chimney folks come out.

Chimney Company 2 came out a little over a week ago to have a look. They said that we needed caps put on two flues and masonry work at the top, but didn't feel we needed the chimney relined. They quote a price of $800 to $1000, which also included spooking Rocky out if necessary.This company was recommended to us by some people who live in the neighborhood.

Chimney Company 3 said we did need to have our furnace flue relined, as well as the masonry work and caps. The guy even took a video with his phone:

The problems with all these videos and photos is that it is clear we need masonry work but totally dark down the flue, so it doesn't prove one way or another that we need a liner. But anyway, their estimate included relining one of the flues because they claimed the terra cotta liner was breaking off. Price? $2400. Ouch!

So now we were comparing apples to oranges between the two companies. We called Chimney Company 2 back and asked how confident they were that we didn't need a liner and were told that they only looked around the top and it didn't seem too bad. If we wanted, they could come back and run a camera down, so we said yes.

The owner himself showed up to take a look. While he was up there, he put some temporary caps on the chimney so the raccoon (which he confirmed had left) couldn't easily get back in. After some digging around on the top of the chimney as well as in our basement, here's what he had to say:

Yes, the chimney liner was cracking off and would need relining. BUT THERE'S MORE. Because the furnace flue makes almost a right-angle turn behind our wall to get between the furnace and the chimney, the chipping terra cotta was actually falling to the bottom and clogging the pipe. Here is my rudimentary drawing, reflecting the situation as described to me:

The red circle is where the clog is happening. The chimney guy explained that because of this clog, which he said was 2/3 (i.e. only 1/3 free), the carbon monoxide wasn't venting out the chimney fully. He said that in addition to the complicated job of cleaning out and relining the flue around that bend, they would need to install an access point from inside our house to that corner to catch oil drippings that would collect there over time (right now the oil is presumably absorbed into the terra cotta but the new liner would be steel). Yay, another hole in the wall... He hasn't emailed us the estimate yet but said the whole job would be aorund $3000. The price keeps crawling higher!

But boy let me tell you that is one way to scare someone into spending money! He wasn't pushy at all or unnecessarily scary, but mention carbon monoxide and you've got yourself a deal. Good thing this is summer so we don't need our heat on. This might also explain why our energy auditor noticed some higher ambient CO levels even though the furnace company, with less sophisticated tool that only tested immediately around the furnace, didn't. Fortunately these are not incredibly high levels. We have CO testers on every floor of the house and nothing went off, but still, not something we want to continue.

But here's the part that worries me a little: why didn't anyone else notice this problem? This guy seemed pretty trustworthy and comes recommended, but I hope he doesn't just figure that we're suckers just begging to spend money. I almost want to get yet another estimate, but I am sick of having people wandering around looking without doing. Just fix the darn problem already. So we will probably just hire this company to do all sorts of work we never even anticipated when we saw Rocky up there on that fateful day. Please, as always, share you thoughts--we're clueless on this one and $3000 is not something to take lightly

Pssst!

So I uncovered a secret but you can't tell anyone else. Remember that amazing bombe chest I fell in love with on Pottery Barn?

Well look what I found on "O.co" (aka Overstock.com):

Product page here (for as long as it lasts)

The same exact piece for $289 with shipping of only $2.95 (Pottery Barn wanted something like $75). Plus no tax. And it really is identical--same measurements, materials, hardware!

The funny thing is that I don't know if I want it anymore. It almost matches too well with its dark brown finish--I was hoping for something a little quirkier. Probably if Overstock had it in the red I would buy it. But on the other hand, it's quite a bargain. We'll see...

Little Details

While we battle the raccoon (more later) and wait for a few things to grow outside before documenting them, I thought I'd entertain you with a few pictures of some of the little decorating touches we made to our bedroom.

A recent trip to Italy resulted in two beautiful Venetian masks that I deliberately chose in colors that would compliment our room. We hung them up with some invisible nylon thread across the bridge of the nose and through the eye holes and a tiny nail. I love that they look like they are floating! Also in this picture is a beautiful paper rose strand that we got at a wedding. The white and green really match our decor. We are also using a few other strands of it as tie-backs for our curtains.

The same wedding had strands of little paper birds, which we took to decorate this corner of the room, using tiny nails barely tapped into the wall (to leave minimal holes if we ever redecorate).

Next was an exciting find from a local home decor store: two blue birds as door pulls for our closet and some blue and silver filigree pulls for some drawers.

The bedroom is definitely my favorite room in the house and truly exudes a sense of calm--a nice sentiment for a room where we spend so much time relaxing and sleeping. The only project we have left is to mount some shelves under one of the windows. And of course whenever we find new pictures and other decor elements we will add them wherever we can.

Unexpected Houseguest(s)

We stepped out of the house yesterday and felt like we were being watched. It wasn't just our imaginations! D finally spotted something on top of the chimney, peering down at us:

Here's a closer look:

Yes, your eyes do not deceive you--we apparently had a raccoon on our chimney. Not just on. In. After it considered us for a couple of minutes, down it went. We have no idea if there's a family in there or just a lone raccoon who thinks he's hit upon a very nice place to live. Whatever the reason, our unexpected houseguest had better start packing.

Tomorrow I'll call some chimney people to come and put a cap on. Theoretically we should be able to bang on things in the fireplace to scary this little guy out first. I have no idea what we're supposed to do if there is indeed a family. We're hoping that we get some advice when we call chimney companies for help--we're not sure if we're supposed to bring in pest control, but well figure that out too. This can't be the first time something like this has happened (in fact, the wonders of the Internet indicate that this is common enough to warrant lots of web advice), so I'm sure they'll tell us what to do.

I want to be freaked out and appalled and worried about how much this is going to cost and what damage is being done to our chimney. Mostly though, I just keep looking at the picture and thinking "oh how adorable!"