Shiplap Fireplace Update — a BIG LAKE LIFE

We left New York, locked and loaded June 29, 2017.

34 hours of driving the biggest moving truck on the market, and a little bit of sleeping in the back with the bikes, bed and grill, we rolled into Washburn, WI sitting three across the bench seat (car seat riding bitch). We passed the "Welcome to Washburn" sign, "pop. 2,117" and headed straight to the address we'd been memorizing for the last 2 months to add 3 more to that population sign. We pulled into the driveway and before the house was in sight we said to Sage, "we're home!" But we hadn't seen the house yet...literally.

When impulsively planning this move across the country, we had planned on moving into a 900 sq. ft. apartment, biding our time, and saving money until the perfect place went on the market. Then we got word that a family friend was thinking about listing her house...THE house. The discussions and decisions to follow ended up being a blessing for both our families with perfect timing.

We had done a FaceTime walk-through of the house before we moved, and had people tell us how much they loved it, but we agreed to purchase this house sight-unseen on account of needing someplace to live before I gave birth. All we really knew of it was that it had a roof and some rooms, a little bit of land, and that we could wake up to Lake Superior every day. That was more than enough for us. It was Max’s dream. Then we saw it in person, and were dazzled. It definitely wasn’t decorated to our "style," but it was a beautiful house that we could make our own.

BEFORE

THE MANTLE DOESN’T FIT THE SPACE AND DOESN’T EMBRACE THE HIGH CEILINGS.

It definitely didn’t need the degree of updating that our first house did, but I - being me - started envisioning where I could put my fingers to work and make my mark. There were 2 things that immediately caught my eye: the amazingly burgundy and gold-grape wallpaper that covered a good percentage of wall space upstairs and down; and a cozy fireplace sitting in a room with 20 foot ceilings next to a view of Lake Superior. The wallpaper was gone immediately (before we moved in), but the fireplace and mantle needed a tad more prep and envisioning. I've got to say that these renovations are BY FAR my favorite things that we have done to this home! OK, I love the mountains in Tom's room, too.

dURING

ASSEMBLY WENT QUICKLY AFTER WOOD WAS CUT TO SIZE.

But that is where this post was supposed to start: the fireplace. The existing mantle was classic craftsman made from beautiful tiger oak with an inlaid beveled mirror. It was gorgeous, but it seemed to downplay the dramatic 20 foot ceilings, and didn’t reflect our personalities or style. The hearth is supposed to be the heart of the home, right? So we made it that way. I channeled my inner Joanna Gaines, Max became Chip, and together we shiplaped the crap out of the wall - made it stand out, made it a centerpiece, added some cozy and toned down the classic.

NEARLY THERE

WIPING DOWN THE WOOD ONCE MORE BEFORE APPLYING THE POLYURETHANE

Max's aunt (a saver and doer of all things awesome) just so happened to have some shiplap laying around from...get this, the old garage that was torn down at Max's childhood home years ago! Sweet, huh?! So the project began. All the wood was salvaged from his mom's shed (place of unimaginable and forgotten treasures), and we built the hearth of our new family home from pieces of Max's history.

After Max cut the pieces to size, all it took was a nail gun (18 gauge nails), some scaffolding, and a little elbow grease, and he whole wall went up pretty quickly (remember, we did this while corralling 2 under 2, so it had to be easy). We were dabbling with the idea of whitewashing the wood, but couldn’t pull the trigger til we saw the full wall. After all was said and done, it looked so good that we couldn’t commit to putting paint on it. The color of the final product is the natural color of the wood, we chose to use water-based polyurethane to seal the natural color and age of the wood, as water based tends to have less shine and won’t turn the wood yellow with time like oil based poly tends to do.

We also had the perfect amount leftover shiplap to create an accent wall in the kitchen and bring a common look and element throughout the house. It all turned out greater than I could have ever dreamed. This look is very comforting to my soul. I don't know why, but it happened instantly, with this project we made this house ours.

Ever since that first day pulling into town, Sage says "we home!" when we make the turn onto our drive. It's true. We're home, and every day it feels homier than the last.