Inches DO matter!

Ok, we all know the joke here - but when remodeling my home near Seattle, I found out that inches really DO matter - at least in my dining room. Here was the scenario - it includes scope creep and everything!

Our contractor had removed the sheet rock on the wall that separated the bedroom from the dining room. Once the wall was down, I had the bright idea to install a gas fireplace in the wall, thereby creating a fireplace in two rooms: dining room and bedroom. (Here is the scope creep: it cost about an extra $10,000 to do this: $6,000 to purchase the insert and install it and $4,000 for the mantels we had designed by LeeAnn Baker Interiors)

And here is where the problem started....The fireplace insert was 28" in depth. A wall is typically 6" deep. So we had an extra 22 inches to place between the two rooms. We debated about it for about 30 minutes, and decided to shift the fireplace box 15" into the dining room and create a large mantle, and only 7" into the bedroom.

So, the fireplace got installed, the sheet rock got put up, the beautiful mantels were crafted, the walls painted, lighting installed...and our dining room is now too small! We hung a chandelier exactly in the center of the room, which means the dining table is also in the middle. When someone walks around the dining table to take a seat, the wall with the fireplace juts out so far that they have to duck about 6 inches to avoid ramming into the mantel.

Once I realized this, I wanted to tear the whole wall down and start over, but of course that is unreasonable, because it would now cost another $15,000 for demolition and reconstruction.

Fortunately, no one has really complained too much. Except my nephew who hit his head when trying to avoid the fireplace mantle.

Do you have a story of some small change in your home that would make it more livable? If so, visit www.homesavvi.com and post your story there.