Fireman "Man Cave"



Hello everyone.  Hope your week end is going great.  Terry and I are heading through all the change ups to the new nest in record time.  We have accomplished a lot together in just the short 3 weeks we have been in this home.

Terry has lived in my white cottage world with no complaints.  So not only does he have a awesome set of tools and knows how to use them he also is so great at letting my decor shine through where ever we have lived.  This home being no exception.

So when we bought this place and it had the finished basement we both knew this would make for a  perfect Fireman Cave for Terry.  So while the first level of this town home is white the lower level is fire department collections and all Terry.

So excited that he has his own space that reflects his years of being in the fire service along with his fire antiques.  Mind you this space only has a third of his stuff!!!  All the stuff from his office when he was fire chief is still all packed in many boxes hoping to find a new home soon.



The only before pics I have are the real estate pictures from when we bought this place.  I had before pictures taken when we moved in but the disk I saved the pics too got cracked and the pictures were gone.

WARNING SINCE THIS IS A BASEMENT IT DOES GET A LOT OF NATURAL LIGHT BUT IT IS STILL A BASEMENT SO THE PICTURES MAY SEEM A LITTLE GRAINY.  SORRY ABOUT THAT.  THIS IS ONE TIME WHEN THE PICTURES DO NOT DO JUSTICE TO HOW NICE THIS SPACE REALLY IS.

Here We Go:

Before Picture from realtor's pics.

Before picture of previous owners man cave.



Going down the steps to the Fireman Cave.

Terry put all his antique little collection of fire trucks on the shelf leading to the basement.


Terry has comfy reclining sofa's in his man cave to watch TV.  He was able to create his hero, honor and courage wall again with his favorite poem called "who am I" and all his helmet shields the has worn throughout his career.








Terry has a full refrigerator, sink and ice tea maker along with a micro wave.  So it is all good.  Just need to get him a bed down here and he will never have to come up stairs lol!



Even little Cooper likes the man cave and has his doggie bed down here.  Nice and cool down in this space during the hot summer months.  That antique fire door came off an old vintage fire truck.  It is one of Terry's prize possessions.  The history from that fire truck and door is amazing!





Tucked back in the corner is Terry's office space.





Up in the left corner is all of Terry's badges he earned through the years of his fire service career.  Terry started out as a young fire fighter back when he was in college getting his degree in Architecture.  He needed a job to help pay for college expenses and they were hiring young guys to be firefighters.  He fell in love with firefighting and finished college but then decided being a fire fighter was his calling.

So he got his paramedics and then rose up through the ranks over his 35 year career.  He was in the final stages of his career as Fire Chief,  the highest rank he could hold when he lost his job.  So while he still wants to work at 58 years old and is hoping to find another chief position he is happy he had so many wonderful years in the fire service.
9ll was a very emotional time for all of us but for firefighters it really hit home.  Fire fighters run into harms way to help others.  So all those men and women that lost their lives that day trying to help others is a hard remembrance for Terry.


He lost a special friend  in 911.   Father Mychal Judge the chaplain for the fire department in New York City.







Probably one of the most emotional items in his collection is a piece of the world trade center after 9ll.

While this is just a piece of the beautiful towers that were lost that day it is an important reminder of the lives lost.  The innocent and the brave just doing their jobs.




 On a lighter note:


Terry's 60 inch TV!!!!!




Every Year we try to make a family trip to Disney and one of the stops is Universal Studio's.  Back years ago on one of  our first trips as they were filming the movie Backdraft.  Terry was able to get his picture taken in a back drop of one of the posters for the movie premiere.

Much more handsome than Kurt Russell RIGHT!!!!





There you have it.  The Fireman Cave in our new nest.  While my white world still exists upstairs Terry has his fire department decor in his man cave.  So it is all good in the new place.
Thanks for coming by for a visit.  Enjoy the rest of your week end.


Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful dad's out there.  You are all hero's
Happy Father's Day to the love of my life.  The best dad to our two daughters and the best grandpa to our granddaughter Abby and soon to be granddaughter Charlotte.  You are our everyday hero and we love you.
XXOO
Kris
Parties:
Simple and Sweet Fridays

Living Room Reveal


The Cottage Living Room Reveal.


Welcome to the cottage living room.





With light streaming in this room all day I try my hardest to get a good picture without it looking too washed out.  My living room is in light gray walls, white and creams for my slipcovers and of course all my chippy architectural pieces.










Entry way before





Entry Way After

This old vintage door I had in the other house  fit perfectly for the entry closet door.












Stairs Before.



Stairs After the carpet was removed and the treads re stained along with the stair rails.  The spindles and risers were painted white.




Corner living room used for my new office area.




Quick DIY for you.  What do you do with that ugly thermostat?  Well......
Cover it up!!!!
I had this cute garden plaque.
It is open in the back and fit perfectly on top of the thermostat.  So if I need to get at the thermostat just lift.  Easy Peasy.




Shout Out to the Very Talented Lisa Harmon and her slipcover creations.  I just love Lisa and how she can sew the most beautiful slipcovers.  I have shown her work before and this time I have something kind of fun that she did for me.


 I am on a tight budget with Terry not employed yet so I needed a new chair to go with my white slipcovered sofa that Lisa had covered for me last year.  To make it affordable I got the Ikea Ektorp white chair and cover.  Then I sent the cover to Lisa and she did her magic and made the boring plain ruffle on this chair into a more cottage custom ruffle.

Just adding a simple ruffle to this ikea cover gives the chair a more custom look.





Look who else thinks the ikea white chair is comfy!!!!!
Look at the look on his face when I took his picture lol!  Hey I am trying to nap here!!!!!








Lisa did a double ruffle on the Ikea ottoman cover I had to go along with the double ruffle she did for the sofa last summer.





Lisa's creative sewing gave my living room pieces a custom look.
If you need a good slipcover or need an existing slipcover updated Lisa is your go to person.
Here is her website and Etsy.

Before Living Room




Living Room After



Thanks for coming by to see the living room transformation.  It is still a work in progress but it is coming together nicely.  I will have the kitchen to show you next and Terry's Fireman Cave.
Have a great rest of the week.

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