We’ve lived in our home for nearly 12 years. When we bought the place, I was pregnant with Catybug and we had visions of grandeur, just like every young couple. Over time, parenthood and home improvement projects have worn us as they do every other hard working DIY’er couples.

Our family room, however, has been more of a bane in our home ownership experience than any other project we’ve tackled. When we bought the house, it was a bedroom. A very awkward size, 12×18 or so. It used to be a single car garage. Heh. There were two closets on the north facing short wall and a window inbetween. Beneath the window, a steel plate or something covered up a hole in the wall for what we guessed was for an old furnace.

When Mark was overseas, I tried my hand at covering the old smelly pine paneling, and tore out the closets. The multiple-layered drop ceiling was only about 6’5″, just taller than my hubby. I attempted to make it more functional, more of a play room and family room. My vision, however, was not met – it was just a temporary fix.

I can’t find any pics of the base cabinets and countertop I had in there, so just use your imagination.

Then, in May of 2006, we gutted the room. Yes, it’s been over a year since that happened – but overall, we’ve been working on this room since 2004’ish.

During that year, two of our friends from Church who are excellent craftsmen insulated, put up ceiling rafters (yes, we raised the ceiling) and drywalled. I taped, I mudded, I sanded, I painted, I bought flooring and had someone put the floor in. The cabinetry worked and served us well until our friends could return for our next project – the entertainment wall.

We searched for months for separate pieces of cabinetry that would span the width of the wall with no luck. We knew if we wanted to fill that wall, it would have to be tailor made. When the guys called and said they were on their way, I was really excited. So excited, I bought a 40″ LCD HD TV for them to fit into the wall.

The TV blew a fuse, and shocked my hubby when it was plugged in.

Figuring it was an electrical problem, we waited for the guys to come and see if wires were crossed. They checked, they made corrections to the old wiring. Then they commenced building. Warning: the first pic is very scary, hugely messy – and don’t judge me. I had just taken everything out of the cabinetry and we hadn’t gone through it yet.

Finally… it’s complete!!

Electrically speaking, all was well – except that it wasn’t. We lost the cable, then ran a new cable. Then we lost the picture – and we waited all week for the cable guy to come out. In the process of trying to find out what is wrong with this thing, four people have felt some voltage running through their veins. It appears that there’s a wire, or two, crossed somewhere in the house so the neutral is hot and the new TV plug can tell much better than any other pluggable device we’ve ever had in the room.

Two televisions and one slumber party later, we’re running an extension cord to another room and waiting for an electrician.

It’s always something in these older homes, isn’t it? I’m opting for a new construction next time around…