Thursday, December 6, 2012

Hiding in Plain Sight

I finally got around to a niggling little project several months late. Our central heat and air system was installed in the spring, and our air return is in the dining room wall. It's usually a bit obscured from the general line of sight by the piano, but since the floor finish is still curing, we haven't moved the beast back in yet. So I started noticing the large white grate and felt it was time to do something about the eyesore. I would love to upgrade to one of those decorative iron grilles like this:

Photobucket
But I'm not sure drawing attention to mine is the way to go, and they are also very expensive. So I whipped out my leftover wall paint and a small brush and gave the original grate a few coats (after a thorough cleaning, that is). Now it practically disappears (until the furnace kicks on and there is a whooshing sound in that general vicinity; kind of gives away my secret)!

Before:
2012-10floors3-1


After:
2012-12-5001
Posted by at
Labels: , ,

2 comments:

  1. Christina | Little VictorianDecember 7, 2012 at 8:01 AM

    Good cover up. We don't have forced air, so I've been trying to think of a way to make widow ACs less noticeable. Thankfully I have several more months to figure that out.

    And I love your french doors so much. We have a doorway that had them, but the original "remodelers" threw them out.

    ReplyDelete
  2. SarahDecember 7, 2012 at 8:45 AM

    Thanks Christina. It was a big move to go to central heat and air; I cringed every time they cut a big hole in the plaster walls, the heart pine floors, and the tongue and groove ceilings. And then I had to get used to all those vents and mechanical things in the way. Window units and wall heaters certainly were a bit simpler and smaller overall, though I don't know of a good way to disguise them!

    Do you have hot water radiators for heat? I lived in an old house in New England for a while, and I loved that comforting, moist, gentle heat.

    The french doors are a nice touch. The older gentleman who grew up here said the doors were always closed. The front room was formal and only used for visiting company on Sundays! We keep the doors always open, but it's nice to have them nonetheless. Maybe you can find a set at an architectural salvage place that would fit. Although, since there was no real standard door jamb size back then, it could be a long hunt!

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)