June 06, 2008

We got trouble.

If you’ve cruised on over here to my blog this week, you may have seen that we’ve got trouble.

Oh, we got trouble.
Right here in River City.
With a capital "T"

That rhymes with "P"
And that stands for Pool,
That stands for Pool.

I should thank the person who left that not-so-nice post (and Meredith Willson) for affording me the transitional phrasing here. From trouble earlier this week to a glimpse at one of our newest rooms…


TADA! We did it. We eschewed the traditional dining room in favor of billiards. The pool table est arrive!

Now, granted, this is not one of my frugal finds. But we shopped around a lot to find a deal. The tables we liked all looked the same to us, but prices were all over the map. Seems it comes down to the construction and guts of the table: Brazilian slate…Italian slate…Mother of Pearl inlay…Simulated pearl inlay…At the end of the day we asked, “What’s the difference?” And the answer seemed to be: Not much for you shlubs. Unless you’re
Minnesota Fats or The Black Widow, you’ll be just fine with a cheaper (emphasis on “-er”) model. And one pool table and the whole room is furnished. Done! So one could argue we ultimately saved money. And one (me) does.

The slate was fused together right there in the room, and the table gingerly assembled around it. While it was kind of cool to watch – it was like having our own performance art installation – there’s basically no turning back now.

There’s a couple of things left to do in the room. We need to figure out the wall art situation, and address that built-in in the back corner. It’s a useful and pretty piece made from salvaged items (that’s a cast iron coal fireplace cover on the bottom) that the former owner put together. It’s actually kind of cool.
And, when you open it you can get a glimpse of the wallpaper the entire room was covered in.


Wowza, right? That’s a whole lot of flower.


We’re thinking of turning it into a bar. Adding some corner shelves won’t be much of a problem, and someone suggested maybe mirroring the back walls. Too much? The door will be closed most of the time, so it could be cool…Or over-the-top tack-a-brack?

Then there’s the light fixture (the one that’s there came with the house). It’s hard to find one that will work for a pool table that does not look like this:



I totally dug this one as soon as I saw it in the newest
Gump’s catalog…


…but then quickly saw the $670 price tag and moved on.

This one I found
online and like quite a bit. I like that it’s simple and somewhat modern, which would go with the whole eclectic thing we seem to have going on.
It’s certainly not urgent so when we find something that works well in the room, we’ll go for it. Until then, rack ‘em up. I got next game.

7 comments:

Mrs. Limestone said...

Im definitely not showing this to my husband - he would be all over the idea of replacing our dining room table with a pool table :)

I think mirroring the back of that cabinet would look great. Perfect spot for a bar.

j.cro said...

I have to admit, I didn't even notice that cabinet in the corner. The rest of the house looks fabulous and I can't wait to play a game of billiards. I'm horribe, just so you know... any cools shots I happen to make are by pure luck. I'm looking forward to my next visit and I'll bring a doggy treat too!

please sir said...

So lucky!! Looks like a great find.

Courtney said...

the room is turning out gorgeous! I like the last light fixture you posted...simple and elegant. the cabinet is a treasure, too.

Anonymous said...

Pops is an attorney - I'm pretty sure there's no infringement there - but don't take my word as gospel.

Julia @ Hooked on Houses said...

My family loves playing pool and would go for this in a hot minute.

And boy, howdy, that IS a lot of flower.

So what are you going to do? Are you changing your blog name? Did you already tell us somewhere on your blog and I missed it? What a bummer! -Julia

Laura @ the shorehouse. said...

I think I'm just going to change my URL shortly to shorehousechic.blogspot.com -- I changed my header & profile names for now. In a way, I can't believe I'm giving in (it's like my online diary after all -- and if that's a threat to his/her biz, WOW. S/he needs a new business model!)

But believe me I won't go quietly ;-)