ROOMS WITH A VIEW

I’ll say this:  Mr F may have the fashion sense of a horned toad, but he knows how to pick a view.  When you enter the house, your eye shoots straight through the vaulted Great Room and out a large rectangular opening that forms a perfect frame around Cypress Peak and the Granite Dells.  Mrs F called it breath-taking; Mr F called it an extra 50 grand in re-sale value.  (Hats off to the designer, Bill Easton, who drew the house plans precisely to frame the mountains).  Mr and Mrs F enjoyed the unimpeded view for about three days. On the fourth day they stepped through the front entry and were stunned to see three black bars obtruding their picture perfect view of the peak, compliments of the sliding glass that had been installed in the large rectangular opening.  Mrs  F sighed, “Oh, well, it’s still a nice view.”  Mr. F’s face drooped.  So did the value of his mountain view. “That #$!%!# slider cost me 20 grand,” he groused.

            Mr F was so devastated that he considered yanking out the sliding glass door and replacing it with a single sheet of tempered glass.  The local Glass & Window Guy  told Mr F he was an idiot.  Okay, he may have been a little more tactful than that, but the gist was:  Mr F,  you’re an idiot.

            Mr F is also trying to decide if they should install a small gas fireplace in the master bedroom (in Mr F’s words) “to enhance the ambiance.”  Mr. F needs all the help he can get in that department, but Mrs F who is the brains behind the operation says it will cost another $1,500 which is twice my annual salary.  As for extra ambiance, “Speak for yourself,” she says.