Most people think you call a contractor for the big stuff. A kitchen gut. A bathroom remodel. An addition.
But some of the projects our clients end up loving the most are the small ones — the creature comforts. The mounted TV that finally looks like it belongs there. The fireplace wall that turns a plain living room into the room everybody gravitates to. The closet that actually holds your life.
Around here we call them “small projects, big comfort” jobs, and there’s no small job at H&H — Alec has personally mounted TVs and built faux fireplace walls for Cookeville homeowners, and those hundred-dollar-to-few-thousand-dollar projects are often how a decade-long client relationship starts.
Here are nine comfort upgrades you might not have realized a contractor could handle — most of them done in a day or a weekend.
1. A Wall-Mounted TV That’s Actually Done Right
Anyone can bolt a bracket to a wall. Doing it right means finding the studs (not the drywall anchors that let go at 2 a.m.), hiding the cables inside the wall, and mounting at a height that doesn’t leave your neck aching. Over a fireplace? Now you’re thinking about heat clearance and tilt mounts too.
Our friends at Ryan’s Home Services have a great rundown of what professional TV mounting involves — concealed wiring, soundbar placement, the works. It’s the same standard we hold on every mount we do here in the Upper Cumberland: when it’s done, the only thing you see on the wall is the screen.
2. An Electric Fireplace Feature Wall
No chimney? No gas line? No problem. A modern electric fireplace insert framed into a custom feature wall — shiplap, stone veneer, or a clean painted surround with a floating mantel — gives you the glow and the gathering point without the flue. Pair it with the mounted TV above and you’ve built the wall the whole family faces every evening.
This is one of Alec’s favorite builds because it changes how a room feels in a single project. Which is really the whole point:
That’s the first question Josie asks in every design conversation — not “what countertop,” not “what color.” What do you want the space to feel like? Creature-comfort projects are the fastest way to change that answer.
3. A Custom Closet System
Here’s a trend we picked up from our conversation with Nashville home-improvement veteran Rick Heagarty on the Unscripted Home Improvement podcast: houses are getting bigger in square footage but not in footprint. Attics become bonus rooms, storage disappears — and closet systems have quietly become one of the fastest-growing categories in home improvement.
Pulling out the builder-grade wire shelf and installing a real closet system — double hang rods, drawers, shoe shelving, a pantry that actually works — is a one-to-two-day project that pays you back every single morning.
4. Built-In Bookshelves or a Window Seat
Freestanding furniture fills a room. Built-ins finish it. Flanking a fireplace with bookcases, wrapping a bay window with a storage bench, or building a full wall of shelving turns wasted square footage into the coziest corner of the house — and it’s exactly the kind of finish carpentry that separates a craftsman from a big-box install.
5. A Walk-In Shower (or Full Wet Room)
One of the most-requested comfort upgrades in our Cookeville bathroom remodeling work right now is the wet room: the whole bathroom tiled seamlessly, no shower curb, no glass tracks to scrub. It looks like artwork and it’s dramatically easier to clean and safer to age with. You don’t need a full remodel to get there — sometimes converting an unused tub is enough.
6. Turn Your Deck or Porch Into a Sunroom
If you already have a covered porch or a sturdy deck, you may be closer to a sunroom than you think. Josie describes a sunroom as “being outside without being outside” — walls of windows, skylights, no solid barriers between you and the view. We regularly convert existing decks, porches, and even sheds into climate-controlled sunrooms here in Cookeville, so you get the golden hour without the July humidity or the January wind.
7. A Covered Deck With a Pergola
Middle Tennessee terrain is not flat — which is why the terrain usually decides between a deck and a patio for you. On our hillsides, a covered deck with a pergola is the regional answer to outdoor living: shade in the summer, usable in the rain, and a natural stage for string lights, a grill, and a porch swing. See what that looks like on our custom decks and patios page.
8. A Mudroom Drop Zone
A bench, a row of hooks, cubbies per kid, a boot tray — a proper drop zone by the garage or back door is a one-day carpentry project that ends the pile of backpacks and muddy shoes at the threshold. It’s the kind of comfort you don’t notice until you have it, and then you can’t imagine the house without it.
9. An Under-Stair Nook
That triangle of dead space under the staircase can become a reading nook, a dog den, a homework desk, or pull-out pantry storage. It’s a small footprint with an outsized “why didn’t we do this years ago” factor — and one of the most fun builds we get to do.
Why We Love the Small Stuff
Every one of these projects is small enough to schedule in days, not months — and each one changes how your home feels every single day you live in it. They’re also how relationships start. The landlord whose $75 drywall patch we fixed three years ago called us back for a $40,000 kitchen. That’s not an accident — it’s the business model.
If a bigger project is on your mind instead, our renovation and home addition teams have you covered there too — and you can see recent work in our portfolio.
Creature Comfort FAQs
Do contractors really take on jobs this small?
We do. Small repairs and comfort projects are the front door to our handyman services in Cookeville — and many of our longest client relationships started with one.
What do these projects typically cost?
A professional TV mount with concealed wiring is usually a few hundred dollars. Drop zones, closet systems, and fireplace feature walls generally run from several hundred into a few thousand depending on materials. Wet rooms and sunroom conversions are larger investments — we’ll give you a line-item estimate up front so there are no surprises.
Do I need a permit for any of this?
Most interior comfort projects (mounts, closets, built-ins) don’t require one. Anything touching structure, wiring circuits, or the building envelope — sunroom conversions, some fireplace walls — may. We handle the permitting question for you as part of the estimate.
How do I get started?
Tell us what you want the space to feel like. Request an estimate here and Alec and Josie will take it from there.