Bedroom | Before & During

For the last couple of months we have been pretty consumed with house stuff. As most people are who have recently moved. One of the main things we liked about the house we bought was its potential. It wasn’t there yet, but it could be great. Well, ‘great’ takes a lot of work and money and TIME.

You may have noticed I haven't been making much or doing many experiments. This is mostly due to distracting house projects, but a big part of it is the lighting in the new kitchen. It is abysmal for picture taking and has definitely hampered any food/craft photography*. That won’t change for a while unfortunately. Aside from being super dark, a little small and dated, there really isn’t anything wrong with the kitchen. That bumps it lower on the list of to-dos. The bedroom was first on our list and after living with the bathroom for a couple weeks, that one moved way up.

Anyway, long story short… because I’m pretty much doing house related planning and projects, you will see a lot more of these type posts! Some are related to specific projects and some (like this) are just a show and tell.

Photo at the top is the bedroom's latest state. It still needs upper and lower closet doors, some window trim, curtains and a door (I’m supposed to be stripping 60 years of paint off the original door but I HATE that project and am only half done). This is the first big renovation started on the house. The original state was probably salvageable, but the walls were just a ugly. Really bumpy and uneven. There was one part of the room that looked like it could have water damage behind it (spoiler, just really bad craftsmanship) so Nate opened up the walls. Once that was started he just kept going. All the old, not well done, plaster walls came off.

Sans walls, we were able to re-insulate and add more outlets. Drywall went back up and was painted ‘Cool Gray’ by Valspar in an eggshell finish. Very nice color -in my humble opinion- and very nice paint to work with. The old beige carpet came up and revealed not TOO shabby wood floors. They had some staining and paint on them, but good enough to keep for a while. Refinishing is not even on the list at this time.

The only before pictures I have are real estate photos! We literally started this the night we closed so I didn’t even think to take any of my own. Most of my progress photos are cell phone quality.

This room was a franken-room. It used to be half the size but was built onto. None of the people who saw this room could agree on what the the original layout or the windows were like. 

Probably the ugliest fan in the house. Which says a lot, since there are four of them and they are all different and all ugly.

Here it is with the drywall up and painted. The carpet acted like one big drop cloth. Very convenient!

It was a little scary removing the carpet. We knew we were stuck with whatever shape it was in. Luckily it wasn’t gouged or destroyed. It hadn’t been treated well, lots of paint drips and some black stains.

This was a life saver. I removed some of the paint with rubbing alcohol and washed the floors thoroughly. Then applied this Rejuvenate according to directions. I did two coats and the floor looked amazing (for no refinish)! I’ve done two smaller rooms, two coats on each, and still have a half bottle left!

It helped shine the dusty appearance the wood had underneath. I have noticed that in spots where I have rugs, the Rejuvenate has worn off a bit. I’m not too concerned since this is just a band-aid and a very affordable one.

I replaced all the old silver painted grates in the house with these satin black ones. I love them, they add so much character for being a vent cover.

We replaced the old fan with a white Hunter fan. It was slightly difficult to find a smaller fan that could use incandescent light bulbs** and was also clean/simple looking.

Anyway, that is it! Just an update on one of the major things that has been going on around here. Along with Poncho about to graduate from high school (by the looks of this picture)! Next up we are working on the bathroom. It's the only bathroom in the house... so wish us luck!

*I am testing out different spots in the house for cocktail photography, so I hope to keep those coming.

**I know, I’m one of the lingerers who hasn’t embraced LED or CFL lights. Lighting affects my mood, and incandescent is just what I prefer personally.