Holy Comparative Studies Batman

I thought I would post the before and after shots of my kitchen (from the same vantage points).

As you can see, the stove stayed in the same spot but the dishwasher, sink and fridge were moved and the penninsula was removed to create a much more efficient work triangle.

Shame, thy name is: Third bedroom

Well, despite my last post about the need to tackle a thousand and one small tasks, I’ve decided to take on a slightly bigger project. (Are you detecting a theme here? i.e., I seem to be partial to taking on whole-room transformations!)

Thankfully, hubbie is helping to cover-off the small job list (having put the final coat of paint on our accent wall in the kitchen and replacing/installing an electrical outlet/cover plate in the office and making yet another trip to the dump with reno refuse).

With all the renos/packing/unpacking that have been going on at our house, our third bedroom has been somewhat ignored.

Since purchasing the house, we had new hardwood flooring installed throughout the upstairs (originally there were five different types of flooring/carpeting/tile used on our upper floor), we repainted the room and added a roman blind. But I really haven’t spent any time thinking about or working on the room other than that. Instead, it essentially became a catch-all for excess throw pillows and furniture pieces that didn’t fit in other rooms, a floor fan (we've just spent the last several months gutting/renovating our basement), and – worse yet – boxes and papers and that needs to be sorted through. It also features two over-flowing bookcases. Lovely 'eh?

What the room looked like when we bought the house:



So, I’ve decided to tackle the third bedroom.

It's a funny little room with an angled wall (I'll post a floor plan once I've decided on the revised furniture lay-out), but I think that's what gives it some charm.

I’m going to begin with moving the bed so that the occupant can look out the window (and down the street). The majority of time the bed will likely be used as a day-bed (by yours truly) and so having a little place in the sun (the room faces South) should add to the appeal.

Before the transformation




Next, I’m going to move one of the book cases downstairs to the new media room/man cave.

And, in case you’re wondering, I’m planning to paint the old headboard given to us by our friend/realtor (it was left behind in a house he sold).

So, I'm "on the job". Stay tuned for my follow-up post...

Getting over my hang-ups

When we were considering buying this house, one of the big selling features in my mind was the dressing room just off the bedroom. It made up for the small dimensions of the bedroom.

We started by painting the dressing room/bedroom, pulling up the old carpet (and replacing it with new hardwood throughout the house). Then we got to work demo'ing the existing closets.

We selected IKEA cupboards which my husband modified to account for the sloped ceilings, while maximizing height. Since we had the luxury of space we were able to use panelled doors vs. bi-folds (which I'm not a big fan of style-wise, plus I find they block the access to part of the closet).

Unfortunately, we didn't realize until after the closets were installed and we were mounting the doors that we should have put a spacer between the wall and the cupboard in order to allow the door to open fully. Fortunately, a quick adjustment to the baseboard trim by hubbie and his mitre box solved the problem.

Next we added IKEAs interior fittings to the closets and replaced the light fixture with a romantic small-scale chandelier from Home Depot (Hampton Bay's Heritage Aged Iron chandelier for $99):

Finally, I added a dressing table that I had inherited, some flea market prints, and voila, it was complete (at least for now).