Saturday, April 28, 2012

Projects: Guest Room Remodel

Peeps, 

You probably remember that we have this funny little bedroom in our house. It's got the best view of the lake but was sadly deficient in a few critical areas. When we moved in, it had a giant walk-in closet, but only enough room for a single bed. Add in sloping walls and a large window, and it made for a room that didn't have much usable space. 








Our first project was to tear out the closet (you can see it in the photo above). I know, people without much closet space probably cringe at that statement but we've got a fair amount of storage space in the basement - probably too much. It feeds my hoarding tendencies. Anyway, by taking out the closet, we'd essentially removed a legal bedroom from our home - also a cringe-worthy sentence, had we needed to sell it immediately. That black lump in the photo below is Bailey, fyi. 


But it gave us a blank slate and opened up the room considerably, turning it into a nice area with space for a larger bed.


We got started by installing carpet.


And then construction began in ernest on the new closet location.


The pitch of the roof created a space that didn't have much value, in terms of usable space. We thought it would be a good spot for a hip closet. 


Benjamin observes our progress:

Framing it up. 


Sheetrock.


Paint. (judging by the lack of light outside, I'd guess this was one of our late night paint sessions)


They we added the trim, installed dowels, and were were good to go! Except for doors. We decided to do something different this time and go with fabric doors, instead of the customary wood versions. 

Crazy. 

Except that I couldn't pick a fabric. For the life of me, I was unable to decide on a pattern that was suitable. I was trying to go for a bright and colorful palate but nothing was ideal. 

Plus I am really lousy at making final decisions. I am queen of the wiffle-waffle. 


In the meantime, I got my door hanging system sorted out (which consists of a drapery rod with circular grommets.  The plastic bag is pretending to be the curtain. 


And then I stumbled upon cotton shower curtains at Urban Outfitters. 

Bingo. 

I ordered two and tried them out:


And decided that this guy was the winner: 

[A quick note: shower curtains are large, so I only had to buy one curtain. If you have giant closets, you might have to buy one curtain for each doorway. It helps to have all your measurements handy as this would seriously affect your budget]


So I chopped it down the middle, hemmed the raw edges, and inserted the grommets. Voila!


 The finished product:


 I like 'em. Way brighter than I would have ever, in a million years, picked out had I stuck with my usual grey-blue-brown color palate. Hopefully our guests won't get headaches just by opening their eyes every morning. :)



xoxo, 

Sonja



Resources:

Bed, Bath, & Beyond Curtain Rods
Urban Outfitters Shower Curtains