Welcome back! We have been busy here at Carrier House Project working on the hundreds of details that go into each room. Today we are going to invite you into our guest room. This room took a long time to complete but, as with all of our projects, it evolved into something even more beautiful in that time.
Can you believe that this is the same room? I can’t believe it sometimes and I saw all the scary mess in between… You may remember from earlier posts that our house was divided, top from bottom, by a wall around the staircase. This room was the kitchen in the second floor unit. Now that it’s back to the original single family home, one kitchen is enough for us. So, we turned it back to a bedroom. Would you like to check out some of the many details that turned one into the other? Yeah!?! Great! C’mon down…
This is the same corner of that room at different stages. Out came the cabinets, sink and range. Down came all the plaster and lath. (That was a messy job)
And then, in the these two pictures you can see a hint of two features that evolved during this rebuild.
The first is the raised ceiling. As we were taking all the plaster and lath down, I looked up and said, ‘I wish the ceiling was high enough for a ceiling fan’. To which, Stephen replied, ‘I could raise it’. Now, I have come to the point in this experience with him that I now reply, ‘Of course you can…’ But at that time and space, my lack of knowledge led me to ask, ‘You can do that?” I mean, can that even be done? And the next thing I know is; I can see the attic when I look up and there are new ceiling joists.
I have learned to appreciate the world of knowledge that my hubby has in that cowboy hat topped head of his. I have, also, learned to be careful for what I wish for… So, as with all of our projects, this one is getting much bigger than originally planned, literally. With this change, we had to also change the specs on our permit plans. But now we have a nine foot ceiling. One might even say that things are looking up… Or the sky is the limit… OK, I went too far on that last one. Anyway, you get what I mean. This has been quite the adventure; full of unknowns and full of beauty evolving from it.
We now have a ceiling high enough for a ceiling fan. And I now have a wall that I can’t figure out how to paint.
Not that I’m complaining, I love the higher ceiling. We even decided to do the same in the master bedroom. But when it comes to painting, where do I cut in between wall and ceiling. I just wasn’t seeing it. And that’s when the second evolution of this room happened… ‘How about a wood accent wall?”
OK…. Here we go… Stephen found some unclaimed tongue and groove boards at a local lumber yard at a fairly inexpensive cost. I got to work on researching the look we wanted and what style would best suit this room.
The boards were stained various color combinations of stain. Then my brother helped me piece together a pattern that looked both random and balanced. (Thanks again Ray!) Slowly the wood accent wall began to appear.
Ta-Daa! What do you think about this addition? We love the way it turned out.
Now our focus turned to the floor. There was a wood floor under that funky red linoleum. But a lot of that ‘funk’ was left behind. The backing on the linoleum seemed to have melted into the wood. It was so deep that, even after two days of sanding and scraping, it wasn’t looking good. And neither was I. At this rate the wood was going to be too thin to act like a floor. And my hands and knees were going to be too worn out to function as hands and knees.
So I tried to stain the floor dark, thinking it would hide the flaws. Wrong! It just looked like mud. I had no choice but to do what I do best…Paint! Good thing I already practiced floor painting… ( check out the link below for how-to’s) https://carrierhouseproject.com/2018/09/14/the-painted-floor/
And, of course, I had to throw in some stenciling and distressing… The stenciling is for some added pretty and the distressing is to make it look like it had been there forever. (I might have a problem) But seriously, I am just trying to hide the flaws I couldn’t get rid of and make them look like part of the beauty. After all the work hubby did to reconfigure this room into something awesome, I didn’t want to look at the floor and think ‘Meh’. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it,
Next came finishing all the trim; baseboards, windows and door. Stephen outdid himself on these. Nothing prefab here! He planed, cut and routed all the trim (after much deliberation with his indecisive wife) and created some amazing shapes. It was not easy. There were so many measurements that needed to be adjusted to fit. He even made the headers over the windows deeper to accommodate the 2″ blinds I wanted. It came out beautiful!!! He even did plinths! YaHoo! I love it! And check out that ceiling fan. Just sayin’. Wouldn’t want you to miss the cause for all these changes,
We were able to clean up the original door and hinges and found real crystal door knobs. Stephen discovered a great way to clean old painted and rusted hardware. Water, baking soda and a crockpot. So remember, when he says, ‘No soup for you!’ it’s for your own good…
The last detail this room needed was a closet. We had decided early on in this project that we didn’t want a built-in closet. But we didn’t want a fancy armoir, either. We came up with a design we liked and Stephen started building it. I did a raised stencil technique on it to add character. https://carrierhouseproject.com/2018/10/01/raising-a-stencil/ And Boom! we had a closet.
Actually, It took a little more time and effort than that, but I don’t want to bore you with all the specifics. We are thrilled with the end result. The style and function of this piece fits perfectly with this room.
So do you remember what this room looked like originally? And all the scary in between? Eesh!!! But NOW look at it…
So cozy and inviting… Perfect for our guests. We love every detail. It truly has become more than we had wished for…
Hope you enjoyed this transformation. Until next time… Sweet Dreams…
I absolutely love the wood wall. I cannot believe that you both did what you did to transform this kitchen into a very cozy bedroom for your guests! Congratulations!
lisa Dicie and I just love the fact that you guys are transforming this house into yours We have so many good memories there and just know you and yours are going to have the same Thanks for making the blog so we can check on your progress Lou & Dicie M
Lisa & Steve. Just love it. Coming up in a week and must say hello and maybe we can talk Dicie into coming over and looking at the house. In Florida with Ruth right now