This week, I really focused on working with the kids to get the room cleaned! While challenging, they got a lot done, but weren’t super motivated to get the trash and accumulated junk out… It’s amazing how much got lost under the beds when they were bunked! Since it was a shared bedroom, I really wanted them to work together to give the kid remaining in here a fresh start. I worked really hard to get my things out of the old office, so it was only fair to have them both work together on a last big clean out of this room. Even though this room was a little bit of a mess, I’m still confident I can wrap it up in the next two weeks! Even though I really just jumped to this project last week, there have been a lot more going on through the One Room Challenge, which is already on Week 6!
Head over to their Week 6 progress posts here. Special thanks to the One Room Challenge sponsor: Apartment Therapy. To see where we’re headed on this one, check out last week’s post. It’s going to be the perfect haven for a boy and his cat.
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Last week, I wrapped up the closet in the primary bedroom at my sister’s place… and am shifting away from her house for the rest of the challenge. Seeing her research presentation and watching her work toward completing her Master’s has been wonderful! I’m glad that can be the focus of her life for the next few weeks. So, I’m shifting to fixing up my other big kid’s bedroom! I just finished one bedroom a few weeks ago, and I’m so excited to be moving next door. One of the funnest things about kids’ bedrooms is the opportunity to change things as their needs change. While I’m sure there will be shifts down the line, collaborating with my ten year olds to make rooms that work for them and can shift for the future has been really fun! The basement bedrooms have been on my mind for a while, and with one done, I was able to refine what we’re doing in the second bedroom. I really only have three weeks left, but I’m confident this is a room we can power through! Unlike the first time I did this space along side the ORC office back in 2020 or their siblings' room this year, the structures are all there! I have no drywall to install or doors to change, the furniture is all here, and most will stay in the room (I am swapping out the dressers), and I’ve been stocking up on materials for a while.
While I’m basically jumping in with a new project, the One Room Challenge has been going for weeks now, and we’re just getting past the halfway point! Don’t skip on folks progress from this week! Big thanks as well to the corporate sponsor for the challenge: Apartment Therapy. It’s done! My big kids officially have their own bedrooms and are claiming them as their own! While I still have another one to do, the Heavy Metal Cat Party is going to wait a little bit, while I tackle a different space for the One Room Challenge at my sister’s house (and to be honest so we can reign in a bit of the chaos here).
The Dinosaur Garden has turned out exactly how I envisioned! It’s a calm space where our kid can take a break from their siblings and get a moment to focus on their needs. I definitely leaned into the natural vibes in this room with not a small number of plants (most are clever fakes, but the snake plant is real!), incredible floral wallpaper, and a room practically bathed in green. Once I had the pocket doors hung on the tracks, I had to make the actual pocket for the doors to slide into, and officially close this room back off to the rest of the basement. The side of the wall I completed is the side that sits inside the room. Since I’ll be demoing and reconfiguring for the library and the closet later, the other side will come then. For now, getting the room finished is top priority.
With the doors hung and leveled, I used the doors themselves to really figure out exactly where the pocket needed to be for the doors to sit in their tracks just beyond the plate rail on the two side walls. I used my grandpa’s door jamb level to make sure the new wall was plumb, and mark exactly where the framing needed to be. The new doors are done, and they are in! When I decided to change this to a bedroom and move the doorway, the biggest challenge was figuring out the doors to the room and the closet. While I had the doors on hand, I wasn’t worried about getting them refinished (I’ve refinished every door in our basement.), I was concerned about how door swings would project into a small bedroom.
With these two doors swinging into the room, the light switch would be behind the bedroom door, or the door would swing awkwardly into the middle of the room -an issue remedied last year in the upstairs bedroom. I wanted to make sure how we installed the door really worked for what we needed in the room. So, I decided to hang these as pocket doors! |
Katie SwansonI am a parent, creative spirit, and old house lover. My big passions are sustainable design and preservation. Bringing these together is key to moving existing homes into the future. * By subscribing to the monthly newsletter, you consent to receive links this month's blog posts and other relevant blog updates, a round up of things I love, and as a throwback to my DIY days, I may toss in an exclusive knit or crochet pattern of mine. Archives
May 2024
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