Day 41-50- COLOR!!!!

Soooo...I am an interior designer right? And I do love color right? I may have gotten a bit bold in some areas...maybe not enough in others but I think it all works well together. One thing that is weird/different about this house is I have alot of blue. I am not sure I really even love blue but somehow I have three different blues in my new house and I think I really like them all...for now at least.

So here is something kinda pitiful...I put out a plea on facebook for painting help. I offered cold beverages and pizza...and one person volunteered. (love you friend!) The other two in the pictures are my sisters...they are kinda obligated by blood to help paint but I do love them too and will always return the favor! And with the four of us (and no interuptions) we knocked out the second floor- it was exhilirating!

So let me know what you think of the colors- these show about 1/2 the house thus far!

The kids new 3/4 bath upstairs: (bright aqua)

Lilly's new room: (princess pink)
The master/main/hallway bath: (breezy blue)

The "mud hallway/laundry niche": (screaming red)

The improved/expanded kitchen: (avacado green)

(Those are all my made up names by the way so don't go to Lowes and ask for Avocado Green...it probably exists but might not look the same!) Haha. So what you think? No worries if you think it is too much...I didn't show all the beige walls in between!

Day 39- Where Knights will Sleep

Well Lucas might have got the small end of the deal in regards to size of his bedroom but I made up for it with a very cool bed fit for a Knight (sorry you will have to wait in suspense!)

So...old room with wood paneling and carpet:

And new room with drywall and wood floors underneath! Sweet!

The room didn't have a closet before but we moved the entrance from a hall closet to a spot behind his door (if you remember this brilliant idea) No accent walls for Lucas since his dresser is green and his new bed is...

oh snap I almost gave it away! hehehe.

Day 38- The Princess' Tower (i.e. Lilly's Room)

The tower use to be dark and gloomy...definitely not fit for a princess.

The difference between the paneling and drywall is honestly insane. The space is so much brighter and feels even bigger.
I actually did pretty good here with the same picture positioning- check out the progress:
Existing:

1/2 demoed":

And drywall:

And the paint request from the princess was originally pink...then she changed it to "Rainbow Colors". Being her assistant I did talk her into staying with the pink and adding the rainbow colors into her bedding. She thought that was a perfect idea!

Day 17- Brilliant Ideas

So the great thing about working with great people is that together you can come up with brilliant ideas. I think sometimes you stare at something too long and you don't think past what you already had planned.

Once the walls were opened up completely and everything was actually clean I was talking with my contractor about what to do in Lucas' room because there was not actually a closet in his room. There was one right outside it, but I had always planned on putting a small closet behind his door because the space wasn't very useful, but my contractor said- "Why don't you just recess it into the wall?" Oh...well now that is brilliant since there is just wasted attic space. Problem being it was going to be short with the roof angle which probably wouldn't have been a big deal. But then we got thinking- why don't we take the hall closet and make an opening to it off of his room. There was just enough space for a 24" door to go into a "walk-in" closet that we extended about 3' into the attic space. So it got framed out that night! The shorter side is unusable for hanging clothes probably but it is perfect for rubbermaid tubs of old/future clothes. And I have a feeling that Lucas will turn this room into a pretty cool hang out while he is little.

Then in Lilly's room there was a closet already in place, but it had two large ducts (supply and return) running through the closet from the basement. These were added on when the upstairs was finished (guessing about the 50's based on finishes). My contractor asked why I didn't just change these ducts to flex ducts and run them through the attic instead? Again...brilliant.
So that is what we did! You can kind of see them in the picture below inside the closet, and then a 6" duct use to run all the way up to the vent you see at the top.
Here are the new flex ducts back behind the closet.
Now I just need to fix the hole in the floor!

Demolition Day 7- Bye Bye Paneling

This was actually easier than I expected...kinda. The entire 2nd floor which is considered 1/2 a floor? is essentially a big finished attic. The entire thing was covered in wood paneling except for the bathroom which was covered in peach tile (and wallcovering of course).

Big difference with the nasty carpet and paneling gone! Much brighter.
Now one question I do have and would love your vote on. Ok, I love the wood stairs, they are definitely keepable...although a little squeeky. But my inital thought was to carpet them with the new play room at the top of the stairs because I was worried about the kids falling down them (or myself). They are kinda steep and turn quickly 90degress at the end. What is your vote? Leave a comment to let me know!

Big Difference in Lilly's future room too.

And there is actually particle board and very old insulation behind the paneling. I comtemplated with leaving it and laminating drywall over it but decided the best idea would be to rip it all out now and do it right. But that just does not sound fun at all!