Bench Monday :: the bedroom redo

We began major work on Olivia's bedroom redo this weekend. This project is going to be a bit more than just putting some paint on the walls, which she needs, because even though I painted the room just a few years ago, I painted it as the then guest bedroom, not her room. So she's ready for a personal, almost-teenager-that-she-is bedroom redo. Even though it's not a large room, it's still requiring a fair amount of work and a small amount of remodeling and demolition. In this old house, our bedroom shares a wall with Olivia's bedroom, which isn't a problem normally, but this wall happens to be made up of double doors, which aren't very conducive to privacy or functional as a wall.

Like this, her room before:



Rather than take the doors out completely (we may want them there again someday) and to lessen the impact on the house's architectural charm, we are insulating the wall on both sides with rigid foam and batting, then sheetrocking her entire side and a portion of our side. All of it can be dismantled easily enough, if we decide one day we want to use her space differently. Oh, and you may notice our sheetrock pieces are well, in pieces.



Yeah. In this old house, we deal with long, narrow hallways, a staircase and lots of twists and turns--so there was no getting 4x8 foot long section of sheetrock into her room in one piece.

Long and wind-y hallways, like this:



Additionally, there's the problem of her existing closet.



I may have mentioned that ours is an old house (wink) and thus, one of the two original closets in the house is basically functionless by today's standards-- standards which apparently require the use of actual coat hangers.



Once we tear out her functionless closet, she'll have a new corner that will allow for a tiny bit more space and a different room arrangement.

Olivia already has some pieces for her room, one of which is her large Mandal wardrobe.



And her Jorun duvet cover she got last year and still loves.



Last week we returned to our beloved Ikea and we picked up some additional pieces for her bedroom.

She opted for the queen Heimdal bed because it provides a headboard but is free of a footboard which allows for better sight-lines in her small space, plus it's easier to sit on the end of the bed.



(Olivia has a fairly sophisticated, clean and simple taste--she'll be 13 in March--and just to give you an idea, she thought this bed was too frou-frou.)

We found this Vanna piece, which will be great for one of her narrow walls and provide her with just that much more storage.



Additional pieces include a Billy bookcase,



a desk (but with silver legs)



and chair



and a lamp.



She wants simple white curtains, which I will sew, but we found this beautiful fabric that I will use to cover some pillows.



After we finish the sheetrocking and tearing out the closet, it will be time to paint. She chose the Gray Flannel (Olympic D45-5) for the walls and Delicate White (Olympic D40-1) for the trim. Let's just say I can't wait to get to the painting portion, and naturally the loading of her room will be tremendously fun.



This is probably the third or fourth bedroom redo I've done for Olivia, and it's possible it will be the last I do for her (in this house, anyway--I confess to visions of being asked to lend a decorating hand when the kids are out on their own--that's a normal fantasy, right?) so while this is all very exciting, it's bittersweet for this mama to a nearly-teen, too. The good news is, pulling items together and talking about color and form with her has been loads of fun. I can't wait to reveal the finished room!