In 2016, shortly after moving into this house, we got to work redoing bedrooms. In the front and back of the upstairs, there are two almost identical bedrooms. Previous owners had dumped some money into these room, opening up the ceiling to the attic, redoing the ceiling with wood slats, creating a loft area with a ladder, making a cork wall, and putting up cedar in the closets.
We had all four girls in one room while we worked on the front bedroom, then moved them all into it while we worked on the back bedroom, we then split them up, the oldest and youngest together, and the two middle together. We did it that way at the time, because our youngest was only 4.5 years old, and having the oldest sister in there would be a big help if she had trouble at night. This idea didn’t last long. They didn’t seem to be ready to be split apart, and by 2017 they were all back in the back bedroom, and we turned the front bedroom into a homeschool room.
Enter 2021, and we are bursting at the seams. Art has become a big part of their lives, and the dining room table is constantly covered in markers, pens, clay, and paint. The back bedroom has become a jumbled mess of toys and clothes that need sorted, and I’m not sure how they even manage to find a thing in there.
Over the weekend, we cleared out the front room (mostly), put mud on the nail holes, sanded the walls, sanded and re-stained some of the very worn spots on the floor from their chairs, painted the room, moved in the bunk bed set, and bought used IKEA desks from a friend and set them up.
Avery and Henna chose the Benjamin Moore color Brazilian Rainforest in an Interior Satin Clark & Kensington paint. Most paints are a paint in primer all in one these days, but we’ve always primed the wall anyway. This time, we didn’t, and I’m surprised at how well it covered the green and purple Sherwin Williams Ovation paint.
We have office chairs and rugs on order, so next week they’ll be able to fully utilize their desk areas. We still have all of the toys and clothes to sort through and organize, and the back bedroom to paint as well.
As far as the front bedroom goes, we are in the home stretch. We still have some things to do though, including
- replacing outlets, switches, and cover plates – we bought USB outlets for two of the outlets so they have more places to charge tablets and phones.
- running new wire for the ceiling fan.
- replacing the ceiling fan and 1 old light fixture.
- eventually painting the loft area and put down flooring up there so we can use it.
- figure out organization and shelving
Overall, things already feel more open in both rooms, despite little organizing and still having the large ladder in the front bedroom until the ceiling fan gets replaced.