The Silver Lining: Spare Bedroom Makeover

BEFORE AND AFTER

My previous roommate had a blind, special needs cat, whom he mostly neglected and kept shut in the bedroom for several months. Unbeknownst to me, said cat had stopped using its litter box, staining the carpets and leaving a terrible odor. When my roommate moved out, I spent a week trying to treat the carpet with enzyme cleaner to no avail. Bottom line: it was GROSS!

Since the cat urine had stained through the carpet, carpet pad, all the way to the subfloor, I had no choice but to replace the flooring. Not exactly within my budget this summer, but the odor was so foul that a classmate for whom I was storing furniture didn't even want to leave her things in the room.

So, I ripped up the carpet and started looking into flooring options, as discussd in my previous post. Before laying new floor, however, I treated the subflooring with more enzyme cleaner, then sealed the entire floor with a shellac base primer sealer.

Fortunately, my parents were planning a visit, and my dad had 150 sq foot of leftover hardwood flooring from a house he'd been remodeling. I thought the room was 12 x 12 (plus closet), so we'd have plenty of flooring to spare. And as long as I was going to replace the floor, it seemed like the most convenient time to refinish the ceiling and walls too. So, within 8 hours of my family arriving from Michigan, my dad had removed the popcorn-textured ceiling, while I pulled up the staples left from the carpet pad. The next morning, I woke up and Dad already removed the trim, and plastered and primed the ceiling. Dad had gotten a bit plastered himself! :)

Meanwhile, Mom and I went to pick up paint, and chose a light periwinkle-tinted gray, called "Silver Lining." I wanted a fairly neutral color, that wouldn't clash or dominate potential roommates' preferences and styles. At the same time, I didn't want white or beige. I've never painted an empty room before, and without having to tape or cover the floor, we were able to paint the walls in record time. The results are clean, cool, soft, and bright. One person said the room felt like being in a tree house!

Our 48-hour makeover plan hit a bump, however, when it turned out my room measurements were short by ~10 sq feet short. Oh no! Fortunately, we were able to find matching wood flooring at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore to make up the difference. For the closet, we picked up Pergo, and used a darker wood border.

 

Finally, with the trim removed, Mom sanded and cleaned all the dirt and paint from previous sloppy jobs. Then, the trim was re-stained and varnished before re-attaching it to the walls.

It is a beautiful new room, and now smells only faintly of hardwood and paint: the silver lining to a situation that literally stunk.

More Pretty Itty Bitty Things

I went to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, hoping to find sealant for my spare bedroom floor. Instead, I found a number of little treasures, ranging from 25¢ to $2ea.  These little accoutrements delight me.  Also, I brought some of the outside in, arranging river rocks and pine cones on the window sill above my kitchen sink. I appreciate the balance of elements stone brings -- since there's so much wood already in the kitchen. It's hard to see in the pictures, but the three soup cups hanging under the cupboard couldn't be more appropriate accents (both in color an in style) to the poppy-colored countertops.

Full Bathroom Project

My updated 'green' vision for the full bathroom is starting to materialize, and will be close to done by the end of next week.

For starters, I replaced my vinyl shower liner with one that a soft, white 100% polyester washable liner. I also picked up a natural sea sponge + tea tree oil for bathing.

I've removed the popcorn-textured ceiling, and now need to re-plaster and prime it before painting (BM's Cloud Nine). The walls look like they may have been wallpapered once, or at least had a very sloppy high-gloss paint job at some point. So, another of my projects is to smooth the walls out (either by plastering, and/or by scraping and sanding) before repainting the walls BM's Peaceful Jade.  I also managed to acquire this lovely new faucet, for only $15 (using discount coupons and gift certificates!), which has a low-flow rate just 1.5 gpm.

I considered painting the cabinets white, but since the fixture are white and the vanity top is cream and gold-flecked (lovely 80s style), I decided instead to stain the cabinets a dark mahogany. Unfortunately, since most of the cabinetry is wood laminate, the stain won't come out as dark as I like ultimately, but, as you can see in the pictures, several coats is deepening the color.

Biodegradable Carpet or Reclaimed Hardwood: That is the question.

Haven't posted for quite a while, though I've continued to make improvements and changes. The latest project I've decided to tackle is re-flooring the spare bedroom. I'd hoped to re-floor the entire 2nd floor within the next few years; but (unfortunately), the condition in which my prior roommate left the carpet has accelerated this project - especially since I'm hoping to find a new roommate by the end of the month!

Keeping in line with green, sustainable improvements, I'm headed over to Common Ground Green Building Center, to price flooring options and pick up samples. Yay! 

At the moment, the choice is between bamboo, reclaimed hardwood, or biodegradable carpet. A brief survey of friends and family has unanimously voted for hardwood -- better for allergies, easier maintenance, and beautiful!

Looking forward to the parents (aka free labor) visiting next week to help out!

Living Room Arrangement, Take Two

Even after carefully laying out my living room arrangement prior to moving in, I couldn't anticipate how space would flow after living here. I soon discovered the the desk and "entertainment center" together dominated the room, and so the living part of the living room was pretty minimal.

So, I purchased a coffee table, end table, and metal stand for my printers (pictured below), and moved all the furniture except for the couch and the artwork (which actually also moved a few feet over). The new arrangement is more functional, balanced, and welcoming. I'm really happy with the results:

Bike Shed Dreaming

Today, I sketched out the dimensions of our yard, where we're hoping to build a bike shed to hold our many pedal-powered two-wheelers. AND wouldn't it be cool if we build a bike shed with a green roof!?

Spring Break House Cleaning

Spring Break has sprung here at Hilltowne Hollow (as my new neighbors and I now call our little neighborhood) and the beautiful weather has inspired a wave of housekeeping activities.

My neighbor and housemate cleared out the gutters, I broke  down the recycling, and cleared off my back porch. This evening, I removed 2/3rds of the texture ceiling from my full bathroom, and am hoping to plaster, prime and paint (color: (Saybrook Sage) later  this week.

We've also begun sketching, in earnest, designs for a bike shed that will hold the 10 or so total bikes owned by the collective residents of Hilltowne Hollow.