Friday 23 October 2015

Room 3: The Room of Requirement


Its time to start tackling the big rooms starting with the back bedroom. I call this the Room of Requirement because its going to be my home office/dance studio/guest bedroom (and I'm a geek). This one was tastefully decorated with poppy wall paper and a nasty blue carpet.

Before

Before
The fitted wardrobes were rickety and needed removing. Which led to a really fun afternoon of destruction. Its slightly worrying really just how much I enjoyed that. Getting rid of these has made the room look bigger but it also exposed some dodgy plaster. Taking the wallpaper off I was quite hopeful that this was the only bad area but then a few bits of wall came down with the wall paper. The biggest problem was the ceiling. The paint started coming of in huge strips revealing huge cracks (probably due to that dodgy boarding in the loft). So the plasterer is back to do another whole room.
there is something beautiful about new plaster
Again that nasty carpet was hiding some beautiful floor pine boards. These had been badly treated in the past but weren't in terrible condition. First job was making sure all the boards were fixed properly (some had been left unfixed when the wiring and pipes for central heating were put in). I've screwed all these boards so its easier to lift them if we need to get to these wires and pipes again. One floor board in particular had broken in half because it wasnt properly supported and unfortunately that was right in the door way. A new support put in and the board screwed down though and it is OK  Then came removing the paint from peoples careless decorating in the past. These were some areas that were quite thick so needed paint stripper and wire wool to get it off. I'm not going to sand the floorboards as that can thin them. So once the plastering was done I  scrubbed them and sanded bits that really need it.

I wanted to cover the radiator in the room and also give the cats somewhere to sit to look out of the window (and keep them off my desk). I looked around and no radiator covers would fit (and custom made was just too expensive). So I decided to attempt to make one myself. I looked at some in stores and the construction looked pretty simple so with a little bit of trial and error I managed to copy them.




Byron loves his new seat

I went for a teal and grey color scheme. The rug is from Ikea and was the inspiration for the rest of
the room. I did consider opening up the fireplace but in the end decided that the mess just wasn't worth it so I have made a fake fireplace. I backed it with grey brick wallpaper to distinguish it from the rest of the wall. With my map and my dance sword displayed above it it looks quite smart. I was going to just put some shelves in the alcove then I decided I needed more space than that. So I tried my old ones that I was going to use just as storage space in the loft. The shelves have moved with me many times but they fit perfectly here. I just need to find some shelving for the loft now.


My old wardrobes also fit perfectly in the other alcove to provide a linen closet and a storage space for my all my dance clothes. I was going to paint them like the drawers for my dressing room but I decided the pine fitted in well in this room. Then I just needed to add a desk and a futon for guests and the room was fully furnished. The curtains are also Ikea with some nice sparkly tie backs. I think the only thing I would like to add to this room is a nice big mirror for dancing I will need to keep an eye out for one that is free standing and I could keep between the wardrobes when not in use.













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