BDA: The Back Bedroom

Before: This was AJ’s bedroom, and before he came, an office. There were windows on 3 sides and a door onto an unused flat-roof “balcony” over the kitchen and back porch. We had grand plans for our Master Suite (or to be gender neutral, the Owner’s Suite) here. During: This room all but disappeared.

The wood floor remained and on one day was simply hanging out into space without wall above or below (no, we didn’t get a picture of this). The space expanded over the new mudroom entry to the south (bedroom) and covered the old balcony to the north (new master bathroom) with a closet in between.

The view into the closet, and through to the wall of the shower. Yes, we've got a window in our closet!

The old wood floor and new wood floor meet in the bedroom.

After: What a great space! The beautiful batik that you see when you come in is a gift from my Aunt Mary. A small spotlight in the ceiling illuminates it.

The sun pours in through the windows in the afternoon/ evening – you’ll have to trust me on this since I took these pictures at night (it's winter here in Minnesota, the daylight is limited).

Boudicca was annoyed that I disturbed her nap on the bed. We have two small windows on either side.

The niche fits my dresser perfectly (it was planned that way of course).

And a view of the closet pocket door and into the “spa” (to be blogged next). The wallpaper and curtains are a William Morris Arts and Crafts reproduction print. We can’t believe all the space we have - it's our own private retreat!

BDA: The Middle Bedroom

Before: The middle bedroom at the top of the stairs became quite involved in the remodel. This was Christopher’s room. With the changes in the roof, a massive header beam had to be placed above the windows to support the new roof joists. Only one wall remained intact. Here you can see the sloping ceiling where the old roof line cut in. This will be going away. During: this was the space behind that slope with cardboard insulation.

This is the big beam over the windows for the new roof.

After: This is now AJ’s room!

With a new Big Boy Loft bed! (and unfortunately, still the little boy mess)

B&A: The Front Bedroom

While this wasn’t technically part of the remodel, we needed to update the front bedroom to be more suitable for an 8-year old boy. About 18 years ago, I sponged and ragged my (it was just me then) bedroom in 5 shades of purple. While Christopher was excited about the larger bedroom, he was not enthusiastic about the color. Here is Before:
After: Christopher suggested many times that we should remodel our house to be like Hogwarts. So for the young Harry Potter fan, I painted him his own castle. We have since added some torch lamps from Ikea on either side of the windows and are planning an appropriate window valence.

If you are interested, I painted the darker grout color first, then taped the gout lines (which took hours). I roughed up the edges of the tape with a utility knife to make an old stone look. Then I could sponge and rag on the lighter stone colors (just 2 shades), adjusting the design block by block. Lastly, I painted a few strokes with a feather to add a little more dimension.