We moved into the bedroom. It is so nice to be out of the home office. Our bed is on back order so we are sleeping on the floor. Even though we splurged on a new queen sized mattress, we still don’t have enough room for the two corgis who keep trying to sneak into our bed during the middle of the night.

The little closet we had built into dead space behind the wall looks like it has always been here. The door, hardware and trim are a perfect match with the original features of our house.

The light fixture is an eBay find. It came from a 1915 bank in Ohio.

The curtains are hung, but still not ironed. David decided that privacy is a little more important than beauty and that we’ll have to iron them later.

Closet door and the bedroom door.

The room still needs to be decorated, but it is so nice to finally sleep in a bedroom that is clean and renovated. Our clothes are hanging in the closet instead of piled inside oversized plastic storage bins.

Big sigh…either of exhaustion or relief!

To say that this closet is a challenge is an understatement. It is very long and very narrow with a sloping roof. We decided to go with an elfa closet solution from The Container Store.

See all the pull out drawers? Those babies are all mine.

All the drawers, shoe racks and shelves pull out which really does help compensate for the small space. David was able to fit all of his clothes into his side of the closet. It isn’t possible to fit all my clothes into half of this closet, even after drastically cutting down my wardrobe.

We have an antique English armoire, my very first piece of grown-up furniture, that has been sitting in our garage since we moved into the house. It is too tall to fit up our stairs. Maybe it can be taken apart to get it upstairs and into the bedroom? I definitely need hanging storage space!

My friend asked if I would consider this color mauve. Once she asked that I started liking the color a little bit less and having flashbacks to 1986. Maybe I am in denial, but I think this is a softer, more elegant color. If anything, it is mauve’s third cousin twice removed.

I am still deciding if I like the color, Dunn Edwards Chocolate Milk (DE6059). We decided to lightly sand and refinish the Douglas fir floors.

I found silk curtains for sale on overstock.com that match perfectly. Although, they do need to be ironed.

Paint color creates the mood and makes a huge impact in any room. I am looking for something that feels peaceful and soothing for our bedroom, which led me to search for a soft, faded grayish-pinky-tuape color.

After deciding to go in this direction, I found the above photo of a room designed by renowned decorator Windsor Smith. This was enough to convince me that I am going in the right direction. Hey, if it is good enough for Windsor…

I have decided to go with the paint color on the far left, a very pretty color from Dunn Edwards called Chocolate Milk (DE6059) with a soft blue-gray color on the ceiling.

The plaster walls are sanded and ready to be primed.

The wood trim is stripped and starting to be put back in place.

The little storage closet we had built into the dead space behind the wall now has wood trim and shelves.

How will this closet ever be functional for two people? It isn’t like we are clothes horses, but we do have a reasonable amount of clothing between the two of us. I’m not convinced there is enough space for my shoes! The closet is long and extremely narrow. For the past 99 years it has functioned without any lighting.

We decided to open up the wall to build in more storage. It is actually a fairly decent amount of storage space for winter coats and bedding.

The plaster walls were able to be saved despite their sad condition.

We hired professional plasters to repair the walls. The plaster was detaching from the lath in many places and the work was beyond our skill set. In the end, the walls turned out beautifully. More pics coming soon.

I didn’t think it was possible, but the room has gone from bad to worse! With the wallpaper removed we can see the original wall color from 1912. I love green, so I don’t mind this color, but I’m planning on a paint color that is lighter and more soothing.

The little corner area used to be my home office. I spent hours, toiling away at my computer, crammed into this corner. It wasn’t the most inspiring work environment.

Bedroom windows

Looking towards the newly renovated home office.

Camping out in the home office makes for cozy quarters.

It is horrible! What else is there to say? This upstairs room functioned as my office for many years. Because it is located off of our bathroom we decided to switch the rooms, making our old bedroom into our new home office.

The truth is I have been holding out on you guys. This room is almost finished! I’ve been a little distracted lately and I’m behind on posting.

The dog matches the wall color in the above photo. Really, we didn’t plan it that way. Although, I do have a confession. Here is a picture of me starting my very first home improvement project. Notice the paint color? I take full responsibility for the orange walls.

Most of the wood trim was removed to be stripped and sanded outside. I usually advocate stripping trim in place (leaving it attached), but removing the trim leaves much less mess and smell inside the house. I am at the point where I want our lives disrupted as little as possible.

I have hated this ceiling fan since the day we moved into the house. Taking the fan down felt like a final victory of over the ugly!

We needed an odd sized rug to fit underneath our desk, something durable that could stand up to lots of wear. FLOR carpet tiles fit all of our criteria, plus they come in multiple shades, textures and fun patterns.

FLOR samples

I ordered samples to see which worked best in our office.

It’s a plaid, plaid world

We chose a grey plaid called Pop Tartan.

Jack, project supervisor

Our cat Jack overseeing the carpet installation.

Attaching FLOR dot

The tiles are held together by adhesive stickers called Flor dots. It is as easy as peeling the backing off the Flor dot and attaching it to the back of the tile.

The tile is lined up and dropped into place. Easy!

Tah-dah!

It took us 15-20 minutes to install the carpet. Now all we have to do is finish moving into the office.