Home Office Renovation

Walls painted, light hung, floors refinished

Paint, Restoration Diary,

It feels so nice to get this room almost finished! We have a few touch ups here and there…but we are so close. I don’t even want to remember where this all started.

The floor has been refinished. Now we’re just waiting for it to dry before we start moving into the office.

We already owned this George Nelson Bubble Lamp. I purchased it soon after we married to hang in the dining room of our apartment. It’s been sitting in a box in the garage for years. It is nice to be able to repurpose something from our pre-bungalow lives.

Comments { 7 } March 24, 2011

It’s No Longer a Secret

We have a paint color

Paint, Restoration Diary,

I have decided on the dark gray paint color; Benjamin Moore’s Secret AF-710. I loved the color as soon as I saw the paint sample on the wall. Our contractor really didn’t care for it and it wasn’t David’s first choice, but I’m going with it! And hey, we can always repaint.

The ceiling color is the same hand-mixed soft gray used in our bathroom remodel. We are using the same bright white trim color throughout the upstairs to keep things consistent.

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Comments { 3 } March 22, 2011

Choosing a Paint Color

So many choices...

Paint, Restoration Diary,

No matter how long I have been doing this, selecting a paint color never gets any easier. Sigh…I like to see the paint color on the walls to see how it looks in the light of the room and at different times throughout the day.

There is something about the lighting in our house where color goes completely wonky. Grey colors turn green, green colors turn grey, blue colors turn purple…Thank God for sample pots!

No matter how a color looks in the store or in photos, it looks nothing like that in my house. And I’m the kind of person who spends hours at the paint store, taking the samples out side to see them in natural daylight.

I’ve finally narrowed it down to two choices. David and our contractor like one color and I prefer the other. Now I am starting to doubt myself! Which color should we pick?

Comments { 6 } March 18, 2011

Built-in Window Seat

and Storage

Built-ins, Restoration Diary,

The dormer is too small to provide any real, usable space in the room. I decided to utilize the space by having our contractor build a window seat underneath the window.

The window seat has a hinged lid to provide much needed storage space. In our little bungalow every inch counts. The proportions of the window seat were based off of the gentleman caller’s bench in the living room.

Comments { 3 } March 17, 2011

Home Office Project Update

Enlarging the closet opening

Restoration Diary,

We are making the opening of the closet larger. The closet is long and very narrow. Enlarging the closet opening will make the closet more functional by providing easier access. We are also going to get really modern and install lighting in the closet. Ha!

Comments { 0 } March 10, 2011

Home Office Project

The wallpaper is removed, now on to plastering

Restoration Diary, ,

All the wallpaper is removed from the walls. The tip of using windshield washer fluid worked quite well.

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Comments { 0 } March 1, 2011

One Step Closer

Removing wallpaper from plaster walls

How To, Restoration Diary, ,

Let the restoration begin! Stripping layers of wallpaper from the plaster is more difficult since the wallpaper has been painted several times. The Dummies series has a very helpful article on removing wallpaper.

Here is another approach for removing wallpaper from Yahoo! Answers:

“Go to any store where they sell wallpaper supplies, etc. Home Depot will do, too. Buy the tool to score the wallpaper. It looks like a mini pizza cutter but with spikes on it. Run this up and down and all around the wall. Then take windshield washer fluid, the blue kind (which is unbelievable cheaper than wallpaper removal liquid sold commercially). Put it in a spray bottle and spray the wall in sections. Once a section has been sprayed, slowly peel off the wallpaper.”

I intend to give windshield washer fluid a try!

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Comments { 12 } February 16, 2011

Valentine’s Day Present

And you guys thought I wasn’t romantic

Bathrooms, Holidays, Restoration Diary,


David’s Valentine’s Day present. Toto toilet with a walnut seat.

David is really the only person who uses the downstairs half bath. I decided it was time for him to get an upgrade!

Comments { 4 } February 14, 2011

Creating a Home Office

Turning Our Bedroom Into an Office

Restoration Diary,


Bedroom Before

Now that our bathroom is completed we have decided to move into the bedroom located directly off the bathroom, a little more en suite…or as “en suite” as you can get in an almost 100 year old house. Our existing bedroom will become a home office.

I’m really excited to get started!

Comments { 4 } February 7, 2011

One More Thing to Love About the Bathroom

As if we need more!

Bathrooms, Restoration Diary,

The bathtub is just the right size to give two corgis a bath and the sides are high enough that they can’t jump out.

Comments { 12 } October 1, 2010