A Bedroom In My Family Room?

Many of my regular readers know I've been going through my home room by room redecorating and updating them.  As I design the room, I'm not just interested in updating the decor, but making the space more practical for my new stage of life as an empty nester.

The room we chose to update this year was our family room.  It's a large, long room and it has always been an awkward space to decorate because of the length and the lack of light.  In the two "before" pictures the room is decorated for Christmas, making the room appear even more cluttered.

This is a view of the room if you just walked inside.  A large mammoth entertainment center covers one long wall (remember when these were all the rage?).  The walls are stucco with a faux painting of gold and creams.

This is a view of the room if you were standing by the Christmas tree looking back.  Again, it is very cluttered because I had to make room for a Christmas tree.  But I really want you to notice the French doors, as they play a huge role in the renovation project.

The Reason

Now, before I begin my tour of the beginning of our renovation project, let me explain my reason why we decided to do what we did.  As you know, we are empty nesters.  We have three small bedrooms on the third floor of our house with a narrow staircase leading to them.  When the children and grandchildren come home to visit, they usually stay about a week and average about three or four visits a year.  The last time they were here, we didn't get much sleep.  The crying grandchildren woke us up at night and Ashley, who doesn't like the mattress in the guest room, requested to take our bed.  So we gave up our queen size bed for Ashley (I know, what a princess).  But now my husband and I were sleeping on a full size bed and we weren't comfortable as we kept hitting each other all night.  Then Jason, Ashley's husband couldn't sleep with the baby in the master bedroom, so he went to sleep on a sofa in the living room.  Of course we then teased Ashley the next day and asked her how she was enjoying that nice, large Queen size bed all to herself while her elderly parents suffered on a full size bed.

Now there are two other reasons we wanted a bedroom on our main floor other than guests:  accessibility for old age and air conditioning.

 We were concerned as we age that we may not always want to or even be capable of climbing the stairs to the master bedroom.  It would be nice to be able to stay in our home as long as possible by making it more "old age friendly".

The last reason is that our home does not have central air.  We have one small window air conditioner that miraculously cools the entire main floor to our satisfaction, but the third floor is hot.  The lack of central air is usually not a problem for us.  We are outside more than inside during the summer and neither my husband nor I even like air conditioning.  We are able to sufficiently cool our house with box and ceiling fans.  However, every year we get about a three day heat wave, which makes sleeping upstairs very uncomfortable.  On those days we sleep on mattresses or cushions on the floor on the main level.  We thought it would be nice to have a real bed for those hot summer days.

The Problems

Now that you know why we wanted a fourth bedroom in our home,  let's discuss the problems with creating a sleeping space in a living room.  The main problem we had to deal with was how to create privacy without losing the light.  The living room is a dark balcony space that overlooks a sunroom.  There are only two windows on the east side of the house.  I did not want to just wall a portion of the room off and lose all that light.

The second problem, was losing too much space for a bed so that there wasn't enough seating space.  The bedroom portion of the room had to remain as small as possible so that our family still could gather together in this room.  I should also mention that I have three total living rooms in my house, so I'm not really giving up a large space for large gatherings.  I have a small sitting/living room open to my dining room, and a very big open sunroom that was large enough for my daughter to be married in.  I only needed enough space for the family to comfortably watch TV in this room.

The Solution

Now that you know the reasons we wanted to renovate this room, and the problems we had to overcome, here is how we solved them.

The first thing I did was to paint the walls pure white in a semi-gloss finish to brighten the room and reflect light.  The white instantly updated the room and made the woodwork pop!

After months of thinking, talking, and researching, we decided that a wall of glass that created a partition but still let light in would be best solution.  We used the existing French doors to the room.  Hubby simply took them off their hinges and made a wall with them.  Then we purchased Plexiglas and hubby made two sliding doors that operate like the popular barn doors in Farmhouse style homes.

Here is a picture of the the room still under construction.  The French doors were made into walls to section the room off.  I stained the new wood surrounding the doors black.  Later I would stain the area on the outside of the black "Early American".

My husband created a sliding barn door system all by himself.  He did not purchase one of those fancy, expensive kits.  We left the wheels and nail holes all exposed for a modern industrial look.

The clear Plexiglass slides directly behind the French doors so you can't even tell it's there when the glass is open,

As I stated earlier, the room is actually a balcony, so we wanted to close off the opening to the sunroom below for sound privacy.  We decided a bookshelf would not only be very practical but very pretty as well.

Here is a view of the Plexiglass doors closed.  Now I know most of you are wondering about privacy.  As of now, privacy is not an issue.  We have a pocket door attached to the main living space of the house that we can close anytime my husband and I want privacy.  If more privacy is ever needed, I could also put a rod behind the doors and add a curtain that I could open and close.  My husband and I have been using this room for a month now that the kids have been living with us, and we have not felt privacy to be an issue yet.  I also realize that if I ever have guests use this room, they may want more privacy so I would definitely hang drapes for guests.

A view of the room open with the doors behind the French doors.

Here you can see what the doors look like closed from inside the bedroom looking into the family room.

The Bed

For the bed, we wanted the largest bed possible without sacrificing space, so we decided on a queen mattress.  I ordered a fabric headboard from Wayfair and we attached it to the wall.  Then my husband built a wooden platform that a mattress could sit on top of.  There is plenty of space underneath the bed for under-the-bed totes.

In this picture you can see the shelving unit my husband created.  He put bead board paneling behind the shelves.  I painted the shelves a bright high gloss white.

Now I know you're anxious to see the final results but I don't know when I will be able to show them to you as just days after we almost completed the room (I still have to polyurethane the glass doors) the Apocalypse happened and my kids moved in with us.  It was actually PERFECT TIMING,  but I never really got a chance to decorate the room the way I planned so I haven't taken pictures.  However, I will say that the room is working out perfectly for our now multi-generation household.  Because there is a living space right next to the bedroom it's as if my husband and I have our own "Master Bedroom Suite".  The kids have the entire third floor of the house to themselves.  Each grandchild has their own bedroom.  We share the bathroom, kitchen, and dining room, but at night my husband and I can retire to our "suite" and have time to ourselves before bed.  It couldn't be more perfect!  

The funniest part of this whole story is that I always felt led by God to do this but I didn't really know why other than the reasons listed in the beginning of this post.  Every time I would tell people I was putting a bedroom in my living room they looked at me as if I were nuts...including my own kids!  I would reassure them that we would make it look spectacular and not weird, but no one believed us.  So far I only had one friend and my kids see the room since the pandemic occurred, and everyone now agrees it's the coolest thing ever.  Before the room looked very dated.  Now it looks hip and cool, like a New York City loft;  and it's not even decorated yet, plus we still have some of our old furniture!  I was planning on carpeting over the tile, and buying new decor and furniture, but now that is all on-hold until we see what the future holds.  For now, the room is perfect as it is!

If you really want to see "After" pictures without it being completely finished just let me know in the comments and I will post a few current shots.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

My New Guest Room Remodel: The Big Reveal!

I am so excited to finally be able to show you my newly remodeled guest room.  It turned out so beautiful and I couldn't be more pleased.  If you missed my earlier posts and would like to see the "Before" and inspiration pictures check out this post HERE.   I also did a construction post HERE where my husband did a video explaining how he made a pocket door.  

 Now lets begin the tour of the new guest room.  The guest room is located right across the hall from the Master Bedroom.  It is a very small room with angled ceilings on each end of the room.  One side of the room has two large windows and the other side (opposite of the bed) is a large closet.

This is the view of the guest room from the Master bedroom.

And this is the view of the room if you were standing in the doorway looking to the left.

The room used to have a queen bed side ways against the wall.  It was very awkward to get in and out of the bed if two people used the bed.  It was also quite the challenge to make the bed.  To solve that problem we went down from a queen size mattress to a full.  We then were able to fit custom made nightstands on either side of the bed.

I purchased this simple, upholstered headboard from Wayfair for $100.00.  My husband built the platform the mattress sits on.  Originally I had intended to buy a white headboard, but when I saw this one it was love at first sight and I changed my mind.  I really liked the tweed fabric and how it stood out from the wall color.  I was afraid a white headboard would blend in with the wall too much and not make much of a statement.

Everything in the room is brand new except the light fixture, the "Paris" metal sign, and one small Paris picture.  Originally I intended to reuse a lot of the fabrics from the original room, but my husband did not like the toile and wanted me to get rid of it.

The light fixture seemed to coordinate well with the metals and colors already in the room, so we did not change it out.

The beautiful Paris picture on the left wall was purchased at Ross for $24.99.  I couldn't believe my luck when I found it.  It was as if it was made for the room.  The colors in the painting could not have coordinated more than if I planned it that way!

I picked Millennial Pink as my accent color for the room.  The pink pillow and blanket were purchased at Home Goods.

We shopped around for night stands but could not find any the size that we needed.  We only had 18 inches to spare on either side of the bed and most nightstands are around 24 inches wide.  So my husband came to the rescue and made these out of pre-painted shelving material and trim from a home improvement store.  I LOVE the way they turned out, and frankly, they look better than any nightstand I found in the store and for a fraction of the price.  I'm so happy I'm married to a carpenter!  

The night stands are very modern and simple.  They are made of two different colors of distressed wood:  white and grey.   I placed a lamp on each nightstand and different nick-knacks on each one.  For the right night stand I added a floral bouquet of white and pink roses, a basket, and a photo album containing pictures of my daughter's wedding.

The light fixtures took the longest to find.  The size had to be "just right" because of the narrow space and the angled ceilings.  I searched for weeks and finally found these modern light fixtures with rectangular shades at Target.

The flower arrangement believe it or not,  I found at Walmart for $4.99.

On the other night stand I placed a mirror tray and a pink jar.

On the lower shelves of this night stand sits a pretty wooden box and a white elephant.

To the right of the bed another Paris-themed picture hangs.  The pinks and greys in the picture pull out the colors in the bed.

This is the view if you were sitting in the bed.  The windows are to your left, the closet is straight ahead, and the pocket door is to your right.

I already had the drapery hardware in storage;  I bought them years ago for another project, but never used them.  They ended up being perfect for this room as the black iron matched the black iron in the "Paris" sign and in the light fixture.

The drapes are all new.  I couldn't find eight drapery panels exactly the same at the discount home stores I shop at;  so I purchased four of two different kinds of drapes:  one set for the window and one set for the closet.

These are the window drapes.  They are a crinkled ivory with a scroll pattern.

These are the closet drapes.  They are also an ivory, but have a off-white/slightly beige print on them.

 My husband and I were shopping and I spotted this photo frame set on clearance for only $9.00.  I instantly fell in love with the quote and I knew it would be perfect for the new room.  The distressed grey paint on the frame matched the distressed grey paint on the nightstands.  I printed out some of my favorite family photos in black and white to go inside the frames.  I love the personal touch this added to the room.

 On the opposite side of the room is a wicker laundry basket for my guests to use and another Paris -themed picture.

This picture was in the original room and matched the new room perfectly so I kept it.

I picked up the laundry basket at Home Goods for $24.99.  Jackson has jumped on top of it twice now and collapsed the lid inside the basket, falling inside.  He gets so scared when he falls in.  He's so funny!

 On the other side of the room is this upholstered stool.  It opens up and hold shoes.  Unfortunately Jackson knew it opened and put bite marks all over it within 24 hours of bringing it into the house.  He wanted to open it so he could jump inside.  Oh, the joys of having pets!

I didn't want to cover up our new beautiful floor with a large rug, so I added this small one right at the foot of the bed.

We could have fit a small dresser on the pocket wall door, but wanted to leave as much floor space in the room as possible for a crib.

Finally, here is a financial break down of the newly re-decorated guest room:

Paint:              $15.00 (most of the paint was free with rebate)
Flooring:                $425.00   (laminate floor and space rug)

Drywall & Trim:      $30.00

Furniture:       $500.00  (mattress, headboard, nightstands, laundry basket, stool)

Lighting:        $80.00

Drapes:           $80.00

Bedding:        $300.00

Decorations:   $110.00
________________________________________________________________________________

Total:                                    $1540.00

Wow!  That's a lot of money.  If you would have told me when I started I'd end up spending that much money on a remodel I would have said you were crazy.  It ended up costing this much because of flooring and getting a new bed.  When we decided to turn the mattress and go from a queen to a full I not only had to buy a new mattress and headboard, but I had to buy all new bedding:  two sets of sheets, a mattress cover, duvet cover, blanket, bed skirt, throw, pillow, and a coverlet for the summer months.  It really added up!

Everything in the room was purchased at discount stores like HomeGoods, TJMaxx, Ross, Menards, and Target.

Finally, here is a video of me walking you through the entire room explaining everything in fuller detail.

Even though the room ended up costing me a lot more that I originally planned, I am absolutely thrilled with it!  I can't believe the transformation from the dark, gloomy room it was before to the light, happy place is it now.  I love waking up in the morning and seeing this gorgeous room across the hall.  It seems so much more spacious to me now just from adding a pocket door and painting it a lighter color.  It's also Jackson's favorite room now.  He is always napping on the Millennial Pink blanket or snuggling against the fluffy pink pillow!  He has great taste, what can I say?

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

Re-Decorating A Guest Room: Wall Color, Flooring, and How To Make A Pocket Door

 Three weeks ago I shared the post A New Re-Decorating Project where I discussed how my husband and I are going to re-decorate a guest room in our home.  I showed both "before" pictures of the room and inspirational pictures from Pinterest that show the look I'm going for with this guest room re-design.

This week, I'm going to show you the progress we've made so far.  First, everything was taken out of the room except for a few boxes so I could paint.  This was the wall color "before".  A very deep red.

This is what the walls looked like after only one coat of primer.  I ended up painting two coats of primer and two coats of paint to cover the deep red.

Jackson sat on top of the mattress in the hallway to make sure I got everything just right!

When choosing a paint color, I wanted something that was "white"  that would stand out from the white trim.  I thought this "China White" did the job beautifully!.

The floor in this room was just painted sub-floor.  The paint was all chipping off and there were a lot of dents and scratches.  A space rug previously covered this floor.

After I painted the walls a "China White", hubby laid a plywood sub-floor over the old sub-floor to make it stronger and more level for the new laminate flooring that will be installed.

The "China White" walls turned out beautifully.  The room is so much lighter and brighter now.  I love the way the "Paris" sign really stands out now.  The "China White" color provides a nice contrast against the pure white ceiling and moldings.  And if your wondering what the tall box is in the corner, it's a new mattress.  We are trying one of those 'Gel Memory Foam" mattresses that are all the rage right now.  We'll let you know what we think when the room is all done!

We put in the same flooring that we installed last year in our Master Bedroom and hallway. It's called "Grey Stone Oak" laminate flooring by Mohawk.   It looks wonderful with the "China White" paint, and the entire upstairs feels more spacious now that the floor is the same in the two bedrooms across from each other and the hallway.

The floor, the "China White" paint, and the ultra white trim all go beautifully together.  I couldn't be more pleased.

Now that the painting was done and the floor was completed, it was time to put in a new pocket door. The room previously had a normal door that swung into the room.  Because this room is going to be used as a guest room, we need to fit at least a full-size mattress in this room.  But the room is so small, that the door hits the end of the bed unless the mattress is put up against the wall.  We want the bed to be accessible from both sides, so in order to be able to turn the mattress we had to put in a pocket door.

Using the old door, my husband rigged up a system to make a sliding pocket door.  There is a short video at the end of this post where he explains how he did it in further detail.  The wood beams you see will be covered up by drywall.  I photographed it without the drywall so you could see how it works.  Basically a wall is built in front of the old wall that the door slides behind.

The door slides nicely across the wall using a system of angle iron, garage door pulleys, U-Brackets (hammered flat) and bolts.

There was a outlet on the wall that we didn't want to cover up, so my husband pulled the outlet forward.

He then added a piece of wood to the bottom of the door that has a unique stop.  If you look closely at the bottom left of the photo, there is a small notch on the bottom of the left light wood beam.  The piece of wood attached to the bottom of the door, will fit neatly inside the notch when the door is fully opened.

 Here the door is fully opened and tucked behind the wall.  The piece of wood is now snug under the beam.  In my next post, I will show the pocket door wall when it is completely finished off.

And finally, my husband did a short video illustrating how he constructed his pocket door.

The worst part of re-decorating is always the painting and construction part.  I can't wait till that part is over so I can get to the fun part:  DECORATING!  I did a lot of shopping for the new guest room when I was in Illinois last week, but I still have a lot of things to find.  We ordered a headboard, but my husband will be making the bed that the mattress sits on.  I need this room for storage, so he had to build a bed to allow for me to fit totes underneath.  Hopefully in my next post I'll at least be able to show you the finished wall and bed!

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these fabulous blogs HERE!