Home decor and renovation craftalong

Crafty Shenanigans Craftalongs
1824

We’re doing a bedroom switcheroo to get the kids their own space.

We live in a 3-bedroom house and have 3 kids, so they younger 2 have been sharing a room. The master bedroom is gigantic, though. Unfortunately, after much discussion and even consultation with an interior designer, there’s really no logical and/or cost-efficient way to divide that bedroom into 2 in a permanent way.

So for now, we’re doing it temporarily. Younger kids have gone into the master bedroom and we’re putting up a temporary dividing wall.

That’ll happen once we clear out their room, because everything’s been dumped in the corner in there while we pain the other two rooms, which is long overdue.

I’m working harder than I should and I can see a flare-up coming, but I need to get this done. We have guests coming on Saturday and they’ll have nowhere to sleep unless I finish this before Friday.

Anyway. I finished priming two of the walls today

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That’s after doing some major patchwork because of dents in the wall.

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I’m hoping to finish prepping the other walls today (sanding down patches and doing a quick wipe-down), and with any luck, put at least the first coat of primer on.

Tomorrow the actual painting begins.

And with regards to getting a 4th bedroom in… The plan is to eventually gut the basement ad see what we can do. There’s no logical/cost-efficient way to add a bedroom down there either, but we’ll see what we can brainstorm. First step is demolition.

P.S. I didn’t bother with tape, because the last time the room was painted, they didn’t either, so I needed to get some white primer/paint on the window ledges/baseboards, etc. to cover the previous paint…

With the amount of work required to get this house to be what we want it to be, we thought perhaps moving would be best. But… we live in Ontario… so moving at the moment is not an option. We looked around, and the only houses that would not totally break us financially are in shady areas of town and/or full of mold :nauseated_face: We’ll keep our eye out… but for now renovating our place is the best option.

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1825

My parents always had to think of ways to divide up a bedroom for me and my sister. Most military housing or off base housing were three bedrooms.

My dad couldn’t do anything permanent, so he used books cases to divide up the room.He alternated how they faced so that we both had shelf space and “wall” space to hang bulletin boards, posters, etc. I never minded sharing with my sister. We would coordinate our bedspreads until we got older and then we just did our own thing. We did have to share a six drawer dresser that was on one wall and the closet and bath, but it wasn’t bad at all.

I am sure you will find some clever way to give them each some private space…maybe even a curtain hung from the ceiling? Looks like a lot of sweat equity, but it will be worth it budget wise.

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1826

One of the libraries in the library system where I work is under construction, and the partitioning walls that separated offices from public areas were headed to the dump. My husband offered to take them away, so we’ll be using some of them to partition the rooms!

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1827

My body spoke louder. I am utterly spent, and I know if I continue tonight, I’ll have a hard time getting out of bed tomorrow.

Hopefully I can get to the point where the other walls are primed and the first coat of paint is on the walls in the picture tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

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1828

Nice score gor partitions. I love a good recycled office furnishing find. I’ve some great shelves in the basemeny and have scored some desks for kids in the past.

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1829

This came across my feed today. You can do a simpler method by using curtain rods or bath towel holders!

Hanging basket tutorial

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1830

Those are cute, sort of like the hanging baskets I made. I find them a bit bendy for heavier items though, like dog walking stuff, which is what I need baskets by the back door for. I will figure something out, or repurpose the ones I made. That would be easiest.

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1831

Today’s progress. 2 walls paintes and 2 ready for paint (2nd coat of primer done).

I should be able to paint the remaining walls later tonight. Then all that’s left to paint is the closet.

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1832

Seeing everyone’s pictures and reading about everyone’s progress is inspiring me to put my head down and trudge forward with the everlasting bookcases project. My parameters are:
if it is at least 25F/-4C, then I will work at least 2 hours at least 5 days/week outside. That includes snow removal time. The shop is not heated (well, not in practice), but I have warm gear to wear and 2 hours feels like enough time to make progress, but not overwhelm me mentally or physically. no pics, but today I put up 2 more lights and moved one. I need to add a ceiling outlet where a light used to be in order to get the last two going again.

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1833

You are a much better and hardier woman than I. :joy:

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1834

I guess if the pioneers could work in the cold @TheMistressT, then so can we. I will think warm thoughts at you. BRRRR
I touched up the damaged paint on our oddly angled kitchen entryway. The new appliances didn’t quite fit easily through with a small counter on the other side. Some scuffing happened.
It’s hard getting this layered, beat up, 75 years of paint and use look. You have to work at it :rofl:
Maybe we’ll replace this trim when we renovate the kitchen. Whaddya think?

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1835

Hm, we have some door frames that look about like that…

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1836

I, personally, like the lived in look. New houses have very little character and just don’t feel like they have any stories to tell. I like seeing where people might have hung a favorite picture or struggled to move in an oversized couch…my cats have already started to scratch off some of the paint from the bottom of the doors…and I don’t mind it at all.

Just got off the phone with the owner of the company that is doing all of the hardscape in our exterior renovation. He and I agree that we both want something that will increase the value of the house and look nice, but that there has to be some compromise in costs. He thinks we can save about $4,000 by giving up a pillar at the end of the walkway and shortening the retaining wall a bit. I’ll decide once I see the new plan, but that is a big chunk I can use for landscaping.

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1837

I agree. And it helps when our diys or repairs aren’t quite perfect. But I think this doorway is just too sad. All sides are banged up and the depth of paint layers makes it a chipping nightmare. I still love it but will let it go.

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1838

Yeah, you’ll have plenty of time to make your own bangs! ha

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1839

I like that battered look, too! Our contractor removed and replaced a few bits of wood that got damaged and replaced them for new, and I don’t like it at all. It looks too new. But we’re clumsy, it will soon get that damaged-and-fixed up look :laughing:

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1840

I love having everything fresh and the first dings always hurt. But then you just give up and live your life. Our house is small, infested with cats and two clumsy humans. We live hard in our house. And love it.

I’ve been getting quotes for our kitchen. I keep telling these people that no, we don’t want to open that wall. No, we don’t want to demo and redo the whole kitchen white. We just don’t live that way. 4 separate rooms downstairs works for us. And the next owners can demolish all they want. We are just improving functionality and staying in a budget.

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1841

We kept as much original as we could, which means the new bits look a bit out of place until they’re damaged enough to match the rest.

I can’t wait to see your refurbished kitchen! We had to demolish our kitchen entirely because the water and sewage pipes underneath it needed to be replaced (those were original, so from the 1940s and porous) but I really wanted to keep our kitchen walls, too. I don’t like open plan living spaces in small houses. I imagine if feels different when you’re in a mansion but I don’t want to see dirty dishes when I’m trying to relax, and I don’t want to hear the kitchen noise either.

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1842

I am not a fan of totally open concept either. I am seriously considering how to close off my kitchen, maybe with French doors that open into the dining room. The pressure to keep everything neat and tidy and people milling about while you are trying to cook and clean is just not me.

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1843

@Immaculata , @AIMR , I agree. I am NOT an immaculate house keeper. Life is too short.
I get the open concept for watching the kids or entertaining, but for everyday living. Nope. And I do laugh ay the people who want open concept and then a private place to unwind.
When I had a separate living room and family room, the living room just sat there gathering dust.

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