Attic ORC... Again?

Two autumns ago, I set out to -in just two months- finish out my attic space.  It was a huge, complex project that involved building a new attic door, refinishing stairs, reinstalling an original window, and building walls.

Well, with two three year olds at the time, that was an ambitious project to think I could finish!  While I got far, I’m also far from finished.  Where I stopped when I pivoted to wrapping up the dining room is mostly where it has stayed: partially insulated, with a very nice access door at the bottom of the stairs.  It’s about time I get our little storage space and lounge closer to complete.

I'm joining in quite late to the One Room Challenge this round, but I'm glad to have the encouragement from my friend Shalonne who is also returning to a project from the same challenge cycle.  Check her out at @thebackuphouse on Instagram!  She's great. There are so many projects to check out in the One Room Challenge: they are all working on week 3 already!

Where We Are Now

I left off with a decent head-start on this project, and now I’m excited to get cracking on the rest.  So far, the insulation is about half way done with the easy bits still remaining in the to-be-framed knee walls.  We also upgraded our Internet service this year, and the new equipment lives upstairs… and really should be in better conditioned space.  So, I have some decent incentives to push ahead!  The window for the front of the house is ready to go, and the stairs are ready for painting.

With Halloween approaching, we can move things out in order to get other things in!  In the last year, I also ordered plenty of flooring (a bit of a panic-purchase in one of our mini floods), and hope to get that laid out before too long.

Where to Go from Here

The plan is to facilitate two major things: a hang out spot for watching TV and playing video games, and home for storage.  We have six people in this little bungalow, it’ll be nice to have a place for all the holiday decorations, off-season equipment, and -let’s be honest- tools that we need.  Plus, a little lounge would be a really fun way to use this short space.  With the different needs of the people who live here, sometimes we need all the help we can get when it comes to a moment alone.

I also am fortunate to have a lot of equipment already stored in the attic… unfortunately that does mean I’ll be working in sections so everything can stay in the attic while I work.  First, I want to complete the knee walls, window, and wall insulation in the lounge half of the attic, then move things into that side so I can repeat the process near the attic staircase.  Then, if I get no further this fall and winter, we’ll have made progress that benefits the efficiency of this little house.

From there, I want to start with getting the main storage room buttoned up with a pocket door along the staircase and the wallpaper we’ve had on hand for a while now.  I still have to figure out exactly how I want to tuck the chimney into the roof, since we removed its top when we replaced the roof a few years ago.

Overall, it’s time to pull this impossible task off the back burner and get moving!  The house could use the help, and I could use the space!