One Room Challenge: Primary Suite

I’m coming to the One Room Challenge party a week late, because I promised the kid I’d wrap up their bedroom before starting another project (with moving the office out, getting the laundry, and tearing up the library… It was almost three project starts in one).  And this round, I’m really moving out of my own house and helping finish the primary suite for my sister and her husband.  

I’m really excited to be brought back in after working on their bathroom last year, and I’m looking forward to cracking into their closet and refreshing the bedroom.  While their bedroom works in most ways, the primary suite is a full half-story with a lot of challenges all their own.  The biggest focuses are the closet, stairs, and floor, with a few layout tweaks here and there too.

There is a lot to love about working this project out as part of the One Room Challenge, to start, it helps me to build the whole project into an 8-week timeline.  We’ve been talking about this for a while, and the structure is a huge help!  I also really love the community to push through the project with! 

See Week 1 project beginnings here: Week 1
See Week 2 project updates here: Week 2

Before

Where we started was a large room that for the most part, works fairly well!  The layout coming up the stairs has the bathroom on the left, and the bedroom on the right.  The bed naturally fits under the window in the North gable, and with the light coming through the South gable in the bathroom, we added a door to let light into the room as well, but the dressing area in the middle gets very little real light.  With only two overhead can lights, this area in front of the closet feels like a black hole in the middle of the room

The closet started with standard builder-grade shelving across both sides, so we are building a custom solution that still allows access to the eaves and meets their storage needs more fully.  The closet door will also disappear in favor of an arched opening and curtains, to help make the dressing space flow into the closet, and not be another blockage to flow in the room.  

The biggest change to the suite will be the flooring.  With new flooring throughout, we’ll be able to take out the gross carpet and bring in softer rugs and easily-maintained flooring.  We’ll be able to bring it right through to the stairs, which will get their own makeover.  

Removing the railing at the top of the stairs will give us a way to extend a wall and build a pony wall with even more storage at the top.  The stairs will use a similar scheme I’ve used a few times, with Sherwin Williams “Tricorn Black” and “Greek Villa” setting the stage for something new.  

Closet Demo

While I was wrapping up the bedroom at home, my sister and both our husbands got started with demo in the closet.  Since this is where we’re starting, the closet storage temporarily moved out, and the carpet moved into the trash along with the broken electric baseboard heater.  With the closet completely cleared out and cleaned up, we’re flying!  The new floor is already laid, walls are repaired and primed, and the wallpaper and base coat of paint are going in today!  For once, I’m actually ahead of schedule.