One Room Challenge: We're Gonna Have a Cat Party

Last week, I wrapped up the closet in the primary bedroom at my sister’s place… and am shifting away from her house for the rest of the challenge.  Seeing her research presentation and watching her work toward completing her Master’s has been wonderful!  I’m glad that can be the focus of her life for the next few weeks.  

So, I’m shifting to fixing up my other big kid’s bedroom!  I just finished one bedroom a few weeks ago, and I’m so excited to be moving next door.  One of the funnest things about kids’ bedrooms is the opportunity to change things as their needs change.  While I’m sure there will be shifts down the line, collaborating with my ten year olds to make rooms that work for them and can shift for the future has been really fun!

The basement bedrooms have been on my mind for a while, and with one done, I was able to refine what we’re doing in the second bedroom.  I really only have three weeks left, but I’m confident this is a room we can power through!  Unlike the first time I did this space along side the ORC office back in 2020 or their siblings' room this year, the structures are all there!  I have no drywall to install or doors to change, the furniture is all here, and most will stay in the room (I am swapping out the dressers), and I’ve been stocking up on materials for a while.

While I’m basically jumping in with a new project, the One Room Challenge has been going for weeks now, and we’re just getting past the halfway point!  Don’t skip on folks progress from this week!  Big thanks as well to the corporate sponsor for the challenge: Apartment Therapy. 

​Heavy Metal Cat Party

If there is one thing I’m glad to have instilled in my kids, it’s a robust sense of self.  Since separating my big twins (I have two sets: 10 year olds, and almost 4 year olds), I’ve really been able to explore their individual personalities, interests, and values.  Now, I get to give them the opportunity to do the same in their own rooms.  

This kid has been my musical companion for a while, and getting to incorporate that love and passion for music into their room is going to be so much fun!  For anyone who knows metalheads… most of them are also cat people.  All the loud seeming angry energy in their music is completely reversed when it comes to their cats.  That’s also hugely reflected in this kid.  Last autumn, he added a kitten of his own to our world, and this room will have all the fixings for the boy and his cat.

​Where We’re Starting

Since this is really an aesthetic makeover, the big things are already in place!  The shared treehouse bedroom from when these two were six was a really fun way to give the big kids their own space in the basement, but isn’t reflecting their needs now.  Eliminating a whole bed opens us up to change a lot of things in the room!  

​While the beds aren’t bunked anymore, he still wants his bed lofted.  So, the plan largely cuts the room in half, with functional space under the bed for activities and storage that’s a little harder for the cat to climb in.  The other half of the room is going to be dedicated to kitten energy and human interaction.  This is still largely a place where both kids hang out, and as they have friends over it’ll still be need to serve as social space.

Unlike their siblings new bedroom that kept the wainscoting from its office-era, we’re changing a lot of the finishes around.  The wainscoting and upper wallpaper will go away, and I’ll have a different wallpaper feature this time around.  Which means there will be a lot of wall repair to get us going!  I’m ecstatic to play with color in ways that I don’t typically do in this house.  With this kid, and a room that didn’t exist until a few years ago, I’m feeling a lot more free to experiment.  There will still be a functional touch or two from the craftsman era that I’ll get to throw in here too. If all goes according to plan, we'll end this month with the purrrfect room for a boy and his cat.