Upstairs Kids' Bedroom

If every major project has a side quest, the kids' bedroom on the main floor was that for the attic project.  The attic has been our "must-do" project of the year, thanks to winter heat loss.  We're through the bulk of the insulation, but to really finish it, we had to move the door to the attic from the bedroom into the dining room: a very natural spot for the door. That move is mostly completed!  I just have to get the new door in place, in the meantime... the door-hole is covered with rigid insulation that will eventually be installed on the underside of the attic rafters.  

But this is really about the side-quest.  We jumped into the kids' room when there were other issues in the dining room that required moving the toddlers out of the house for a little while (more on that later).  With them out of the house, we did all the things we needed to do to keep them safe.  

The Attic Door

In the previous configuration, the door into the bedroom opened toward the middle of the room.  On the same corner as the room door was the attic access door, which also opened into the room.  This worked great in that when both doors were open, it wasn't difficult to get into the attic from the hallway.  But with neither door opening along a wall, that stopped us from being able to get into the room with two twin beds.  It also made getting anything up the stairs very difficult with the turn at the bottom.

The door going into the attic was in great shape, and as I pulled the layers back in the stairwell it was clear that the staircase had been used as a makeshift closet.  So, we decided to leave the coat hooks on the door and make it the door to the room.  I stripped the paint off, and cut new hinge and latch mortises in the door casing for the other door.  Then all that was left was taking down the wall into the dining room and filling in the door hole.  Thankfully, I had some drywall scraps, joint compound, and tape on hand. 

Woodwork

The other big part of this project was stripping, repairing, and replacing the woodwork.  Some areas had woodwork that was well intact, but most wasn't in very good shape or was downright missing from some of the quirks with modifications made in the room by previous owners.  

The wardrobe we built from period cabinets on top of a custom drawer base in 2021.  There was a different storage solution before this one that decimated the baseboards around most of the room, leaving little left to put back.  In the end, we decided to strip the windows (a window stool and apron were also replaced due to being missing or damaged) and replace the baseboards and door casings.  All of the original materials will have  a new home in the attic.

Once everything was stripped or reinstalled, I stained and shellacked them to match the rest of the woodwork throughout the house.  After three layers and using the original door to match, I could paint and get the rest of the room loaded in.

The New Room

When I painted, I used my favorite ceiling color for a creamy finish: Sherwin Williams Biscuit (6112), and I used a flat paint.  The previous ceiling paint was almost this exact color, but it was a semi-gloss.  The full-sun in this room made that really intense, and it highlighted all the imperfections in the drywall.  The paint color -much like the basement bathroom- was done in the leftovers from our exterior: Sherwin Williams Clary Sage (6178).  With the bump-out for the kitchen extending right out one window, this color also draws the eyeline right outside. 

Their bedroom was fairly functional before we switched it up, but they were quickly outgrowing cribs.  To make the room work before, we had one twin bed set up along one wall, and the cribs were lining the opposite wall.  The bed served as a great snuggle spot, so it went right back to where it was.  

Then we replaced the cribs with the second twin bed.  I got really lucky with finding a pair on Facebook Marketplace that are lovely!  The scale of the headboards fits our high ceilings, the dimensions allow us to access the wardrobe easily, and we even had space to move a bookcase into the room for some easy play and reading storage.  

Day-by-Day details on the Wardrobe and the Kids' Room can be found on my Instagram.

Materials

Paint:

• Valspar Signature Interior Flat
• Valspar Duramax Exterior Flat

​Beds: Facebook Marketplace
Curtains:

• Curtain Panels: Ikea (discontinued)
• Curtain Rods: Ikea
• Curtain Rod Brackets: Ikea
• Finials: Ikea (discontinued)

​Bookcase: Ikea (ash veneer discontinued)
Toy Basket: Target
Bed Linens:

• Sheets: Target
• Quilts: Target
• Triangle Pillows: Nugget Comfort

​Wardrobe Cup Pulls: Etsy
​Rug: Wayfair