Remember a couple of years ago, I renovated the littlebedroom?
Roomie moved in seven months ago, and she’s ready for a bit more space. So over the weekend I started shifting stuff out of the middle bedroom, which is about twice as big. Roomie says she’ll take the ‘cottage cheese’ off of the ceiling, and tear off the wallpaper. We’ll demolish the closet and replace it with two wardrobes like the one in the little bedroom. Roomie is thinking of putting her queen-size bed where the closet currently is. We’ll drywall the place where the closet will have been. Roomie has her own drywall tools, and she likes the ones I have. I’ll put down wood floors to match the other room. (Actually birch veneer. I wanted birch because that’s what all of the other woods are in the other room.) We haven’t decided on paint. We’ll probably just do white and then decide on another colour later. Roomie can’t wait to choose curtains.
And she has Plans; oh yes, she does! The living room will be next. Right now it will just be flipping the layout and getting new curtains. I’m sure there will be other things involved. I suspect that my ‘guy couch’ will go, and she’ll move her couch in. I’d like to install (rather, ‘have installed’) a Solatube in the middle. Or maybe one on each end. My living room is pretty dark. I’d like one in the kitchen, too.
I’m not thrilled with the (real, probably pine) wood paneling or the (painted) rough-board ceiling in the living room. I’m more of a Scandinavian-modern kind of guy, and I think what I have looks a bit rustic. But she likes the paneling and replacing it would be expensive, so it will stay. For a while, at least.
I knew the Birthday Pit was going to start something…
I’ve looked at these, but I’ve never been able to justify one. Take a look at the math. Last time I did, the cost of a light, lightbulbs and energy to run them for years was way less than installing a Solatube, with the added benefits of providing light at night, and not punching another hole (which might leak) in the roof.
That’s what I keep thinking. Johnny L.A. has a better marriage than most married people do and doesn’t seem to realize he is in one at all. It is very sweet to read about.
You may want to do some research before knocking out the closets. My husband’s bedroom in his parent’s house was technically considered a dining room since it did not have a built-in closet. Having one (or two from the sounds of it) fewer bedrooms could dramatically alter the resale value of your home when the time comes.
Then again, you could always put closets back into the room(s) before listing it again down the road.
Just my 2 cents, YMMV, etc.
Either way, good luck with the renovations. The finished bedroom looks beautiful.
I’ve no plans to sell the house anytime soon, but you have be curious. I’ve heard this claim before, but I haven’t seen any cites. No doubt it varies by location. I’ve emailed my realtor to ask him. I did find this:
Note that that is for a different county than mine. But it doesn’t say a bedroom has to have a closet. It seems to say that a ‘sleeping room’ is one that is not obviously a different kind of room if it doesn’t have a closet.
But really, wardrobes can easily become ‘built in’ by using a few drywall screws.
Or, it’s easy enough to frame and drywall an enclosure. I did that for the water heater, which used to be in the clunky home-made closet that was originally in the little bedroom.
We have 2 - a small one in the family room that we installed ourselves, and a larger one that we had installed in a windowless bathroom. I never even considered the cost of electricity and I really don’t care about that. I love that two formerly dark areas now have natural light much of the day. Sometimes there are more benefits than costs can account for.
