The making of Rebecca’s room

Considering what kind of shape our house was in when we bought it (fashion-wise, that is), you’d think we would have done more in the first three and a half years living here. Not so. We’ve painted two rooms, replaced several light fixtures—but that’s about it.

Other than the kids’ rooms. Three years ago, we took down vile wallpaper in Hayden’s room, put in new chair rail and baseboards, painted, and I even made new Roman shades for Hayden’s room. It’s still not totally done (a few finishing touches on the shades, and we have to hang a lot of the little accessories and decorations I made), but it’s a world of improvement over its previous state.

Rebecca’s room was an even more extensive project. Here’s what we did for her:

• Took down the hunting duck wallpaper and border—thanks to my BIL Sean for helping with that one (seriously, it looked like this: )
• Repair holes from a few dozen twenty-penny nails and retexture walls, with help from my dad
• Install and caulk crown molding and casing around closet, again with help from Dad
• My mom made a valance, curtains and ties, with almost no help from me (I picked the fabric 😀 )
• Prime and paint ceiling and walls, with help from my FIL
• Tear out ugly old green office carpet, remove nails, staples and tack strips from original hardwood floors, with help from my FIL
• Sand floor, with help from my BIL Kevan
• Fill nail holes in floor
• Stain floor
• Polyurethane floor (3 coats)
• Stain and polyurethane closet doors
• Stain and polyurethane carpet-to-hardwood threshold thing
• Paint baseboards, install, caulk and repaint.
• Paint accent wall and alcove stripes pink.
• Replace alcove shelves
• Hang curtains and closet doors

Load in the furniture and voila. A short (NOT!) seven months after we started, it’s now my favorite room in the house.

And since you asked, here’s a close up of the floor (alcove stripes reflected in it, and quite unswept):