Thursday, August 16, 2012

Who's up for some renovating???


At the beginning of this month, my sister and I decided that it was time to re-evaluate our situation now that our other sister was married and out of the house. More importantly, we now had to redistribute the free space in our shared 160 sq foot bedroom. So we figured out a plan to not only change the space around but to do a complete transformation... change the paint, change the flooring and get new furniture. It took just over 7 days with the help of my favourite cousin (ejm. u know who u are!) and some other muscles now and then but now its August 11th and the room is finally totally completed! Now what your going to read and see may shock you, even have you in total disbelief but don't let yourself be troubled... it was all DIY- 80% of it by 3 very resourceful and stronger-then-they-appear women.

So at the start of a very warm Tuesday, my cousin and I began packing and removing the stuff from the bedroom. My sister readied some bags and boxes for give-away and we took everything down into the living room which then became full of stuff. It took us almost 2 whole days to clear the room of stuff and then we had to take apart furniture. Check it out!




living room full of stuff...

After removing the furniture from the room, we worked on getting the carpeting off of the floor which was no easy feat.  Beyond having to constantly move and work around that giant armoir in the picture, we had to deal with all manner of tacks and staples.. without work shoes cuz flip-flops is how we roll *relieved giggle*
The Carpet before we ripped it out..
The Foam that was under the carpet once we ripped it out..
Fun Fact: Did you know that carpeting is held in place on the floor by (typically) either glue or tack boards?? Yes ma'am it is! Let me tell you, we learned just how fun it is to remove carpeting... loads. *cough-sarcasm-cough* But check out the fruits of our labour...
The Wood Flooring under the previous two layers..
Tack boards that were not all   tacked but also nailed to the floor.. 
And did I mention we had to put dry wall compound on the walls to fill ALL of the holes?? I lost count about an 1/8th of the first wall...  We "spackled" and sanded and painted before tearing out the carpeting?? of course during this process you can't help but become one with the dust and fun stuff.


After we sanded the drywall compound down- the following day- we went to the hardware store and picked out the paint and flooring. Now keep in mind that we needed to purchase and transport at least 14 boxes of laminate flooring from the skid to the cash, from check-out to the vehicle, from the trunk of the car to our upstairs bathroom. Sounds monumental no? It was psychotic!! But we felt more like Women after all that heavy lifting and moving *hehe* Go Us!!











After some tiny disagreements and stubborn moments the floor was installed properly- the second time around- by a family friend and one of our cousins (the 2 guys make up the remaining 20% in regards to who renovated) and we managed to keep the reno-momentum going by bringing up all of the boxes from your favourite store and mine... IKEA!!  We had purchased a new bed frame plus mattress, two side table drawers and two bookshelves along with a small table- everything in the classic Black/Brown IKEA colour.  Each piece matches with the flooring wonderfully and the colour on the walls pulls it all in somehow.  I was a bit concerned when my sister wanted to change from our true blue to a lighter, brighter variation but between that and her other choice (cappucino brown) I like the purple that we ended up with. Check out our awesome painting job!!
The linen closet door and wall are the old colour. The door turned white and the wall became the colour on the right. 
The space between the closets mid-repaint. 
The drying of the first coat on the windows wall. 
A glance at the new flooring and wall together. 
We took out the large cumbersome armoir at the end of the story- even though we had worked around it all week) because it not longer fit in the room with the new bed in place.  Surprisingly the room seems smaller because of the redistribution of space.  I can't believe we ever had three beds in the room. Absurdity! Well we spend two days opening boxes and putting together furniture but it was worth it. Here are the various pieces that are now apart of our masterfully renovated room:
my cousin with one of the two bookcases. 
My laptop sitting on one of the newly built bookcases. 
The frame of the bed frame.
The movable bed table that I built at 1:30am. The wheels went on the next day. 
The finished bedframe avec mattress.
the two bookcases and the small table. 
The bed, bed table, right bookcase and jewelry armoir are all black/brown. 
The linen closet door, now white. 
Et voix-la! The Finished Product :)




Although it was a lot of stress and pain, hard work, sweat and tears... we did it!  The room looks better than ever and I am proud to say that we did it ourselves.  All it takes is a little willpower, some cooperation and loads of hope.  There were no injuries to report; physical, mental or emotional and everyone ended feeling rather pleased.

Renovating the room ourselves brought my sister and I closer together and definitely closer to God- every minute someone was praying hard *hehe*.  It also gave us a chance to become closer with our wonderful cousin- EJM we couldn't have done it without you and your extensive know-how and hands-on abilities!! WE LOVE YOU TONS!!  Even though my cousin and I swear that we could have put in the flouring ourselves- as we had originally intended- it was fantastic of the guys to give their time and effort to our cause.  R&G you guys are the greatest!!! It was hotter than hell in our room and outside but you both came through for us- sorry for making you sweat :D XOX

So there you have it.. the room is finished now save for some paintings and a mirror that have to be secured to the wall and we are content.  I thought I wasn't going to be accomplishing much this summer beyond my sisters wedding but somehow the Lord gave us the strength and encouragement to take on such a monumental task even during the most horrid heatwaves.  Thank you God, for giving us the strength and endurance, the courage and intelligence, the ability and willingness to create together.
  
I am so pleased to have been writing this post from my new room, on the new bed with the help of the bed table that was the best purchase I've made in a long time!! Hope you've enjoyed coming along the Reno Journey with us.  Comment or e-mail, I'd love to hear from you :)

XOXO







1 comment:

Unknown said...

It's crazy how much a little(or in your case..A LOT) renovations can do to one's living environment. Something as simple as painting the walls can definitely make the space more inviting and larger. The renovations look great and it's hard to believe that this is the same room at the end of it all. Looks great!