Waxing Nostalgic About Our Formerly Decrepit Second Floor {Part 1: Nursery & Master Bedroom and Closet}

We started the projects discussed in this post in February 2011.

I started writing this post in September 2013.

It is now February 2014.

And you are now thinking: That’s great, Erin. What exactly is your point.

My point is that I have no point other than that there’s a good chance a triceratops still roamed the earth when we looked at each other and said “Why don’t we send the upstairs of our house to rehab?” But the time spent paid off, because we seriously have a brand new upstairs. Like almost as brand new as Cher’s face. However, this post will likely go down in history as The One Erin and Rick Will Revisit From Time to Time and Wonder Why They Didn’t Just Buy an RV and Live in a Field.

First up: the master bedroom.

Completed on the to-do list: Remove carpet. Demo closet. (Let me rephrase. DEMO CLOSET. Hmm. Still not accurately reflecting the enormity of the task. DEMO CLOSET. Okay that’s marginally better.) Scrape off textured ceiling. Skimcoat ceiling. Sand ceiling. Spray paint registers. Skimcoat junky plaster walls. Sand walls. Paint walls. Patch parts of junky plaster ceiling where we did a bad job the first time. Sand ceiling. Paint ceiling. Tear down old knot-bleeding trim. Replace with new MDF trim. Wood fill new trim. Sand new trim. Paint new trim. Remove boob light. Install chandelier. Have carpet installed!!

It’s sort of a tragedy to encompass all of these rooms’ work in just one teensy little post. Oh well. I shall console myself by gazing upon footage of this “before” angle.

And here’s a gratuitous “in-progress” shot as further proof of our insanity. I mean seriously, what kind of pregnant lady is okay with this sort of disaster happening in her nest.

 

You’ll notice that “after” picture contains no bed. Or other furniture. This is because we are going minimalist and have slept on the floor for the past six months. Actually, that’s a lie. The truth is that this photo was taken just minutes after the carpet was installed. Bedroom updates—helpfully complete with bed—coming soon.

Next stop on the tour: master closet and back stairs.

Completed on the to-do list: Remove carpet. Build up around the attic stairs and drywall over weird holes. Build new closet system. Paint walls. Spray paint and install new lights. Rebuild squeaky, caving stair treds. Finish installing baseboard. Wood fill trim. Sand trim. Paint trim. Take down railing. Paint railing. Install railing. Have carpet installed!!

A bonus not included here is “Console your hysterical wife after she trips on the stairs when the railing is gone and doesn’t even remember how she ended up at the bottom of the stairs because she was working so hard to not land on her baby belly.” Truly, I was in Mama Bear mode. Unsteady, balance-challenged Mama Bear mode. Bears in the wild don’t seem to have that problem. Perhaps it’s the four legs, or the general lack of stairs.

Final stop on today’s Part 1 tour: the nursery. Hey, look who’s here!

Completed on the to-do list: Skimcoat junky plaster walls. Sand walls. Paint walls. Skimcoat junky plaster ceiling. Sand ceiling. Paint ceiling. Frame new closet. Drywall new closet. Mud drywall. Paint closet. Sand trim. Paint trim. Rip out old carpet. Laugh at hideous red painted floor. Have carpet installed. Fill the room with cute things. Have baby installed!!

For more nursery details go here!

The details of our brand new upstairs started out being all cozy in one post but it was ridiculously long. So today you got Part 1 and next week you’ll get Part 2.

Before I sign off, I should add that that the majority of this work came to be in the seven months before Kenley was born. This was because we like to be ridiculous and obviously pregnancy is the best time to do renovation wanted to have the entire upstairs carpeted before she arrived, and in order for that to happen, a TON of messy work—as evidenced by the lists above—needed to be done first. With the October deadline looming over us, the carpet made its grand entrance just a month and a half before Kenley did. I’ll share more specifics about the carpet in an upcoming post. Spoiler alert: we are very happy with it.

Did your house need some resurfacing or did it come as a new blank slate? Should we have skipped all the labor and instead purchased an RV? According to Clark Griswold, they look nice parked in driveways.