On the first floor of our house - off the dining room, through a glass panel door - we have what the realtor calls a 3rd bedroom. It comes complete with a cedar closet and it is totally ironic that this room - the one we DON'T use as a bedroom has the largest closet in the house. Don't you just love old houses?
Anyway, since it is on the first floor and off the dining room, we made it our home office. It is packed full with two desks, two computers, two filing cabinets, a printer stand, a bookcase, and an antique school desk. The closet is a mishmash of supplies from wrapping paper and boxes to guitars (Kip has about 5-6 at any given time), computer parts and supplies, and various miscellany. It has a hardwood floor that has never been refinished and badly needs it. And it is located over the garage so the floor is always quite cold in the winter.
Since the bathroom we've been working on is right off this room, everytime I walk through with a paintbrush I look at this room and think, "This room has to be next on the list."
So we brainstormed some things last night.
- First is always CLEAN CLEAN PURGE PURGE AND CLEAN SOME MORE.
- Paint the room the Thunderstorm color which is now on the chair-rail in the bathroom.
- Remove old moulding and replace with crown moulding to match the dining room - paint it linen white gloss along with all the trim in the room.
- Pick out a beautiful carpet to install wall to wall (by professionals) in a muted gray-sage color with some padding that helps to insulate the cold floor.
- Replace the tall narrow bookcase (which will go up on local Freecycle most likely) with a low wide 2 shelf bookcase.
- Hang guitars on hooks I gave Kip last year (to try and accept that we have 5-6 guitars and get them out of the closet) on the wall above the shorter wider bookcase. Hang other original artwork of his around the room in groupings and add some vertical storage with shelving.
- Move or sell/freecycle the antique school desk. (I love this piece, but it takes up so much floorspace that we just don't have!)
- Replace the falling apart file cabinets (either new metal cabinets to go into the closet, or a wide wooden version to add surface space to office area)
- Get parson chair fabric covers for the current tapestry chairs cat has used as a climbing/scratching post
- Look for new closet doors (saw some great ones on HGTV that looked like Shoji screens -found them online at Home Depot, but they are nearly $400!!)
- Finally, finally, finally get real window treatments. Currently have a greasy dusty mini-blind on one and a misfitted roller shade on the other.
I'll upload some before shots soon to give an idea of our starting point. Then I need to seriously think about budget....do the closet doors fit the bill?
Just wanted to say I am getting a vicarious thrill out of watching someone tackle these things. I cannot do it, but I have dreamed about it--and it really is fun to root for someone else to turn their beloved home into the home they have visualized. Was not able to do that here, but it's okay. Someone else will. Maybe you will save money somewhere along the line ... get something for the antique desk, and before you know it, have found more than half the money for the closet doors. Anyway, I am rooting for that. Sounds wonderful.
ReplyDeleteContact antique dealers to ask if they are willing to purchase desk; they have been known to make home visits if they are interested enough...
ReplyDeleteWe hang Brian's guitars on the walls of our living room and love it. They are easy to take down and play and provide nice visual effects. Very impressed with what you are doing with the house. WE seriously need to re paint the trim throughout the ground floor but I cannot bring myself to do it. I hate painting. Good luck.
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