Sunday, August 26, 2012

The Continuation of Remodeling

We now come to what for Gwen and I was the hardest part about finishing up the room.  Installing the brackets in the closet for Gwen's closet organizer.  Sure, it looks easy, and Todd gave us measurements, but when you actually go in and try to find hidden studs, even with measurements, it is not really that easy.  First, you can measure for a stud, find it for the first screw, and then find out as you go up to the next one that the hole you make does not encounter a stud at all and now you have to start again.  Our first day became so frustrating, we had to just quit after finally installing only two of them.

Our first plan of action did not work, so I had to come up with a new game plan for installing the rest.  It took us four days to put up 10 of these bracket (rods, poles, or what ever they are actually called), and when it was done it was a complete relief.





This is one set of rods on the south wall of the bedroom.






These are some of the missed holes as we tried to install these bars.






It was frustrating work, taking much time, pencil marks, and careful preplanning before drilling.


 
To the left is the south wall with 6 bars, and to the right is the north wall with only four.  



Now that the closet was done, the fun began - filling the closet with clothes, sheets, blankets, and whatever else would be stored in it.  When the closet was first roughed in, Gwen believed it would be too big and she would never be able to fill it.  What a misconception, as you can see by the pictures below.


She began simply by hanging the clothes easiest obtain because they were not packed away.








As she worked, she had company, although he only had a peek hole for watching her work, but it was cute to see.



















And so the closet began to fill, until . . .















Gwen discovered the closet wasn't as big as she thought, or maybe it was the fact that she had more clothing and such than she originally thought she had.










 She now has her mirror in the closet; she has room to hang her necklaces in there as well, and on the next pictures, you can see her sheets on the top row above her clothes.















Even her skirts can hang on her bottom row.  They are the ones in the forefront of the picture.



 
As she slowly worked on the closet, she also worked on the rest of the room deciding were to place things and then emptying the many containers that stored her belongings for the last year.  As seen in the following pictures, there are a variety of containers - including bags.
















See, she had something stacked in almost every corner of the room.





The following pictures are how Gwen's bedroom looks as of yesterday - Saturday.  She worked all day putting things away, including the above pictures of her closet.






She had been sleeping in her room for almost a week, and she loves that fact.









She can watch DVD's from her bed once again.










Pictures are slowly going up and gracing her walls.











Her door still has a window, and now has a curtain,







and she has a very nice sitting room set up for reading, lounging, and talking.  We have used it at night as she has finished working just to sit and talk about the room, work, and other topics of concern and interest.

Once the room is completely done, I will add more pictures; for right now, there are still containers to sort through and empty, and two more shelves to be added to the closet.  You will notice in the sitting room pictures, that Gwen moved the bookcase.  She laughed when she did it saying Todd, after all the work of helping her place it, would shake his head at the indecision of women - of course, it is our prerogative to change our minds.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Remodeling Continued

The remodeling thankfully continued and progressed quickly under Todd's skilled abilities.


Once Todd finished his magic texturing the wall, Gwen and I began to paint.









Although you cannot tell it very well, the closet is a darker color than the main bedroom and sitting room.  Gwen is not sure why she purchased two different colors, but we were both pleased with the results.



The picture below gives a little bit of an idea of the two colors on the walls.



From this picture, it looks like the main bedroom is yellow, but it is really a cream color, and the closet is a deep tan color.






Oh, yes, let's not forget the lighting, which took us longer to get accomplished then we thought it would.


This is the light now in the sitting room,





this is the light in the closet, and finally, the fan lighting in the main bedroom.










Once the room was all painted, Todd was able to lay the new flooring;



and, once the floor was finished, it was time to clean up.

Notice the fine dust covering the floor; a result of the saw dust from cutting the floor boards.




 Of course, no room would be complete without trim, and a door on the bathroom.
 






Plus, there is the fancy corner trim on both of the doors.









Once all the trim was on, then the curtains were hung; first over the closet and then over the one window.






Finally, the furniture started coming into the room, along with the new rug.
















 It is getting late, so I will try to post more pictures tomorrow evening.