DIY Renovation Realities… Lack of Progress – ORC Week 3

Well, it looks like this week is full of updates that show how far we’ve come but actually how far away we really are from our home renovation reveals. If you caught my kitchen remodel update yesterday… you’ll know just how true that statement is! Since we’ve made very little visible progress in Aubrey’s bedroom makeover this week (or really since this challenge started), I thought I’d share what has been done behind the scenes and the compile a list of the many… many… things that do need to get done still. This is the half way mark and we haven’t even done demolition, you guys so this list is stressing me out a little bit. I also am feeling like I’m running out of time to make up my mind on a couple things and get orders in. But then at the same time… we’re actually moving forward with some pieces of the puzzle that need to happen first. But that’s renovations… right?! It’s a jigsaw puzzle and wanting to do the big fun things doesn’t change what actually needs to get done first.

If you missed my announcing it… we’re taking on our daughter’s bedroom for the fall One Room Challenge as guest participants. It’s a 6 week design challenge and I shared all the details on what we have planned for the space in THIS post right here. Then, for the second week- I shared how I’m involving Aubrey and how you can get your kids involved in designing a space that you both love. And this week? This week is week 3/6 which means we are HALF WAY. Somehow.

The reason we’re taking on Aubrey’s bedroom NOW instead of later (besides me wanting to give her the room she’s been begging for… PINK!) is because we’re building in our carport to a garage. And guess who’s window was out into the carport? Yep! So we need to move that window to a different wall to keep it a bedroom and a safe escape. And moving the window means we need to take down the valance in there (because a valance over NO window is even worse than a valance over a window). So since we were doing drywall anyways… and did I mention her light stopped working so needed to be replaced? AND that we were reflooring the whole house anyways… well, that seems like a room makeover is in the works REGARDLESS. So why not jump on the challenge?

This is all true… but closing in the garage has taken precedence since that needs to be finished before it freezes. Which here… is going to be pretty soon. And when we have the drywall finisher come in to fix up the patches in Aubrey’s bedroom- they’re also going to finish the garage. So it all needs to be boarded… which means we need to finish framing, electrical and insulation first. And honestly… that’s a bigger job than tearing out a valance! SO here we are, working on that… and not on the bedroom itself. But it’s all a part of the same puzzle. So what have we gotten done? Well… here’s the list.

WHAT WE’VE DONE SO FAR:

• New Doors
  • Both her closet bifolds and her main door were replaced with beautiful solid four panel shakers. We love these doors and did them throughout our old house and are planning on doing the same here. This meant trimming out the previously just drywall return closet door and that meant starting to tear out the valance.  We added some gorgeous brass hardware from Grandeur Hardware on these doors- a special touch just for her room.
• Replaced Flooring
  • And putting in a door is generally done ON TOP of flooring and since we were replacing the flooring in here… well, we did that while we had the doors out! So the flooring is replaced to match what we’re carrying through the main floor of the house.
• New Trim
  • New floors means tearing up the old trim… so we replaced it with some larger flat trim (again, we’ll be re-doing this throughout the house)
• We replaced her non- functioning light with a beautiful new fan
  • Yeah, our 5 year old was making her bed in the morning with a flashlight. It needed to be done. Even before drywall. And the fan is freaking amazing. I’m going to write a whole post about that soon- I know fans are a hot topic.
• LOTS and lots of ordering
  • We ordered windows, a rug, the fan (of course, but that’s done now!), and as of today… an amazing closet organizer that I can’t wait to share more about!

WHAT WE NEED TO DO

• Prep closet for install
  • We need to pull out the old closet organizer (if you can even call it that), patch it and paint it in the next week before her new one is installed!
• Move the window
  • Framing, patching the drywall and actually installing the window (we’re still waiting for it to arrive)
• Remove and patch the valance
  • Taking a valance down is a total pain. If you’ve never removed one- they’re typically built straight down from the ceiling which means you don’t just have to patch the wall but the ceiling too. And all that blown in insulation falls down as you’re doing it. It’s messy and gross.
• Drywall Finishing (mud and tape)
  • We always, always try to hire out our drywall finishing. It makes such a difference in how professional a DIY space looks.
• Paint it all out
  • Paint has to wait for the drywall to be done… but then it’s going to need it BAD. The ceiling is also stained from the old light fixture, so we’ll be painting that out… and the doors are in bad need too.
• Pretty much all the decor and DIY
  • So we’ve ordered some things but there’s still SO many things I’d love to pull together for her. I’m going back and forth about a wall treatment (vinyl decals!), reupholstering her head board, she wants a bed canopy now (?!), I’d wanted to refinish my old doll bed for her, I have a couple DIY projects I was planning on (pink fur!) and oh did I mention that we haven’t bought ANY decor yet? Or window coverings.

You can go ahead and picture me fainting right here. I guess that we’re doing okay considering the floors and doors are done but MY GOODNESS… we will have about one week after drywall finishing to paint and do every little bit of decor. And so it’s going to be a total hustle. I need to put my shopping pants on and order some more things for the space too. We’d gone and picked out a super cute lamp from Homesense for her and got it home, cleaned all the stickers off and plugged it in to find out it doesn’t work at all. I’m going to have to try return it now and find another one (ugh!).

BUT I keep reminding myself that it’s going to feel so good in a month when this space is done and the garage is done and our kitchen is done and we can start spending more time relaxing. I know Aubrey is going to be so thrilled with her space even if I don’t manage every bit of DIY that I’ve dreamed of and I know that we will get it done even if it means some late nights… we always do. But even though I know all this… I’ll take any and all pep talks from you. And links to beautiful but affordable bed canopies!