A Big Boy Room, Part 2

So earlier this summer I mentioned that our first kid was switching rooms so that the new kid could have his room, which is closer to ours. We bought the big stuff over the summer, just in time for some of our guests to use his new twin bed and trundle. After they had all gone and the house had settled back down, we started finishing things up so he could move in.

new bed and bedding ready to go

Furniture
The last of the furniture finally arrived. Once the bookcase arrived, we loaded it up with all his books, which meant that bedtime stories started happening up there. This was actually a nice way to slowly transition into using the room, before he was quite ready to sleep there. Then we moved in his old dresser and filled it up with his clothes, which forced him to start sleeping in there. Lastly, his new couch arrived. It has legs, but they were proving a little difficult to put on- so we just left them off for now. He loves it - and it's the perfect size and height for him to flop on - so perhaps the legs will remain off for a few years.

the new bookcase - tall enough for his tall books and a few toys

the new couch - no legs

just the right size

Curtain
Meanwhile, I started working on the curtain. I hated the original one, which was ugly and beige and boring, and way too big to squeeze behind the bed. I ordered some fabric from Amazon (incidentally, this is apparently the material used to make the scrubs for National Health Service midwives), and then found a really cheap sewing machine, since mine is in storage back in DC. I simply made a huge lined sheet, and then sewed a tape across the back that creates the pleats. It turned out to be much easier than I expected, and allowed me to use the hardware that was already installed. Then I ordered a fun elephant guy that can hold it open.

new curtain up

closeup of the elephant curtain holder thing

Wall Art
Once the furniture had all been moved in and the curtain was up, it was functional, but not homey. I asked him to pick anything from his old room that he wanted to bring with him - which ended up being almost everything. But there was still lots of blank wall space, so I turned to etsy, of course, and ordered some new stuff.

new wall art behind the couch

a new bunny to go with his owl and squirrel and a new nightlight

So, now he's sleeping up here every night and pretty much settled in. We still have a few things to work out, and maybe a few more things to pick up, but I'm calling this pretty much done.

couch area - feeling cozy for bedtime stories

pretty much done

Another Big Transition
We obviously wanted to get this process started long before the baby arrives so that he could feel settled and not squeezed out, and to help minimize transition and chaos when the baby arrives. However, moving him up to his new room ended up happening during a bunch of other transitions, just by coincidence. First, we ended up moving him in just after returning from a long summer vacation, which is always tricky just because it's hard to switch from full-time vacation mode to the normal work/school schedule. Because it was the end of summer though, he didn't go back to his usual class, he switched to a new class - which is also always difficult because it means new teachers, some new friends, new routines, etc. This transition was even more difficult because he switched from a typical daycare class that he's used to, to a much more intense one, known as "pre-reception" here. All the sudden there is an academic requirement (meaning that they're trying to get him to learn his letters), complete with homework, "intense learning periods", uniforms, and really rigid schedules. The biggest issue has been that they no longer have naps, which he still needs, so he comes home absolutely exhausted every night.  We're trying to strike the right balance of advocating for his needs, while getting on board and helping him meet these new expectations.

Parenting Books and Grains of Salt
Meanwhile, I read a few chapters of "What to Expect While You're Expecting", a popular pregnancy book that I absolutely hate, but that has some useful info about what's happening at each stage of the pregnancy. It reminded me that a lot is going on right now, and that I should take it easy. It suggests letting husbands take over all the housework and chores, while you basically sit around and get a back massage all day (clearly written for first-time moms). So I made a conscious decision to step back a bit and let the spouso pick up some parenting slack, sleeping in a bit on weekends, and skipping out on bedtime routines to give my back a break. Almost immediately, the kiddo freaked out - having ridiculous tantrums over every little thing. With all this transition - it was hard to tell what the problem was - the new room? the new class?

So I picked up another parenting book, "Gentle Parenting", which turns out to be pretty far to the snuggle side of the attachment parenting spectrum. Like the other books I've read, it talked about the importance of building a strong connection with lots of quality time to help avoid the tantrums in the first place. So we made a new "no yelling" rule, and I re-upped my effort to spend more time with him. I'm trying harder to wake up early and spend time on the floor playing every morning, as well as snuggling on the couch after school while dinner finishes up. I'm also trying to take back more of the bedtime routine - bath time in particular, because I can just sit and let him soak himself clean. It seems to be helping a lot - the tantrums have almost completely stopped and the yelling has disappeared.  I just have to find the right balance of taking it easy while spending as much quality time with him as I can.

[Sidenote: this book also covered pregnancy and encouraged drug-free childbirth. It went as far as saying that you don't need drugs because childbirth won't hurt if you do it right - meaning having a very calm and relaxing birth environment. Having done this once already without drugs - I can say there are not enough scented candles in the world to make it anything but the most painful thing I've ever experienced. For the moms who want to feel the pain of childbirth -  I don't understand, but support your choice - but I find it downright wrong to suggest to anyone that it won't hurt. That's just setting women up for a horrible horrible surprise. I am very much looking forward to getting the drugs this time around.]

snuggling on the tube

Anyway - so the kiddo is settled in his new room. He's getting used to his new class and teachers. I'm doing my best to help him with his homework every weekend and spending as much quality time with him as I can. We've got a bit of a groove going, so I'm hoping we can spend the rest of the fall just settling into it before 2nd kid shows up. And with that -  it's time to turn my attention to the baby's room and getting all the baby stuff.

A Big Boy Room

So with the new baby on its way, we started thinking about where it would go. In order to have new kid near our room on the 2nd floor, we needed to shuffle bedrooms with the first kiddo and move him up to the third floor. We decided to put him in the room that is currently being used as an office, and repurposing the 4th bedroom into an office/guest room. Because we want him to move into his new room before the baby arrives, in order to not feel pushed out, and because we have a lot of guests  coming this summer and need extra beds - we decided to get started now.

Emptying out the Office
The office was one of the least furnished rooms in the house - so it didn't take much effort to empty it out. We moved the small desk, chair, and bookcase into the 4th bedroom, which had plenty of room to absorb the extra furniture.

the office

fireplace and closet

the other wall

Planning and Shopping
Then, after measuring the walls (and the door - which is the real limitation), we made some furniture decisions. For his bed, we opted for a twin-sized bed with a trundle bed underneath - something my brother had when we were kids that seemed useful. UK beds are slightly different sizes than US beds, so I'm hoping that sheets won't be an issue in the future. For bedtime stories, we picked a small 2-seater couch that will barely squeeze through the door but hopefully fit two people. We also picked a new bookcase that will hopefully be just tall enough to fit his taller books. My hope with all the furniture is that these are nicer things that will move back home with us and last for a few years.

For softer stuff, the room sort of fell into a calm, blue and green color scheme. I tried to get his input on bedding, but he didn't have a lot of patience with me. We wanted something he would like but not outgrow too quickly, so we ended up with some cars and trucks, as well as just stripes. The rug was a neutral pick, just something big and soft, with lots of lines for driving cars on.

1. A single bed with a trundle
2. A solid bookcase
3. A 2-seater couch 
4. A neutral rug
5. A very soft and furry pillow for the couch
6. Car sheets
7. Stripe sheets
8. A subtle car quilt

Putting it All Together
Thankfully, the rug arrived first, and was easy to put down in an empty room. Then the bed came in lots of boxes - that I slowly carried upstairs and put together with some help. The bedding also arrived quickly - which allowed us to get the bed completely made up - just in time for our first guest to try out. After that, I did some shuffling of end tables to move an existing table upstairs, but swapped out the boring handles with some great double-decker bus handles.

bed getting built

new bedding and side table

closeup of the handles

view of the window

So he is all excited, and likes to check on the new room every few days. Unfortunately, to fit all the furniture in there, the bed has to go on the wall with the window - so that the existing curtains (which are ugly anyway) don't really work. So, next up - I'm going to make some new ones. 

Finishing the Office

So once the renovation was done - the entire house looked amazing, except for one remaining spot. The small office off of the master bedroom was now painfully unfinished. So in a quick 2-day sprint, we got it finished up. 

the office is just a collection of misplaced items

freezing cement floor

Paint

First up, I just cleared everything out of the way and painted the walls the same blue-gray as the bedroom. 

all emptied out - but still a mess

blue walls

all painted

Carpet

We knew the floor had to be finished because even though we had a new baseboard heater installed to warm the room, the cement slab was just freezing. We originally wanted to do an engineered floor, but decided wall to wall carpet would be easier. Without time to order anything nicer, we just picked the best in-stock option at home depot and brought it home. In a whirlwind nap break, Spouse got the materials, put down the nail strips, padding, and carpet all in a couple hours. 

exhausted but finished

carpet is in

Trim

So lastly to make it look a little more finished, we put up floor trim. I cut it all and then glued it in place because we knew there was brick behind the sheetrock. Then I painted it and called it a day. 

trim gets held in place while the glue dries

done

crown molding covers a gap in the ceiling. 

So - this is definitely not our best project. It looks significantly better than before, but we didn't have the time to really do it right. I am proud to say that house projects are done for a while - any every part of this house is now officially finished. 

Fixing up the Entryway

Over the summer,  I had to kill some extra vacation days and decided to take on a small project while we waited to get started on the big renovation. I just finished it up now.

Every fall, as we dig out the gloves and winter hats, it becomes clear that the entryway is a problem zone. Not only is it the first thing you see when you enter the house, but it's the gateway for all the stuff that comes in - a critical factor in the clutter-level for the rest of the house.

As far as the appearance - the floor tile is just ugly. I never liked the red tile pattern, which is partially cut off on one wall, and there are a bunch of broken tiles that make the house look run down. The walls are always scuffed up by strollers and the chair, so it just looks unkempt.

For organization - it just doesn't work as well as we need it to. There isn't a good place to store mail, bags, strollers, etc - so that stuff just overflows into the living room and rest of the house.

So - knowing I had a whole week at home to myself, I finally got my chance to fix it up.

closeup of broken tiles

view to the right - random stuff

view to the left - piles of stuff

the cut-off floor tile pattern

Tile
I tried to remove the old tile, but quickly discovered that wasn't going to work. A contractor once remarked that our house was built before cement board was invented, so the tiles are set in a bed of concrete that would need a jackhammer to be removed. I thought he was exaggerating - but after 2 hours with a hammer and chisel, I had barely removed the row of  broken tiles and decided to call it quits. Instead, I decided to just tile over the old stuff. I figure that a future owner may appreciate that the original tile is still there anyway.

Laying the tile was super easy - and then I just used tile snips to cut a bunch of the small tiles in half for the edge pieces. Grouting was harder than usual because the marble is not polished, so the grout really stuck on top. I ended up using some haze remover plus a couple hours gently scraping it off with a flat screwdriver. Lastly, I cut new shoe molding, stained it, and nailed it into place.

new tile goes down

gets grouted

shoe molding finally gets attached

Paint 
A quick coat of paint helped fix all the spots where the chair and strollers had marked up the walls, and the patch from where the air conditioner guys cut into the wall.

Stuff
I picked up a couple things from the Container Store to help better organize the space - with a mail sorter and basket to hold all the mail that comes in until it gets sorted. I also picked up another big basket for hats and gloves, and a new storage ottoman to replace the chair (which scuffed up the walls), while also holding umbrellas and helmets. We also switched out the massive running stroller and small umbrella stroller for one new one that serves both purposes and can collapse nicely.

new stroller and ottoman

Shelf
Lastly - I realized I could get more storage out of the bookcase by moving the shelf as far up as possible and then adding another shelf below. I just cut a spare board from the garage, stained it to match, and then screwed it in. Now there are two shelves for shoes, which is enough space to keep them from spilling into the living room.

third shelf fits kid shoes

mail sorter on top

So - still not perfect, but a huge improvement. Now that winter is here, we are much better prepared for all the hats, gloves, and coats.

Main Bath - Radiator and Lights

After the epic battle stripping the door, we didn't have capacity for any major other projects for this room. Instead, I just had a few little tweaks to make the room a little more functional and attractive.

The Radiator
First, the radiator was driving me crazy. There has always been this cage box thing covering it up, which is so large that it blocks my towel rack. So my towel is either bunched up so it never dries, or hanging over the stairs or somewhere else inappropriate. Plus the cage thing is ugly. So we took it off, I cleaned up the radiator, dusting off a hundred years of dust bunnies, and then gave it a light coat of radiator spray paint. The radiator is quite ornate, and much smaller than the cage was, so now my towel can actually fit on the rack - and should be nicely toasty!

radiator cage - cutting off my towel rack

cage removed, radiator cleaned up but dingy

getting sprayed

all done- my towel fits now!

Little Shelf

As soon as the radiator cage came off, it was clear we had created a new problem. Despite its ugliness and towel-blocking issues, it had been a helpful place to store things. So helpful, in fact, that it was always covered in stuff. So - I needed a replacement that was small enough not to block the towel rack, but just large enough to store one or two things. For simplicity sake, I just cut a spare board down to the length of the radiator, stained it, and placed it on top. I could've made something more complex, but hey.

little shelf for holding just a bit of stuff

Lights

Not a functional issue really, but we always hated the sconces in this room, which are super deco and also hum loudly. So - I just ordered 2 new ones in a basic style and finish that matches the rest of the house. Once we had a sunny weekend day without guys in the house, we finally switched them out. 

old lights - huge and hideous

 

new lights! 

New Art

Just a small thing, but I ordered a print from etsy and stuck it in one of our existing frames. Something to add a little color and make this look more like a kids' bathroom. (got it here). 

new wall art - both bathy and kidish

new art up over the new shelf

remember this? so much better now!

And now I'm calling it done. I had bigger ideas for this room - tearing out the closet, or replacing the sink - but for now - this is good enough. We need to switch over to another project. More on that soon.