Upstairs Re-Do, Guest Room Before

Because the entire upstairs is being re-carpeted and painted, I'm showing some shots of the guest room, as well, even though it doesn't present anywhere near the challenge of the Treehouse. These photos are kind of "before" - before emptying, pulling up carpet, and re-painting. (Look! Some color on the walls!) However, they are not before things spilled into the room from emptying the treehouse.

This view is toward the southwest corner of the room. The window looks out on the front lawn and road. The maple bookcase has been in my family as long as I can remember - Lolo refinished it. The blanket chest was made by my grandfather. The bed we bought while living in NC.

This view is toward the hallway and the Treehouse on the other side. Those two sewing machines are for sale. That closet in the hall has (surprise!) floor to ceiling fabric. See those "60!" poofy centerpieces on top of the bookcase? Someday, one of them is going to be the base for a doll.The east wall - three closets. The left one has Oldtimer's off-season clothing, the right one has my off-season clothing, and the middle one has built in drawers full of... art supplies. I tried so hard to not spill into this room...
Though it doesn't look as challenging as the Treehouse, I've been working on breaking down this room for about three days now. I've packed up all the books and carted them down the stairs, but there is much more to do.

We got the carpet estimate yesterday, and of course it is more than we expected, and we thought we were over-estimating. Looks like we have two to three weeks to repair walls, paint, and get ready.

Upstairs Re-do - Treehouse During

The treehouse is empty. My Oldtimer spent most of Sunday pulling out ancient carpet and pad, yanking staples, removing quarter-round, etc. The only piece of furniture remaining in the room is the antique library table (the carpet installers say they can work around some pieces of furniture).
One of the things I could not understand when we bought this house, was the fact that it was listed as "freshly painted" yet it seemed so dull. As we've worked our way through the rooms, we've realized that almost everything was painted with the same, flat, refrigerator white - even exterior doors. I've speculated that it is all white primer, not even paint. This room is no exception.

The west wall, shown in previous post as the wall of shame:

The southeast corner:
The north wall, with the lonely window (which Murphy now LOVES to look out):
SOME of the holes to be repaired in the north wall. I think they installed the wall shelves with railroad spikes:

Also, a during shot of the stairwell. After pulling the carpet, my dear Oldtimer scrubbed this entire set of steps thoroughly. Please note the cat at the foot of the stairs:All photos should be clickable for detail - not that you'd really want it.

Upstairs Re-do (True Confessions?)

After six years living in this house, we finally agreed it was time to re-do "the upstairs." The 1970s era brown shag carpet was dreary, at best. At its worst, it was a vivid display of every piece of lint and strand of thread dropped on the floor. In a sewing room. Think about that one.

I thought it might be fun (no, that's not the word I'm looking for...) a good idea to document the process. Hopefully, there will be a significant difference.

We started with the tree house. My sewing/art/paper retreat at the top of the stairs. At 15 feet long and only 6 feet wide, the room is (was) filled to maximum capacity. Besides my collection of cotton fabrics, batiks, India silks, paints, beads, fibers and many other oddments, it is home to two sewing machines, a serger, and soon - an embellisher.

Oldtimer hassles me about it on a regular basis. He didn't believe I could get it emptied in one day, but I did. Now he's suggesting that when the new floor and paint are in and I'm ready to move back in, I can't take it all back in with me. We'll see.

So, in interest of full disclosure, here's a set of before photos. Later, there will also be during and afters of this room, as well as the guest room on the other side of the 3' X 3' "hallway" at the top of the stairs. (All should be clickable to view larger, if you are feeling brave.)

The north wall, with the only window in the room. I do most of my non-machine work at the antique library table under the window. The sewing machine and serger are opposite the window. This is what you saw when you walked into the room:

The east wall is short, because of the sloped ceiling. It houses a huge bulletin board and all the stuff I've printed out for inspiration. You can also see the vintage school desk shoved into the corner, housing most of my colored pencils, markers, etc.:

This is the top of the south wall. A rustic board full of hand-hewn hooks holds an assortment of fibers, beads, and displays the many ATCs I've been gifted. The machines, though not visible, are below these hooks:

The real wall of shame - the west wall, filled with paints and sparkle sprays and jars of buttons, tubs of buttons, drawers of clay faces and silk flowers. It's difficult to see here, but none of the wall shelves (which were here when we moved in) are straight across the wall; they are staggered, making it very difficult to keep things from keeling off the edges. It's crazy:

The lower portion of the west wall, and a good look at the ugly brown carpet:

(Boy, am I glad all that was generally behind the door.) Next up - a few "during" shots, now that the carpet is out (revealing an ugly Masonite subfloor - thus the decision to re-carpet), holes to be repaired in the walls, and the complete absence of my entire stash of art supplies.