Pocket door, Part 1

Alright, I've been sitting on a draft of this post for waaayyy too long, waiting for this project to be 100% complete before sharing. But apparently we are slower than a herd of asthmatic snails, so I'm slapping a "Part 1" on the post title and calling it a day. :-D

As I wrote about here, we'd been debating how to deal with the interior bedroom window that opens out over the living room. After debating pros and cons, price, aesthetics, etc., we decided we were on Team Pocket Door. This would entail ripping out a big chunk of drywall in the bedroom, but ultimately we thought it would look cleaner. Once we'd made the call, Jeff built us a custom-sized door to fit the opening.

We'd decided to use wood that would mimic the decking on the ceiling, and paint it white to match. Jeff brought it over to the house and I painted it, and then he and Brandon spent a couple of days working on the installation while I tried to keep the baby from eating drywall chunks. Here's Jeff adding framing for the pocket door track.

I didn't get very many photos of the process, but they were able to do a pretty standard pocket door installation - the only weird thing was the door itself, which was obviously not a standard size.

Here it is in place! Open...

...and closed...

They then added some nailers so that we could patch up that big 'ol hole in the wall.

Once it's done, it will sort of act visually like a giant headboard, since it sits right over our bed.

I am absolutely thrilled with it so far. It makes the bedroom feel infinitely more secluded and private, and it blocks noise pretty well too! This means that Brandon can take Matilda downstairs in the mornings, and mama can sleep in. SO WORTH IT.

It looks great from downstairs too - I like that it blends in pretty seamlessly, and doesn't stick out and visually compete with other features like the beams.

So where are we now? Well the drywall patch is actually already done, thanks to help from our super handy and definitely non-rabid friend Kit. She came over an embarrassingly long time ago to give us a hand, so it's hung, taped and mudded. We have to do another quick pass with the mud to hide the patch as best we can, and then sand and paint, and re-hang/caulk/touch-up the trim on the bedroom side. Then the last thing on the list is to find a good locking mechanism, since this little lady is getting dangerously close to mobile...

Shoulda Woulda Coulda

Well it seems we have our first "wish we would have..." moment with the new house. Remember our master bedroom with the large interior window over the bed? Brandon and I have conflicting opinions about it. He is in the unreservedly pro-window camp. I enjoy the window in the morning, when I can peek out and see the river - but after living with it for a year-plus, I can also say that (a) it's a bummer when people are in the living room and you're trying to sleep; and (b) something about the empty space over my head just bugs me in an indescribably feng-shui-y sort of way. I can't really explain, and Brandon thinks I'm nuts, but when I'm going to sleep I like to feel like I'm tucked in a safe little spot. The big open expanse of space just gives me a vague feeling of discomfort and kinda makes my skin itch.

Anyway, all of the above has been applicable from the get-go... but now we're going to do something about it. Why? Because we have added issue (c) OMG MY BABY COULD FREAKING FALL OUT OF THIS WINDOW SOMEONE GIVE ME A PAPER BAG TO BREATHE INTO. No, she's not mobile yet, but it seems like she will be in... oh, another 30 seconds or so. So we asked Jeff to come back out and brainstorm some ideas for us for a window covering. The criteria were: lockable and secure!!! Followed in a distant second place by the "like-to-haves" of blocking the maximum amount of light and sound possible, and curing Katy's neuroses (probably a reach).

Idea #1 was to do a barn-door style door on the living room side. I can't find a good photo of this side right now, so here is a crappy cell-phone pic because lazy.

Imagine something like this. The issue is that we (Jeff) would have to do some finagling to make that work with the existing trim, because we'd want the door to sit flush to be secure and light-blocking, etc. etc. The other issue is that Brandon apparently has some deep-seated [aside: does anyone else always want to write "deep-seeded"??] barn door issues and has made us (me) all paranoid about the door falling off the wall and onto our heads. See also: scaffolding necessary, major living room disruption.

Idea #2 was one Brandon randomly threw out yesterday, when he said "I wish we'd thought of doing this while the construction was still ongoing - we could have just done a pocket door." I think a little light bulb pinged on over my head when he said that. I hadn't felt totally satisfied with the barn door idea, partly because I enjoy the way the window looks now - between the roof beams, the white decking, the hallway bannister, the stove pipe... there is a lot going on up there, and I thought a big sliding door might look a little cray (as the kids say).

So after some more brainstorming with Jeff, we realized this would still be possible - but it will entail removing drywall in the bedroom, some re-framing for the pocket door hardware, and reconfiguring the window trim... but he didn't think there would really be a price difference if we take care of the drywall repair and painting after the fact. And thanks to my obsessive photo-documenting of this project, we know there won't be any electric to deal with.

The tentative timeline is for Jeff to build the door in the next day or two, then drop it off so I can paint it. Then he's going to come back Thursday/Friday of next week and we will work on getting it installed. We may have some additional drywalling going on in the near future, as part of an upcoming project - finishing off the basement to use as a play/rec room. More on that once I get some sufficiently dingy "before" photos.

So, I think I am on Team Pocket Door. What do you guys think? All I know is either way, I'm going to feel a whole lot better once this project is done.

Gratuitous adorable baby excited about a morel

And the little one said "roll over"

Let's just say you could fit a LOT of little monkeys in our bed... which finally arrived yesterday! We ordered this bed from Naked Furniture in Ann Arbor, and it took FOREVER to get here. As in, we ordered it December 10. We were told at the time that it should be ready in 5-6 weeks. So after 7 weeks with no news, I called... and was told it would be another 7-10 days. So after two more weeks, I called again... and was told it would be another week. Seriously?! The delay was extra annoying because we've had boxes of clothes shoved in our closets all this time, since the storage bed doubles as our dressers. It turned out some component of the bed was back-ordered - but it would have been nice to get a call informing us of this fact, instead of calling and calling and having no idea if the thing would ever actually show up. That said, it took so long that we just about have the credit card charge paid off, ha!

Oh plus, it's amazing.

I can't tell if I just got used to the "mattress on the floor" set-up, or if it really is ridiculously enormous... Now I walk into our room and it's WHOA BED in my face.

We spent a bunch of time yesterday getting the boxes of clothes unpacked into the drawers, but I figured no one really wanted to see photos of my sock drawer. We also mounted the bedside lamp/tables that I posted about a while back.

I think they look great on either side of the "window." Which, by the way, allows me to pop my head up in the morning and do some bird-watching from bed. This morning I spied some common mergansers by our dock.

Here's the other side of the room, where we've stashed a rocking chair that actually belongs to my sister. We still need to get a proper cushion for the little window seat between the closets.

Anyone who has known me for at least 25+ years will recognize the pair sitting in the window... Tigger and Erica! You can tell by the level of bedraggled-ness how much I loved these two as a kid.

And speaking of cute pairs, here's a gratuitous shot of the boys. Elmo apparently thinks the carpet is just as comfy as his bed...

...However, they both agree that we clearly need to order some Doggy Steps so they can enjoy that ridiculously large bed.

Brilliant ideas that weren't mine

When my parents visited a couple weeks ago, my mom mentioned that it would be really helpful to have some kind of shelf or storage unit by the pedestal sink in the guest bathroom. I had never thought of this, and while I love the sink, I subsequently noticed that guests' toiletry items were either balancing precariously on the narrow sink edge, or were migrating over to the windowsill. Not the most convenient arrangement for tooth brushing, face washing, makeup application, etc.!

I pondered this for a bit, because I thought something big and clunky on one side of the sink would make things look crowded.

Then the other night it popped into my head to see if I could find a glass shelf that would match the other bathroom accessories we'd picked out (as an aside, selecting things like towel bars, tp holders, and robe hooks may have been the ultimate "I have never given a single millisecond of thought as to what style of this item I would like in my house... and now I have to pick 'em out" moment in this whole process; see also: light switches, doorknobs).

Luckily for me, the bathroom stuff we ended up picking (the Gatco Jewel Collection for those who are curious or care more about tp holders than I do) has a matching glass shelf. Even more luckily, it fits perfectly on the wall by the sink! Sign me up.

The shelf arrived today, and I armed myself with a tape measure, level, and pencil to figure out where it should go. We just finished getting it installed, and I think it looks great! It is not too intrusive, matches everything else, and should make things a bit easier on guests.

Just for fun, here's the little nook you see as you enter the bathroom. Brandon's had this small wooden shelf his whole life, and it fits perfectly and is a great spot for guest towels, candles, and a few decorative items (the odd little bowl at right was a $5 treasure found on one of my Junk Hunts with Kit). Sorry for the odd angle - this nook is completely impossible to photograph without some kind of periscope camera attachment.

The second brilliant idea actually WAS mine, but someone beat me to it. I've posted previously about the fact that we're waiting for our new bed to arrive, and that it's a storage bed with drawers in the sides. It's going to be a great space-saver (not to mention that we won't have the dog-fur-tumbleweed problem going on underneath since it sits right on the floor). However, it means that we can't use regular bedside tables since they'd block the drawers. I'd considered using floating shelves (like these from IKEA) instead of tables, but thought they might be a bit crowded with lamps, cell phones, water, tissues, etc. Then I thought to myself, "self, wouldn't it be cool if there were such a thing as a combined wall-mounted swing-arm lamp plus shelf/table?" Well sad to say I am not the next Thomas Edison (although maybe I'm onto something with the periscope camera attachment??)... but happy to say that I found just thing thing I was looking for!

(image from Wayfair)

The ones I bought (with a gulp and a small apology to my credit card) have white lampshades instead of the dark color shown here, and were $107 a pop. They had great reviews though, and arrived today and seem very well made. They also look pretty cool! I'd love to get them up on the wall and share some photos, but we want to wait until the bed arrives so we can be sure to locate them in the right place for groggy snooze-button hitting. Once the bed comes (hopefully in the next week or so) I'll report back with photos!

Getting decent

No one will truly appreciate this update as much as our only neighbor (who doesn't read the blog... as far as I know)... but we've finally hung some curtains! There is really only one window in the house that needed them, and that was our bedroom. All the other bedroom/bathroom windows face the woods, so while I'll eventually get some blinds for them it just hasn't been at the top of the priority list. However, I was getting tired of wandering out of the shower and into our bedroom in the dark (or hiding in the closet to get dressed).

Hooray! I ordered these on Amazon, and also the new comforter/duvet set. I really like these colors together, so now I'm on the hunt for some more pillows and wall art with the turqoise/dark red combo.

The bedroom still needs a lot of things - for example, a bed. We've ordered one but it will still be another week or two until it is ready. I can't wait for it to arrive, since it's a storage bed so we'll finally be able to get rid of the boxes of clothes in the closets. (I might well throw a party once the last box is finally unpacked!) Once the bed comes I am thinking of mounting a couple of small shelves on either side to serve as bedside tables, since we won't be able to use regular tables (they'll block the drawers). Then we need bedside lamps and some art on the walls... oh and let's not forget I STILL haven't painted the darn closet doors. Even though they bother me every single day. Maybe I'll go do that now.

Also wanted to share a few quick photos of the completed book nook! There is one more shelf that will go up at the very top, but we still have to cut it down to size.

I poly'd the shelves, but it really didn't change the color much at all so they still look pretty raw. I may get motivated someday and stain them, but for now I am just enjoying having the books put away and no boxes (a.k.a. tripping hazards) on the landing!

Slow but steady...

... is apparently an apt descriptor of my painting skills. We have a whole lotta trim to paint, and that was the plan for this weekend...

...oh, along with painting the master bedroom, which was going to be totally quick, so no problem, right?

Um, right. Except for the part where the master bedroom has twelve foot ceilings, four doors, three windows, and five paired beams that intersect the walls. Not to mention the other part where we hadn't realized we'd have to fill all the tiny nail holes in the trim with wood filler before we could paint. So yeah... we'll paint the trim next weekend.