Attic Renovation

This winter's project is underway. It's the long-awaited attic renovation...we are turning it into a family media/music room. It's a large space and for the past 2-1/2 years, it's been full of storage boxes and Dwight's musical instruments. The goal is to have it completed for Superbowl Sunday. Which I think is achievable. Oops...just had a typing slip and wrote "wish" instead of "which"...so maybe I'm not so confident! ha. ha. :)



"BEFORE" This is how the attic looked when we first saw the house...(I took this pic during the inspection, so it's not our stuff). One of the reasons we liked this particular house was because of the potential to increase the living space by finishing the attic and the basement. Last summer, we had the roof replaced and new insulation blown into the walls, so temperature-wise it's now good in both summer and winter. So this winter, we're ready for the cosmetic improvements...


This is the fabric that will cover the side walls...olive and black (with a bit of cream and red) printed damask. I spent 2 hours in the local upholstery outlet trying to find the perfect cloth. For awhile, I was fixated on a chinoiserie print that I'm now really glad I didn't buy. I'm going to do upholstered side walls to cover the big gaps in the drywall and also to soften the noise of the new surround sound tv (42" plasma...the family christmas gift this year) and the drums and the trumpet and the keyboard and the clarinet and the congas and the bass guitar w/amp. No kidding.


This is the far end wall. I painted the window frame my favorite trim color...Ralph Lauren Pocket Watch White (it was previously mint green). And I've painted the room my favorite bright olive color...anyone who was in our Evansville house will recognize this shade...at Sherwin Williams, it's called Martini Olive and at Pittsburgh Paints, it's called Dill. Oh, the paint store guys LOVE me! :)
I still need to repair the top of the window frame. For some reason, neither attic window has the top horizontal part of the wood frame.


This is the wall on the stairway end of the attic. The length of the attic runs the width of the house. The "balustrade" is treacherous and something we're going to have to improve, safety-wise. Don't need anyone toppling down the stairs! There's also a little closet area, which is in need of shelving and a door. We'll get to that later. For now, it's stacked with air conditioners and suitcases.


This is a shot looking down from the previously mentioned balustrade (I don't know if that's the real term, but I like it and am going to use it frequently in this and future posts). You can see that the landings are still the minty green. I'm thinking it's best to paint these after the furniture gets moved in.


Sugar has always been afraid of the attic. This weekend was good for her. By this evening, she was going up and down the steps without fear and even sniffling around in the dark, spooky nooks and crannies. She's grown so much since September, but she still looks so tiny in this picture.


The floor had some thick grey paper tacked over the wood, then this old rolled linoleum (which must have been beautiful when it was new) and then an old cutting of berber carpet on top of that. Anyhoo...got all of that rolled up and bagged and out to the trash. Thursday's garbage crew are going to love us. Just kidding.


The floors looked good once all that stuff was off of them. I cleaned them up, putty'd (puttied?) some rough patches and Dwight will paint them "Platinum Grey" epoxy tomorrow. Part of me wants to keep the floors natural, but epoxy will be better for maintenance. We talked about painting them brown, but decided it's then like a fake wood color.

And these are my d.i.y. groupies. The kids spent some time doing homework on the floor. They also ran up and down the stairs countless times to retrieve things for me. And of course the dogs, well, Rumbles and Sugar, were ever-present. Punch has a tough time with the steep, slippery stairs so she spent most of her time in front of the living room fireplace. Poor Punchie. Hopefully by the time the attic is finished, she'll be feeling better and will come up to hang out with the family.