The Tale of the Girls' Room

I really wish that I had taken some 'before' photos. Absent those, let me paint you a picture. A few months ago, the 'library' at Ironwood Hollow was a large room with one wall finished, sort of, in plywood, the ceiling sheetrocked but otherwise unfinished, a door hung but not trimmed out, a plywood floor, studded walls with exposed fiberglass insulation, and piles and piles of boxed books and general household leftovers. I felt like a brave explorer going in there, especially after climbing over all the junk hiding behind the 'temporary' fabric balcony railing.

Then, my life changed. I began to hope that my Honey would come live with me, and gradually came to know that she would. I didn't wait for her agreement though, because I needed time to get ready if she said yes; there was suddenly much to do, and damned good reason to do it. The boys' room was easy; I had recently finished it up as a guest room, mostly, so it just needed to be cleaned out. The grownups' room needed a bit of finishing. The girls' room though, formerly known as the library, needed everything. I had to empty it, empty the balcony, build stair and balcony rails, and then actually make that unfinished dusty storage space into something that teen girls would like to live in.

Here we go...I just knew I had a picture somewhere...

Yikes. Fortunately, I started early, and treated it as a priority during whatever free time I had. The only expenditures have been a couple of gallons of paint and a couple of boxes of nails and screws. All of the wood is re-used from the transfer station or other sources of free wood. It took months of careful wood-collecting, then pulling nails, straightening boards on the table-saw, fitting mismatched pieces together, until at last we had finished walls, a sturdy bunk platform, a nifty wall of doors (only one of which opens), and were ready to plaster and paint.

The bunk and walls about a month ago...

The materials for the walls clearly had a wide variety of past uses.  There are two-by-fours from scaffolding or concrete forms, de-nailed and ripped into two boards each. There are pieces of old siding, soffits, door-frames, deck floors, camp walls, boards from behind old lath-and-plaster, tomato stakes, leftovers from building other things in recent years here, you name it. The more interesting wall started out as a stack of cupboard and closet doors. I actually liked working with those because they finished up a wall very easily, just needing a few small pieces fitted in around the leftover spaces. The final look is really great, I think!

Making hemlock trim, carefully...

I trimmed the interior of the doorway with nice leftover patterned trim, but for the outside, where it looks out over the balcony, I wanted something to match the rustic look of the main room. Taking larger hemlock trunks, 2-3 inch in diameter, and roughly halving them lengthwise on a tablesaw, and fitting them up like trim-boards, gave me the effect I was looking for. Two other doors on that level will get matching treatment when I have a bit of time for that.

As I write this, my Honey has agreed to live with me. I am simply over the moon, and we are nearing the day when the girls see their room for the first time. The suspense is keeping me going, so anxious for them to like the space...I'll post updates when the paint is dry, and I can show the finished room.