Playroom Makeover

We moved into our current house in October of 2006.  Before moving in we made several cosmetic changes.  Every room was painted, the floors were sanded and restained, we removed a wall in the laundry room and between two bedrooms, and added new carpet in the playroom. During the last five years we have also had the outside repainted a new color, torn down an outbuilding, patched the sunroom roof, painted ceilings, and done several more "mini" projects.

Our playroom is our main entrance into the house from the detached garage.  Once upon a time the playroom was the garage.  It has a concrete sub floor and was carpeted.  You can imagine how gross the carpet had gotten from the constant tracking of four people in and out of the house, not to mention the two dogs that stay mainly in the playroom.  The walls were covered in grass cloth wallpaper painted teal green when we bought the house.  Our contractor said he couldn't get the paper down and it would be easiest and most cost effective to paint over it.  I had it painted Benjamin Moore's olive branch with carpet in the same shade of green.  I liked it in the beginning but was ready for a change and something fresher.

Please excuse the mess!  It's a work still in progress.

In September Phil ripped out the carpet in the playroom and installed laminate flooring that resembles hardwood floors.  His 81 year old dad also got in on the action.  I was AMAZED to say the least at my husband's handiness!  I never knew he was so talented in the construction way.  I told him it opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me around the house.  I was thoroughly excited to say the least.

By November we were ready to start on the walls.  Phil and his dad began hanging sheets of paneling over the grass cloth.  Phil can only work on the weekends and occasionally in the evenings.  It has been a very slow and arduous project.  In addition to hanging the panelling, he had to add an additional strip of moulding under the existing crown.  I came in at the end and did the painting.  All the trim had to be primed with an oil based primer because it had existing oil based paint on it.  It was PAINFUL!  I don't mind painting at all but hate dealing with oil based paints. 

There is one brick wall in the playroom that has six windows going across it.  Over the windows was about a foot of the grass cloth wallpaper.  The rest of the wall was/is brick.  We have debated and debated covering the brick with panelling and finally have decided to leave it and just panel over the grass cloth.  To be totally honest our decision was based solely on convenience.  I am ready, beyond ready, to wrap up this project and move on to something else. 

Working on adding coat hooks and a shelf over this bench.

I have been looking at fabrics for drapes, pillows, and to recover a chair.  That is the fun part for me.  Because it is the kid's room and the dog's hangout I need sturdy fabrics that are stain resistant. Luckily, there are many more choices than there used to be.  I'll post pictures of what I'm thinking soon.