This week, she'd like to share some photos of the other two bedrooms, formerly the lair of the offspring, but ever so much cleaner and tidier than when they were inhabited by them.
We'll start with the eldest's room, which the insomniac has been in the process of redecorating since he moved out seven years ago. Originally, this room was covered with stipple paint - the walls, the floors, the wood trim - every surface was coated with the stuff. Which, somewhat surprisingly, stripped off quite nicely and protected the wood underneath from further damage. It was actually a blessing in disguise although, upon first viewing the room, one certainly didn't appreciate the fact at the time.
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The insomniac enjoys good graffiti art. Which clearly this isn't ... |
Normally, terra cotta would not be the insomniac's first choice for a paint colour. Since the carpeting chosen for this room was shades of cream, green and rust, and the room had already been painted cream when the eldest was a baby and forest green when he was older, the only remaining colour that hadn't already been tried was terra cotta. Unfortunately, during the redecorating process a number of items were purchased to coordinate with this colour scheme, which means at least one room in the new house will probably end up being painted terra cotta.
The colour does kind of grow on a person after a while ... |
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This isn't good either ... |
... but it's now a perfect corner for reading on a sunny afternoon. Especially without a giant eye peering over a person's shoulder. |
The daybed's the best part of the room ... |
The eldest's bookcase. Also with a wee bit of knife damage. A fun restoration project for after the move ... |
The following are photos of the youngest's room, having only just recently been vacated by her and thus having been spared from the insomniac's incessant redecorating. This room never suffered the indignity of lousy graffiti; merely a bit of water damage and some broken windows. It was one of the few rooms where picture rail still existed, which was used as a template to create matching rail for the rest of the house and also provided a clue for the proper installation height. For some reason, the woodwork wasn't stained as dark as it was in the rest of the house, but that was rectified during the restoration.
As the house was gutted to the studs in order to upgrade the wiring, plumbing and heating, the insomniac had a choice of where to put the light switches and also add more outlets than were originally installed; generally only one or two per room. This was one of the rare times in her life she actually used a power tool - an extremely large drill roughly half her height - to bore holes in the studs to pull the electrical wire through. Miles and miles and miles of electrical wire.
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Every door in the house looked as though it had been crow-barred open. More than once ... |
The wood looks nicer stained dark walnut, doesn't it? |
This room has been many different colours; starting out cream, then pink and rose, a dark royal purple (during her LOTR phase), and now Victorian Mauve. The youngest always enjoyed completely redoing her room far more than her brother ever did. A chip off the old block.
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Lovely view from the window ... |
There used to be a makeup vanity on this wall. It's been moved to the garage, much to the youngest's dismay. There's another project for after the move ... |
Hopefully the insomniac can match the paint. Or it won't just be the vanity that needs redoing ... |
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One of only three spots in the house where we found original wallpaper ... |
The youngest may have vacated, but her belongings haven't ... |
She's now 5'10". She couldn't possibly be comfortable in that little bed ... |
A closeup of the above pictures; another late night eBay purchase of three hand-tinted lithographs to replace Frodo, Bilbo and Samwise, and more suited to the current decor. It seemed wrong to split up the group of three since they'd obviously been meant as a set, but the insomniac is only going to share the two she likes and ignore the third.
Those eyes ... |
That hat ... |
Next week, once everything has been finalized and for a complete change of pace from Before and After photos (of which one is quite sure you're all getting very tired) a preview of the next big project for the insomniac. And her very Long-Suffering Spouse.
Until next time, the insomniac wishes you nights of blissful sleep filled with pleasant dreams. Goodnight, my pretties.