What's Going On in the Barefoot House

I don't remember if I'd mentioned this before, but we've got a Big Project going on here. 

When we bought the house, it was listed with three bedrooms, and yes, it has three - technically.  Two on the second floor and one on the main floor.  But the one on the main floor is now a music/computer room and has no chance of ever being a bedroom again, at least not while we're living here. 

The kids have been sharing a room, which has been fine - they're still little enough not to care - but we've always known that would need to change at some point.

And that point is now.  Or soon.  Our nephew, Joe, is helping us convert the master bedroom into two smaller bedrooms for the kids, and then the room they currently share will become the master bedroom.

I've actually been looking forward to switching rooms for a long time - the kids' room (as it is now) faces Northeast, and I like the morning light in there.  Our bedroom is Northwest, and in the summer, it seems like the sun starts to drop in the late afternoon and then just hovers there for twenty hours, and as a result, that room is sweltering.  Which is why we have this industrial-strength air conditioner in there.  

Anyway, last Saturday Joe put up the framing for the new wall and took care of the electrical issues that needed to be addressed, so that there can be overhead lights in both rooms, etc.

This weekend, as I understand it, the wall will be completed, and the doorway to the room which will be Alex's room will be created.  Because - in order to have two doorways, we're going to bust through the wall of what is currently my side of the closet. 

So that leads to what I've been doing much of this week.  I've been moving our stuff into a corner of the kids' room and just stacking it all up for now, since all their stuff is also in the room.  Today's project is to clear out the contents of my side of the closet so that we can make the door. 

Coincidentally, Big Sisters is going to be coming by tomorrow morning to pick up donated clothes, so this is a perfect opportunity for me to part with items I'll never wear again.  I figure I can also go through the kids' clothes and weed out things they've outgrown. 

Anyway, that's what I'll be doing today, among other things, like water gardens and do laundry and maybe make some cookies.

Tomorrow we'll be moving our bed out of the room.  I have no idea where we'll put it for now...but we'll sort that out tomorrow.  Bill and I will be sleeping in the basement for a little while.

The other issue (or, rather, ANother issue) is that the room we're currently sleeping in is bigger than the one we're moving into.  So I have no idea how we're going to set it up.  Unfortunately, most of the stuff that is taking up all the bounty of space is mine - totes full of fabric, a work table, bookcases, a huge desk...but hey, my first car was an enormous Ford Fairlane 500, and I used to frighten friends by squeezing it into parking spots meant for much smaller cars, so I'm sure I'll be able to come up with a solution to this!

Oh - and yesterday I brought the kids to Lowe's to let them pick out paint chips.  I'm letting them have SOME say in what colors we paint their rooms.  But I retain the power of veto, of course. 

Julia, no surprise, wants pinks and purples.  Not a problem.

Alex?  Well, my friend Veronica would be thrilled with his choice - he wants his room to be orange.

I'm working on a creative compromise to that one.

Comments

[Emily]

careful... joe loves to put holes in walls...watch him very closely.

[chocolatechic]

Our bedroom is a south west facing room, and the sun...wow is it powerful in that room.

One of the things that I do to help keep it cool in there is to put tin foil on the windows. It reflects the sun, and blocks it all out.

It helps...a lot.

Looks hokey, but I'd rather look hokey than swelter.

[Susan]

How about one orange wall, and the rest a nice cream or something?

[Lynne]

Oh Jayne, you will have such fun with orange.. make it a really great retro 1970s room. Raid eBay!!

[Jayne]

Hi Susan,

Yes - that's kind of the way I'm leaning.  Something light and neutral.

[jomamma]

Would you believe for every little girl picking pink there's a little boy picking orange. It's a very common favorite color for boys. We traded out the regular screening fabric on our window screens with solar screen fabric. Brought the temp down about 25 degrees in our bedrooms. We also put that solar stuff on the windows. It's like a gigantic decal. That stuff helps too.

[Nina]

Several years ago, Ryan wanted his room black. We compromised on dark purple(eggplant)!

[Veronica]

Go Alex! He has great taste!! :D

[Margaret (Nanny Goats)]

Well, if you need more room in your new bedroom, you can just cut the bed in half and throw out one half, right? Right? No? OK, I got nothin 'then. (saw your link on the BlogHer ads.)

- Margaret