When we first purchased ye vintage farmhouse, we knew my son’s room had been sliced into two much smaller rooms, making both way too small.
It was clear from the floor plan that this room had at one time been divided. The result was a whole lot of doors. There were two entry doors, plus a middle door to move between the two and a door on the boxy closet. All of this to say furniture placement was challenging.
First step, take down that wall and hope those pretty pine floors were running underneath. Yup! They were! Second, we ended up having to tear out the ceiling because one side was not equal in height to the other. Who knows why? But we ended up pulling the whole thing out.
We found a few layers of wallpaper behind the radiator (removed when we upgraded the heating system). Note: When possible, I would always recommend keeping the radiators, but in our case, the cost to install additional radiators in the new part of the house was steep, so we went with forced air since we were installing central AC anyway.
My son wanted a deep tone on the wall, so we went with this gorgeous blue. The room never feels too dark (paint info below). Next, the floors were re-done.
I don’t know what it is about the old pine floors that makes me love them so. My only wish is we had these on the first floor. I wish I would have had the courage to rip up the perfectly fine red oak floors downstairs, but feared they might not be nearly as pretty as these, and there were different sizes added with room additions. Oh well, I’ll just stare at these. Note back in the day there was no sub-floor, these were laid right on the joists. Some have asked whether I worry about liquid spilling and seeping down below. The answer is not at all. We finished these with water-based polyurethane tinted slightly amber and this helps to seal any crevices. Tinting the water-based poly mimics the look of an oil-based poly without the fumes or dry time. Thanks goes to our floor guys for suggesting that!
Another note when refinishing pine floors: They are soft, so make sure whomever is doing them knows how to work with them because you don’t want to end up with lots of splinters. We had some gauges that had to be filled, but luckily these were still in very good shape.
The room has a generous closet now, that fits nicely along the wall. No more boxy closet popping out into the room. We re-purposed the entrance door, but had to buy new for the closet doors since none of the old doors fit properly. We used oil-rubbed bronze for hinges and closet doors, and re-used as many of the old doorknobs elsewhere.
The room gets beautiful light with the four windows. Window treatments are white wood blinds with a room darkening curtain. The curtains also help to keep the room cozy warm in winter.
I still need to add some finishing touches, like something over the bed, some colorful pillows, and some real plants. Any suggestions? What’s your next project?
Shop The Room
Paint: Wall SW 6243 Distance FLAT
Trim: SW 7757 HiReflective SATIN
Ceiling: SW 7757 HiReflective FLAT
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