Decorating & Design

April 18, 2011

New House: 2nd Floor

Let us continue on the grand tour of my new place — before the makeover! Again, stay tuned for the “after” photos in H&H’s June 2011 issue. If you missed the main floor, click here, and for our kitchen, click here. Remembering these days right after we bought really reminds me of how much work we’ve done to spiff it up. The roof repair was one of the big ones. Although you won’t necessarily have to go up there, finally getting that long needed roof repair done was a major and valuable upgrade since we do get storms and hurricanes around here often.

Let’s start with the front bedroom. It came with lots of vinyl wallpaper and some apple green silk drapes. I thought I might be able to work with those drapes, to tell you the truth. Notice all of the nice mouldings, old doors and hardware? They’re my favourite!

Here’s a shot of the landing at the top of the stairs. It’s unusually large and square for a house this old, but it’s a really nice feature and provides a bit of breathing room between the bedrooms and bathroom. And you’ve got to love the old drapes on that little window!

This is the guest bedroom — it’s about the same size as the principal bedroom except for the closets. This blue is one of my favourite colours, but of course I repainted! You’ll have to wait and see what I chose instead…

More great old doors and doorknobs. And the floors are in really good shape up here, too.

And here’s the old bathroom in all its glory. Wallpaper, drapes, drapes over the tub, linoleum flooring — you name it! This was the first room we tackled and yes, there was a crowbar involved.

The house came with a great original pedestal sink and a beautiful white tub, but can you believe those awful faucets?!?! And that medicine cabinet? What were they thinking? You can see the ‘cultured marble’ tub surround in this shot. That’s where I employed the crowbar. It came down with a crash!

Finally, the principal bedroom. It’s a decent size and has a nice big window looking out over the yard. The closet situation is kind of unusual — it’s like a little room unto itself with a his and hers closet each! Plus, there’s a door out onto the roof (for sunbathing, I guess?).

Even though I had been pulling wallpaper down in the bathroom and kitchen, I was dreaming of putting wallpaper up in this bedroom. I can’t wait to show you the results!

See the photos from my main floor, watch the video tours, and also see what my colleague Catherine MacIntosh did with her own home renovation.

Photo credits:
Michael Penney