Bekah's new room

More than a year ago, we knew that our basement bedroom (formerly known as Andrea's sewing/computer/dumpingstuff room) would need a makeover. The previous owner's teenage son occupied the room, and he apparently liked wood and fishing lures, as evidenced by the decor.

As we started this laborious and long-awaited remodel, we discovered several things:

• The little electric baseboard heater that was in the room wasn't adequate. We never knew when it was on or off, and it took forever to heat the room. We replaced it with a wall-mounted thermostat and a heater with a fan to push the heat into the room.
• None of the room had been textured or primed. The wallpaper and wood had been installed directly on top of the Sheetrock. I was worried that we'd have to replace all the Sheetrock in the room, but an employee at Lowe's told us what to do: prime the wallpaper, spray texture on top of it, prime it again and paint. It worked like a charm. 
• There were about a dozen little pieces of Sheetrock put together like a puzzle below the ledge on the west side (the side with the window). They must have been trying to use up all their odds and ends. We (Seth) ripped it down and (Dad) replaced it with one solid sheet.
• Almost nothing in the room is level or square. With some planing of trim, caulking of corners and some extra finishing touches, we were able to get by with what we were given.
• The wood they used as wainscoting, chair rail, molding and baseboard was there to hide all the finishing work they didn't do. Seams weren't taped or mudded. The wallpaper wasn't cut square.
• The light fixture wasn't pretty. The wood wasn't pretty. The wallpaper wasn't pretty. The extremely heavy doors (for the closet and the room) weren't pretty. This room was not decorated with a 7-year-old girl in mind.

Bekah's room isn't completely finished: I've still got to finish (read: "start") her new bedspread, and we've got some adjusting to do on the bedroom door (turns out the doorway's not square either). But she spent her first night in the room last night, and came upstairs smiling this morning, so I'll take that as a good sign.

Here's the before and after:

All the wallpaper and wood in its glory.

Post-remodel. Bekah picked out the colors herself.

I can't post this without acknowledging all the help we got from my dad. He spent countless hours cutting and installing Sheetrock, taping and mudding the seams, spraying texture, installing the heater, moving outlets and doing everything that Seth and I weren't able to do by ourselves. He also lent me tools and materials to do what work I could manage on my own. (Nothing makes you feel like a she-woman like cutting baseboard with a fancy saw and fixing it to the wall with a nail gun when you're in your third trimester.)

I'll admit it--I heaved a huge sigh of relief as we cleared out the paint cans and moved the last of her shoes into the room. With a baby on the way, this game of musical bedrooms is a must so we can have a nursery and crib available.