THE HOUSE ON VICTORIA COURT BUNK ROOM
Greetings! Thanks very much for stopping in. Today I’m very excited to show you The House on Victoria Court Bunk Room. But first I want to apologize for the inactivity on this blog of late. The renovation of this home (a full time job), life, kids, wedding planning, travel, stuff, just somehow got in the way of posting. I have always said, “I’m the busiest person I know,” and that has been particularly true lately. But, now that this house is FINISHED and on the market, I have vowed to return to blogging on a regular basis, as I have done for almost 5 years now. Oh, and I also want to thank all of you out there who sent emails and messages asking where the heck I was. I’m very grateful that you care. I missed you too!
The Completed Exterior of my Latest Fixer-Upper
I’m a lover of bunk rooms and have a large Pinterest page dedicated to them. While I have never had a home with a bunk room, I have always wanted one. Not sure if it’s some latent, unfulfilled childhood desire or what, but this house finally gave me the opportunity to create one. This bunk room is fun enough for kids but sophisticated enough for adults. It’s located upstairs so join me up there. This is a view of the BEFORE staircase. It was very dark and woodsy. I needed to tone down the wood and brighten the space.
So I painted the walls gray and left the wood alone on the ceiling and stair-rail.
I then added a beautiful stair-runner made from 3 small rugs pieced together. I purchased them on a recent trip to Chicago where I visited H & M Home.
Isn’t it lovely? The rug is made of wool and cotton (I love natural fibers) and feels and looks plush and luxurious.
So come on in and have a look at the BEFORE Bunk Room.
I liked the old, original black metal door hardware and have retained it. You really can’t buy hardware like this anymore.
This is what the room looked like when we purchased the home. It was not furnished. The previous owners had been storing an old iron bed frame against one wall, and there was a chair and a formica side table in the room as well.
The main wall in the room was simply made of raw plywood. An old wooden chest of drawers was left behind with a painting of Wyoming propped on top. This home is located in Lake Arrowhead, California, so I’m not sure where the Wyoming came in? There was an ugly blue drape on only one of the 3 windows in the room.
When we purchase these old homes I try to get the sellers to leave behind all of the contents. Much of what I find is junk that gets tossed or donated. But there are always things that are diamonds in the rough. I like the challenge of transforming old things into something new and attractive. And, as you will see later, I made good use of the contents of this room, including this old wooden game board that was hanging on one wall.
The original hardwood floors were scuffed but in good shape, so the first thing we did was sand and refinish them.
The only light in the room came from this single, exposed lightbulb mounted on the ceiling.
The first phase of the construction was to cover the raw plywood wall with 12″ vertical wooden panels. Next, to fulfill my dream of having a bunk room, we set about constructing a builtin set of bunks. I added electrical plugs, complete with USB ports at the head of each bed.
Next, a railing was added to the top bunk and we constructed a builtin ladder.
Once the carpentry work was completed we painted the room gray. The paint is called Cool Ashes from Behr Premium Plus Ultra.
The old exposed lightbulb was replaced with a Pottery Barn Classic Metal Bell Pendant in Nickel, $169.00. I love it!!
The next step was to stain the wooden bunk beds. We used a beautiful color stain called Weathered Gray by Verathane from Home Depot. It matched the paint color we used on the walls but allowed the woodgrain to show through. To give it an even more “weathered” look we spot sanded it in places.
We also added a tiny little shelf under each USB wall plug. Later I added a plugin reading light from IKEA. The idea is that cell phones can be placed on the shelf and get charged as well.
We finally came to the fun part for me: the decorating.
I dressed the twin-size beds in H & M Home Jersey Duvet Cover Sets in Gray Melange, $24.99 and a Fitted Cotton Sheet, now on sale for $7.99. I placed a faux fur gray throw at the foot of each bed and added a matching faux fur pillow (from H & M Home, now sold out). Other throw pillows included a Diagonal-striped Cushion Cover, $17.99 and a Gray, Washed Linen Pillow, $12.99,(comes in 11 different colors!) both from H & M Home. H & M also sells the pillow inserts in a variety of sizes at a very affordable price.
Alongside the bed I added a custom-made bench, onto which I placed 2 cute white tufted pillows that I picked up at Home Goods.
In the photo below you can see the 3′ x 5′ area rug I added, perfect for the space in ivory and gray. It’s called Potenza By Safavieh from Target, a bargain at $83.99. I am in the midst of sewing cute white window shades for the room, which regrettably are not finished yet.
The wooden coat hooks on the left wall came from H & M Home and are only $5.99. I painted mine white to match the room.
At the foot of the bed, in a cozy little nook/play area, I placed a textured white poof from Home Goods and a faux fur sheepskin from IKEA. You will also note that I found a home for the antique wooden game board and an old wooden sled I found under the house, both of which got hung on the walls of the bunk room.
The chair that you saw in the “Before” photos got a coat of gray paint, and I placed a beautiful sweater-knit pillow from IKEA on top of it.
Now, do you remember the old wooden chest of drawers from the “Before” photos? I gave it a fresh coat of Behr Premium Plus Paint in Ultra Pure White and painted the wooden knobs in the contrasting gray color paint used on the walls of the bunk room. What was once a very ugly duckling is a now a very cute, sturdy piece of furniture perfect for a little nook in one of the walls. On it I placed an antique, hobnail lamp from Bella’s, some colorful old books, and a glass jar full of the balls used with the game board hung on the opposite wall.
At my favorite local shop, Bella’s, I found a beautiful original oil painting of a forest scene that had been painted on a gold mining pan. It too seemed made for the space.
So, here’s one last look at the completed Bunk Room.
In closing, I thought I’d remind you about Ebates. Almost everything I use for my renovations I purchase online. In doing so I always wait for sales, look for coupon codes, and try to get free shipping. In addition, I am signed up with Ebates, where I also get a rebate from most of the places I shop. If you aren’t a member of Ebates you need to join for free right now! Use this hand-dandy link to do so and soon you’ll be getting your own BIG FAT REBATE CHECK!
Stay tuned for much more of The House On Victoria Court coming real soon. I promise! And, if you missed it, check out The House On Victoria Court Kitchen Renovation by clicking here.
So, if you or someone you know are looking for the quintessential mountain cabin in beautiful Lake Arrowhead, California, this home is now on the market. Please contact my agent, Lynne Wilson to view the home: 909-337-2080
So there you have it: THE HOUSE ON VICTORIA COURT BUNK ROOM
Thanks so much for dropping in!
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All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Unless otherwise noted, all photos are the original property of Celia Becker @ www.AfterOrangeCounty.com and may not be reproduced without specific permission. This post contains affiliate links which help to make this blog possible. Thanks for your support!