An Attic Bedroom (Before & After)

We have been so enjoying the renovated attic for almost four months now, and I’m excited to share this last part of it!

textures of whites

As I’ve talked about before, all three kids shared a bedroom until this attic renovation, which worked (you do what you have to, right?), but it has been SO wonderful to have a bit more space and be more organized now! The two girls have moved upstairs to the new bedroom.

I did tell them that I would be so happy to trade with them; they can have the master suite and Ben & I will take the new attic bedroom, but they were happy to stay in their new room. :)

[Before]

A brick chimney from the kitchen and dining room came up through the middle of this room. Thankfully, the fireplaces were already not functioning, so we were able to take down the bricks to the floor level without disturbing the looks of the kitchen and dining room fireplaces.

We also put in a beautiful big window where there was only a wooden vent before.

bedroom #2 bedroom #1

[ After ]

a white attic bedroom

a cottage bedroom

This room turned out almost as I had pictured in my mind; only, better.  As with the office, I was inspired by whites, clean empty space, and Norwegian-style simplicity. I don’t know that I nailed the beauty of the Norwegian style , but I have loved this darling space!

There is something about the white that is so refreshing, and makes my whole brain feel clean. I love to come up in the office to do my emails and business. I love to snuggle with the girls in their bed at night or in the morning. I think I could live upstairs if someone would only bring me food. Personal chef, anyone?

For the bed and bedding, I chose just a bedrail underneath with no headboard or footboard. The window serves as the headboard, and the shams and bedspread are the perfect accent piece to bring a bit of elegance to the room.

  white ruffled bedspread

The end tables were found at a local antique store, and I spray-painted them white. I wanted a touch of modern in the room, and after looking everywhere online and in stores, I finally found lamps like I was wanting at Lowe’s, of all places, and they were the most reasonably priced I’d seen too. The baskets are the perfect catch-all for the dozens of papers and pens and Little Tiny Objects that little girls just seem to collect like magnets.

  a cottage christmas 128 a cottage christmas 107

Ben made this piece for me, inspired by a similar design from IKEA. IKEA sells them inexpensively but we live far from one, and shipping would have brought the price to a ridiculous amount. There are amazing perks to have a husband who can create anything with wood. :) This is one of them! It houses books in the little boxes, and toys, stuffed animals, and games in the baskets underneath.

  book shelf and baskets

[obviously these pictures were taken at Christmastime :) ]

a little girls' attic bedroom

This little corner was Ben’s idea. Rather than having a long closet with difficult access to the end of it, the closet was cut a bit shorter and this nook created. The girls love it. It’s become like a little dollhouse with beds and rooms and furniture set up.

(artwork from Aimee Weaver Designs ♥)

  happy girls are the prettiest

There is no door on the closet. This was intentional, giving more space to the actual room because of not having a swinging door. I love the touch of texture that the curtain panel gives to the room.

looking into the office

Aren’t these beams beautiful?! I swoon.
They are not original beams, although they are original wood used from the attic.

elements of wood and sparkle

doorways of the attic

Another sliding barn door is in this room, used for the bedroom door. I swoon again.

  wooden barn door

The bedroom has a cathedral dormer window as well, which was my brother-in-law Chris’ idea. I love it! The cathedral style adds such character, rather than a flat-topped dormer. We kept the knee-walls fairly low outside of the dormer for the illusion of more space. It’s just a head-banger if we’re not careful. :)

  cathedral dormers

Ben humored me again with having white floors, and white walls, and white ceiling…. white everything.  He is so kind to me, going along with my ideas so much of the time, and then coming up with so many great ones of his own. He is the brain behind the structural design of the remodeling we’ve done. This attic was just one giant room, that he created three rooms from (office, bedroom, and foyer). I can hardly believe this is the same space; it is just SO beautiful!

The room is very simple and understated, but here are a few of my favorite little touches…

cozy little spot

  bedroom vignette

a bit of whimsy
Funny story about the ‘simple and understated’: Zoe was so excited when she learned that she and Olivia would be sharing a room, and having a GIRLS’ room. She immediately began dreaming of all the COLORS (!!!) she wanted in there.

“Red on the ceiling! No, actually, red and white STRIPES! And I want aqua and lots of color!

I felt a little guilty, because well, a little girl does like color, and here I was going with not only limited color but NO color except white, so I told her that, “Sweetie, you know what? It’s actually going to be a white bedroom, because it’s in an attic, and red and white stripes just won’t really look good up there.”

“WHAT?! A white bedroom? I don’t want to be a little girl that looks back on my childhood and has a WHITE bedroom. I mean, white doesn’t even mean anything. I want something with color, and especially RED. It would be soooo boring to have a white bedroom!”

I don’t know what she was picturing, but clearly she and I were envisioning completely different things. I was beginning to feel like a terrible mother in forcing my child to have a terrible childhood and have a white bedroom, or all things!!

After the room was completed, however, she came to me with a sheepish grin and said, “Mommy, it’s okay if my room is all white. I actually REALLY like it.” :)

And a few weeks later when we bought her a red winter coat, she said that makes up for the red stripes in the bedroom. Whew. At least we got that covered.

Seriously though, I love to be a steward of that which Jesus has entrusted to me. My home is my little spot on earth’s surface, and I love how Edith Schaeffer says it:

“A Christian, who realizes he has been made in the image of the Creator God and is therefore meant to be creative on a finite level, should certainly have more understanding of his responsibility to treat God’s creation with sensitivity, and should develop his talents to do something to beautify his little spot on the earth’s surface.”
Edith Schaeffer, The Hidden Art of Homemaking    

Sometimes, in a world of ISIS terrorism and starving children and four blood moons, I stop and wonder why I even care about pretty things or home renovations, or why a beautiful new arrangement makes me so excited, or why I’m so passionate about helping people to better health. I DO care about the first mentioned things, but I also care about seemingly small things.

And then I remember… just because I love the sight of a freshly made bed, or cry happy tears at an email with good health news, or get giddy at before & afters, it doesn’t make one less spiritual. It is learning to see the beauty of God in the middle of a broken world, and taking notice of these things is actually worshipping Him and thanking Him for the ways we see Him. Edith Schaeffer says it beautifully again:

“If you have been afraid that your love of beautiful flowers and the flickering flame of the candle is somehow less spiritual than living in starkness and ugliness, remember that He who created you to be creative gave you the things with which to make beauty and the sensitivity to appreciate and respond to His creation.”  

 Responding to and appreciating His creation… with the goal of bringing Him glory: that’s what I want to do.

  a simple attic bedroom

 Happy Hump-day, Lovelies!

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 Sources:
Desk Lamps: Lowe’s, Allen + Roth
White Waterfall Bedspread and shams: Ebay, similar here (they must have been running a special the day I purchased, because I paid less than half the price for the one I found)
Wall and ceiling color: Dove White, by Sherwin Williams, eggshell finish
Floor color: White Exterior-grade paint
Chandelier: IKEA, purchased from Ebay

Before & After – Attic Office Studio

So! I am over the top excited to show some pictures of our renovation process! Last fall felt like a whirlwind of action and work as we began the attic renovation and completed it in 10 weeks, just in time for the Christmas Tour of Homes we were scheduled for.

We thought our following two months would be slow(er), but they’ve also been filled up with some unexpected events, bringing us almost to March and I still haven’t shown the attic reveal!

There are several rooms that have been changed around here at the Cottage as a result of two additional rooms upstairs, but today we’ll begin with the attic, and the Office Studio on one side.

attic office

 

I have told people that if someone would bring me food and water, I could literally live in these two rooms upstairs. I absolutely love it!

I (I saw “I” because my husband very kindly let me choose the colors and style up here, but he did 99% of the work) went with whites – white on the walls, white on the floor, painted white wood on the end wall… A lot of white.

I was inspired by Swedish and Norwegian homes of much white space, and therefore minimalistic décor. I wanted a very simple look with clean lines. I couldn’t be happier with how this space turned out!

But first! A before shot. No windows, no insulation, not even a floor. Just dark.

We were working with a small-ish space, with very steep roof lines, and so wanted to use the fullest potential of this area.

bedroom #1 before
And the same space, after:

a white attic office

 

I know!!!!! Can you even believe it’s the same space?! I feel like I’m walking into a dream every time I come up here.

Our basic game plan for this room was to add a dormer window toward the front of the house, a big double window out the side, add electric and A/C, add knee-walls and then dry wall on the walls and ceiling, add flooring, add wood to the end wall. It was a LOT OF WORK. My husband did most of the work himself, along with working a full-time job. He put in so much time and hard work! And the way he transforms a place is simply amazing. His German work-horse roots come out in full force during something like this. :) I am simply in amazement of his vision and then the way he reaches his goal. There’s a reason he is wanted in the construction business!

The ceiling is high, about 13 feet at the peak. And this room is sized about 10 X 12, so we weren’t looking at a huge area, but because we only have two bedrooms on the lower level of the house, having this additional space was going to be wonderful! This room could be a bedroom, but we are using it as an office studio for now.

Ben and I share this office space. It’s simple, it’s white, it’s clean. I LOVE IT! Long-term our set-up probably wouldn’t be ideal, but for now we have a table for a desk, some filing cabinets hidden to the side, and a closet which holds any extras for us.

There were two brick fireplaces going up through the attic, due to two double fireplaces (that equals four) in the four front rooms of the house. I was so thankful we were able to place the rooms so we could save one of the chimneys going through the roof. I love the warmth it brings to this attic space, and gives it such a studio feel.

He also MADE (insert a million heart eyes) this sliding barn door, or actually three of them, for the upstairs. The closet uses one of them.

sliding door in the office

 

This table I found for super cheap at a thrift store, and my husband thought it was so ugly and couldn’t believe I would pay money for it. So he added the reclaimed lumber to the top and it turned into a gorgeous piece!

farmhouse style desk for the office

 

The sofa (which I found for $35 dollars on craigslist (and now I a.d.o.r.e. craigslist all the more) adds the perfect touch of warmth and texture to the room.

tufted sofa for the office

vintage sofa with modern pillows

 

The décor is minimal, but this little area is a favorite of mine:

floating shelves

floating shelves with simple decor

 

I’m learning, when having a palate of white, that texture is essential. So while most of the décor is white, here are a few ways I’ve added texture:

– the Eiffel chairs add a modern element [wooden legs, smooth chair]
-the table [white painted legs, top made of reclaimed lumber – thank you, dear Husband!]
– the shelves [floating style, shiny finish]
– wood boards on the end wall, and painted
– wooden floor, also painted but slightly different color than the walls
– metal pendant lights, painted black for contrast
-metal distressed ampersand

Each thing is a slightly different material, or color, or texture. And putting it all together with the slight differences but similarities are what give it a clean but warm feel.

an attic office

 

I think the work of restoration is so amazing. And such a picture of the redemption of Christ in the life of a person! He takes what we think is ugly, useless, beyond hope, and turns it into a masterpiece. If we as humans can do physical repair, how much more can the Great Restorer work on a deep soul level! I love that picture.

Be blessed because of the work of the Restorer in your life today!

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Sources:
Wall and Ceiling Color: Dove White, Sherwin Williams, eggshell finish
Floor: White Exterior Grade Paint
Eiffel Chairs: Amazon, similar here
Floor Lamp: Target, found here (and they are 10% off now!)
Floating Shelves: Lowe’s, found here
Metal Pendant Lights: we found them free!
Swiss Cross/Plus Sign Rug: Urban Outfitters, here
Table: thrifted, and Ben added the reclaimed lumber to the top

 

Attic Bedroom Sneak Peak

white attic bedroom

The attic renovation is literally just minutes away from being completely finished!! It is so exciting, and both Husband and I are nearly in shock that everything is actually coming together. :) It has been a huge project, but now is the fun part – the “painting of the canvas” that we’ve created, making it into a home.

I don’t have time for a detailed post, but I’m just so excited I want to show a quick picture. ;)
Everything has come together so well; it has been so busy, but not really stressful. It’s been peaceful, even with the incredible work days, works night that have varied from 12pm-3am the past week to try to get things finished up, and final details. The little things I’ve been collecting fit exactly as I thought they would; only better. I’m so grateful for the hand of God even in things like an attic remodel!

So just for fun, here is a before picture of the bedroom:

bedroom #2

And an after picture.

  white attic bedroom

It is a magical room. I want to move in there.

More details will come later! Today is a fun one;  finishing up last minute things for the Christmas Tour of Homes that is happening tomorrow!

Have a lovely weekend!

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