Rec Room Re-do

I mentioned in this post the other day that we've got some big ideas/plans for our house's rec room. I promise in another post I'll talk allllll about those plans, but first let me familiarize you with the room itself.

I don't know if I've ever even shown our rec room to you. And maybe that's because until recently, it used to looked like this:

YIKES! Holy wood, wood, and more wood Batman!

Four walls, AND the ceiling were clad in wood. That's waaaay too much wood (that'swhatshesaid). ;)

The ceiling was and still is my favorite part of the room - it's a richly stained, very pretty beadboard, which makes us relatively sure this room used to be the house's back porch (we've found, at least in our area of PA, that a lot of older homes' front and/or back porch ceilings were dressed with beadboard). That, and the fact that our neighbor, who lived across the street all his life, remembers this being the old back porch :)

But because every surface of the room is wood, save for the carpeted floor, the ceiling was the last thing anyone noticed. Plus this room was flat out DARK and DEPRESSING. And so I set out to change that.

Hint, hint. You can see a little sliver of it there on the left wall in the photo below:

Leaving the ceiling as is, we started sanding down (for good adhesion) and priming EVERYTHING else...The wood paneling, the wood trim around the windows, the corner trim between the wall and ceiling, and the built-in bookcase(in the photos above and below).

Yes, even that was originally stained wood.

After TWO coats of primer - because the stained and poly'd wood paneling bled through the first coat in some spots - it looked like this on the left wall (the wall with the door that leads out to our now back porch and yard, mentioned here).

Then, after two coats of Benjamin Moore paint in eggsell finish, a good night's sleep and a half-a$$ed photo shoot the next morning ;) , we had this:

Here's a close-up. The color's hard to read in pictures (especially these crappy ones, haha. Don't worry, there are better photos later) but it's a subtle off-white when paired with the semi-gloss white on the trim and door:

Here's the longest expanse of wall halfway done (the wall continues about 2-3 feet beyond that second window). It was so much work I did it in sections to keep from going crazy...though some might say it's too late for that ;)

Then I finished the right wall and half-bath wall but for got to take picures of them :) The bathroom itself got an overhaul too, but that's for another post yet to come.

Now for the reveal: Here's the finished product of the room with our desk setup. Isn't it so much brighter (read soooo not depressing anymore) and doesn't the ceiling stand out beautifully now?

Above the desk I hung some stuff like this chalkboard. It was an old window my mom and I found in my grandparent's barn. I freshened up the white paint and sprayed the glass panes with chalkboard paint.

I've been writing season-themed sayings on them. All summer long it's said, "Let's have fun in the summer sun"

Then this summer-filled round frame hangs near the top of the wall (I found it at Big Lots along with the curtains in this room). It has pictures from our honeymoon, some other beach trips, and winston of course :)

It's a fun spot to switch out seasonal decor.

I'll take the round frame down in Fall (which for me is like, a week from now!!!) and put up a leaf wreath. Then for Christmas I hang a music sheet wreath I made last year. And then for Spring I'll hang a faux forsythia wreath - which you would think I'd have an aversion to after our backyard forsythia clearing rampage adventure mentioned here. :)

The last thing on the wall above the desk is a frame with old photos from when I was still in college.

From left to right, top to bottom, its one of my mom's kittens, my mom dancing, my sister, a bridge in New York (I wish I knew what bridge it is!), a piece of one of the World Trade Center's beams left from the rubble and shaped like a cross, and my mom reading.

The wall area to the left of the door has become a spot where we hang up Winston's collars and leashes. I hung that piece of wood and hooks with the thought in mind that in the future it'll be a place to hang coats, hats and kick off shoes when little ones come in after playing outside :)

I'll leave you with a side-by-side Before and After, and as promised I'll be back later with posts on the bathroom makeover and our plans for making this room MUCH more functional. Til then, as Tigger says, "TTFN! Ta-ta for now!"

                                  BEFORE                                            AFTER

      

~Amy