**Please Note** The little brick cottage renovation project took place and was originally posted here in 2012! It was my first project I posted on as well. Scroll to the bottom of this post to see posts on this entire project.
Last time I showed you the front bedroom, in this two bedroom little brick cottage. Now I’m going to show you how we transformed the back bedroom.
When we first bought this antique Victorian brick house, so quaint and small, it quickly got the name ‘the little brick cottage’. At that time the back bedroom looked like this:
There she is, in all her ‘before’ glory! Orange walls, narrow 1970’s trim, dirty carpet, old windows that have cracked panes of glass and don’t open, paneled walls with a horizontal seam 8” from the floor all the way around the room, and a bright orange radiator to boot.
One of the first things we had to do was cut the doorway to the closet larger, so the closet space could be used more efficiently. We also had to cut out the wall between the bathroom and back of the closet for re-plumbing etc. the bathroom, HERE you can read more about that. Point is, we did ‘steal’ some space from this closet, for the bathroom, but it was necessary.
Under the carpet we found douglas fir floors that needed to have that tar stuff sanded off stained and finished.
This shows the fir flooring after it was re-finished. But see the floor in the closet? It’s actually laminate. We didn’t have any original floor in this little space, so I picked up one box of laminate and it’ll work great for this little closet space.
The new trim installed and primed. (HERE is the painting tip post I wrote showing you how to give yourself some paint grace to get the best corners!)
New windows, that actually work! And the new trim. I was just getting ready to patch all the holes in the paneling before I painted the walls. I like the paneling, the grooves in the wallboard has character, but the color needs to be changed!
HERE is the post showing all the rooms primed, ready for paint.
This is the finished closet now. We have an access panel in the back wall for the washer and dryer hookups that are in the bathroom now.
I painted the closet fresh white and we installed this simple organizer, to try to get as much use of the space that we could.
To cover the horizontal seam around the room on the bottom 8” of the paneling, (due to the walls being over 8’ high) we put in extra wide base trim that just covers the seam. It totally looks original, as the antique trim in the other parts of the house is this high or higher.
I also painted the radiator white in here. HERE is a post showing what I painted the other radiators with.
The gray I painted on the walls is the same gray that is the inside of the built-ins in the dining room. Carrying the color theme throughout a small house is important, plus allowing a neutral color for the new family to decorate how they like. I used a semi-gloss for the wood paneling, as well as all the trim.
This back bedroom didn’t have a door when we started, so we put in the same 6 panel style as in the front bedroom, and used simple farmhouse style oil rubbed bronze doorknobs to go with the farmhouse style trim. HERE is where you can buy this style door knob.
So, there you go, is the 2nd bedroom done! It was transformed from a ‘jarring’ orange room lacking personality, to a lovely room with simple vintage farmhouse character.
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Interested in more reading? HERE is the Blog Landing with the most recent posts.
Here are all the posts from 2012 showing the entire renovations projects on the little brick cottage:
Kathy Ransom says
Oh my! Gorgeous transformation! I love the refinished floors, the trim and the new wall color! Now to decorate! I appreciate you sharing with Home and Garden Thursday,
Kathy
Stacey says
That looks great!
Thanks for linking up this week!
Stacey of Embracing Change
Jena @ Involving Color and Home says
Your bedroom is coming along beautifully! I love the transformation a little bit of paint can make in a room. The paint colors you chose look fantastic!
Jeri says
Oh my gosh what a transformation!! I love the gray with the crisp white, gorgeous!! Visiting from Remodelahoics!
xoxo
Jeri
Jen says
Looks so clean & fresh!
Love it!
Sharon Hines says
So fresh, light and airy. I’m amazed at all of the work y’all did on this home. Thanks for sharing the room reveal at Show & Tell.
Sharon @ mrs. hines class
KCoake says
What a great transformation! It looks fantastic.
KCoake says
Forgot to say that I liked you on fb(as The Real Thing with the Coake Family). Can’t wait to see your other tranformations!
Pamela says
Its going to be fabulous! Cant wait to see it completed! Thanx for partying at my place!:)
Kate says
Wow, that looks terriffic. I love the warm color you used! I hope you will share this (and any other rooms) at my new “May House Par-tay” at http://www.cheapcraftymama.com! I also would love for you to enter “Pin It and Win It Wednesday” where you can win free ad space on my blog!
Savannah Granny says
This is a beautiful makeover. From your narrative I am thinking this must be a flip house. My daughter and I flipped houses in Illinois a few years ago. It was fun but my health gave out and you HAVE to do a lot of the work yourself.
Great job.
Ginger
Cindy Geilmann says
So exciting to see the changes. You’ve done a great job.
hugs
cindy@stitches
Rachael says
Wonderful transformation. It’s beautiful, love the color! You’re going to be so happy. Now comes the fun part, decorating!
Cristina says
I love how everything is looking! The trim on the windows and baseboard is fantastic!
Mary says
Such a pretty color for the bedroom! Looking forward to seeing it all dressed up!
Revi says
What a lovely transformation! Nice work. 🙂
Teresa@SagebrushRidge says
Its beautiful! What a transformation.
S says
Love the transformation. That shade of grey is lovely. I now think soft neutrals are best for the bedrooms, so restful. Although I admit to having much brighter colors in the past.
Paula ~ Mise en scène says
Love the the room! The color is great. Hmmm, have to investigate that door knob for my closet!
thistle says
I love the transformation 🙂 Thanks for sharing your awesome ideas (I love your molding). I truly appreciate the wonderful comment you left on my blog!
Have a wonderful weekend!
blessings,
karianne
Julie says
That is so incredible!!!! So glad I visited! I switched out our door knobs to ones like yours. You def. have the decorating eye!!!! I am a new follower! 🙂 Hope to chat soon…
Jillian says
I like it!
Carolyn says
Lovely. Absolutely lovely.