The twins moved into their new room last night.
It’s a child’s room.
It was once a sweet, calming nursery that I loved.
But that’s just it – it was a nursery. The twins – now able to move about and as we’re finishing off the stairs it’s now a room they can go to and from in to play – need a space that is a room for two bouncy children, and not two tiny babies.
Bookshelves and toys came in, cots went out, and the room needed improvements in general.
So we moved the twins out and started (that cement rectangle in the photo was once a fireplace hearth. The fireplace was bricked up many years ago.)
And the twins moved into their big sister’s room.
Their big sister’s room moved into our room
A wardrobe – built (badly) sometime in the 80′s needed to come out. It was inefficient, clumsily built, and not brilliant quality.
And their clothes, books and toys – without a wardrobe – moved into the guest room.
First up was some spot removal.
And Alastair and I ripped out the cupboards.
The ceiling had been badly patched up over the years, and so Alastair took the ceiling down.
He also dug holes in the wall, ripped up floorboards (which I put newspapers, stories of today, and grocery store receipts under for future generations because a part of me will always adore archaeology).
A peculiarity of older homes here – ours is 100 years old and has a humble “farm” background, in that it and the house next door were built by two farm-working brothers – is that families couldn’t afford carpeting an entire room. So they would have a large rug in the middle of the room and paint the floor around it with bitumen or tar, to make it look like the room could be carpeted. Because the wardrobe (built in the 80′s) had been built on the tar covered floor, Alastair had to sand off the old stain.
The walls of the bedroom had to be lined with heavy lining paper as they were a poor plaster/lime-based render from the days when the room was first build.
And then Alastair painted it a happy, cheerful yellow (dodgy wrist = no more painting for me).
The previously sanded floor needed varnishing to match the rest of the floor.
Alastair sewed the curtains for the new bedroom.
And hung up side shelves, curtains, books on Nora’s side of the room.
I bought and hung a monkey decal for their wall.
And the room is now ready for little people to sleep in.
Her side.
And his.
There’s more to come – the antique wardrobe I bought for their room (something that I swear is straight out of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe) is under tarps outside as we have to take it apart to get it up the staircase. Alastair is working on the next bit, which is a frankly fantastic lighting design for their room that is so cool it’s unreal. I won’t give it away, but suffice to say that Nick is going to be beside himself. This new room is actually an interim design – the next phase for their room involves building the coolest bed space in the history of the world ever, but they need to grow just a bit more until we’re happy with it.
It was a sweet, calming nursery that I loved. It’s now a happy, cheerful child’s bedroom that I (and Nick and Nora) love.
Thus a twin baby room because a twin children’s room. More toys and books to be put in it, but the twins love it.
Now it’s nearly Friday. I’ve put in a massive work week already and there’s one more day to it but – and here’s a great but – Melissa and Jeff arrive tomorrow night. And on Saturday all six of us are heading to the airport and flying off to southern Spain (near Gibraltar) for a few days, taking advantage of cheap flights, a villa we rented, and some sun. We then fly back and Melissa and Jeff are with us until next Friday so we’re going to all relax as a family and eat massive Asian meals at a place we found nearby called Pacific Plaza (but which I can only seem to call Pleasure Palace, which is something completely different in nature).
So I’ll see you in a week.
Behave, match your bra and knickers, and don’t forget to make a wish when you find a rogue eyelash.
-S.
The room looks wonderful!! Great job! And I’m so jealous of your husband who seems to be able to do everything under the sun – he builds, he cooks, he stains and paints, and he sews too? Wow. Have a great vacation; I hope you’re able to actually relax a lot. You’ve more than earned it. Oh, and that dress and you in it? Stunning.
Wow, what an amazing job – I love getting to see all the steps… and Alastair is quite the magician!
I LOVE your renovation posts, they’re my favorite. The room looks amazing and wow, Alistair is quite the catch! :)
I love the Dr. Seuss picture – it’s one of my favorite children’s books. Actually, I love the whole room. Want to come and redecorate mine? It’s a bit of a wreck right now.
Super cute…but why so high with the books?
Enjoy your vacation, all of us will miss you:)
@ Christina – those are the nicer, “these are the ones we read together at bedtime” books (including two large collections of Dr. Seuss and Berenstein Bear books that were brought over from the States for them). What’s not shown is what we haven’t moved into the room yet – two massive crates of books that they read on their own. I think books should be accessible all of the time, but if little hands have not yet conquered not fighting over books, pulling them, etc then the nicer ones stay higher up until they’re ready to not be abused so the tougher, sturdier books are down low.
Totally agree about the books, and even now with my kids being older there are still books that are kept out of “reach” (which is theory only since Veronica is as tall as me and Scott could easily get a stool if he was so inclined).
The room is wonderful, and I can’t wait to see the light. Have a safe and fun holiday-I’m not jealous, much. However, we will be carving pumpkins and trick-or-treating, so I can’t complain too much.
And I never behave, let alone match my bra and panties. I like to live on the edge you know.
Great post. Can’t believe the magic you two worked on the room… Enjoy your well-earned vacation in the sun!
Yes. Special books have to be kept out of reach. We’ve got the ripped books to prove it.
And this room is awesome. Simply awesome.
Fantastic room! But it looks like one of those renovation horror stories – where you strip off the wallpaper and find giant holes in the wall, and then you patch the holes just before you find a short in the electrical circuit, necessitating removal of more wall. However, it has turned out beautifully…and obviously just in time!
Have a fantastic vacation…but why does my underwear have to match? (And, in spite of the intolerable damp, I am now considering moving to England so I can hear knickers instead of panties. I hate the word panties.)
Sweet room! Well organized and timing perfect, as ususal, you both are. You deserve your vacation. Happy days in Spain.
It looks brilliant. Light and airy – my dream bedroom!
Your man sewed curtains? wow. I have one word…
*KEEPER*
I love these before and after shots too – it’s like watching Changing Rooms, only without Laurence Llewellyn Bowen. ;)
The room looks fabulous. I can’t wait to see the lights and the new bed! hope you all have a great time in Spain.
The room is stunning! You all continue to amaze me with how much you manage to get done with the twins around. Lucky they are good helpers ;-) Enjoy your vacation!
I agree with Michelle- how do you manage to do all this with the twins? Looks very cool, I’m intrigued by the letters on your bedroom wall, couldn’t make out what they said…. :)
Oh it’s beautiful Shannon. I’m consistently amazed by how calm you and Alastair look as you rip out parts of your home and skilfully rebuild them. I only have to move some furniture around to get into a panic about whether or not order will EVER be restored in my home. You both really inspire me in this respect – I must try and get more adventurous in my living space :)
Alastair can sew too???? Oh he IS a treasure!! And I love the new room.
I’m so impressed with the new room. Alastair is quite handy to be able to do all of that himself (with your help, of course!). Looks fabulous!
I love Ikea too!
Phew!! What a lot of work and what a great result. just perfect. Love the monkey pic, can I ask where you got it?
Alistair rules!!! – just saying.
I LOVE IT!
Wow the room looks great. I bet the twins are so pleased with it. It is sad when they move out of their baby room but the smile when they know they are now big and can have big bed and new room is priceless.
I love the yellow color and love that Alistair sewed the super cute curtains. I love the monkey decal too. Wanted to add that the prints that you have in the toddler room pics – I have those too! They are stored away now but will be hung in the repainted playroom once we ever get around to painting it. You didn’t hang yours again… perhaps they are in storage too?
Can you send him to my house?