A Room to Call Their Own

The boys have been sleeping, eating and storing all of their things in our living room since they were born. The proximity to Steve's and my bedroom was extremely convenient when the boys needed tending every few hours early in life. We always intended to move the boys to the strange "bonus" room in the back of our house once they were sleeping through the night, but we definitely needed help with the endeavor. 

Managing the worksite, Jack wears his hearing protection, making safety professional Daddy proud:

My parents came up for two weeks to work on the boys' room and contribute afternoon childcare during the busy tax season. The rabbits went to stay at our petsitters' house for much of that time, and my dad and Steve jumped straight to work.... so quickly, in fact, I didn't get a true "before" picture. The room was being used as storage and rabbit housing. I managed to cause all the stuff to fade elsewhere into the house while the rabbits moved into the living room.

Steve, early in construction, prepares the remove the sliding glass door:

After door removal:

My dad framing in the opening for windows:

Framing complete and windows installed, a lovely blue tarp protects the new construction from troublesome passing rain showers:

Steve, working on high window replacement:

After two weeks of hard work, my dad and Steve managed to replace the sliding glass door with new double-hung windows, replace the two existing high windows, repair the exterior siding, fix an uncovered electrical problem, put in some insulation, patch everything up and top it off with a couple coats of paint.

With only minimal further ado, the "after" pictures...

The room is small and, thus, difficult to photograph. It has a sloped ceiling which, while somewhat bizarre, makes the room feel more spacious than its modest footprint. We aren't quite finished. There's more art to hang, including a poster I ordered to go above the boys' beds. We have one more stair rail to complete and some more child-proofing to do. 

Boys' beds, which fit in the space with only a couple inches to spare, swing-out curtains open showing the neighbors' bamboo (which makes some fun sparkly sunlight patterns for the boys to look at in the afternoons):

View from the kitchen door into the boys' room:

Windows open to our backyard:

View from the kitchen door, curtains closed:

The posters on the wall are of butterflies, dandelions and color wheels. Steve made simple scroll-like frames with half-round molding attached to the posters with double-sided tape. I'm delighted with them; it's difficult to tell at this point what the boys think of them.

There are two identical dressers in opposite corners on each side of the new windows. Right now the storage is shared, but eventually the boys will be able to each have their own.

 

Close up of the high window curtains, festooned with friendly sea creatures:

The curtains turned out pretty well, especially considering we have neither time nor a sewing machine (I haven't the faintest idea how to use one, and we have nowhere to store it anyway). We'll be able to swap out the fabric to whatever the boys like as they get older and develop opinions about such things.

The wall the room shares with the kitchen, on which hang friendly little climbing hooks for their jackets:

The boys seem comfortable in their room, and Steve and I now have our living room back after they go to bed. The boys sleep well at night, so our evenings are a strange echo of our former life... watching movies and TV on the couch, playing video games and reading. It's, frankly, weird.

Finally, pictures of the boys with my parents during the busy working visit...

Learning to pick stocks, watching Nightly Business Report with Grandma (Jack in lap, Henry on floor with beloved spider book):

 

Henry and Grandma, deciding whether they should humor me for the picture:

Okay, I guess we'll do it:

Jack and Grandma:

Grandma kisses:

Yay!

Jack and Grandpa after a long days' work:

We didn't manage to get a picture of Henry with Grandpa this visit, but we'll sneak up on them next time.