All that extra space between the floor and ceiling...

The bedroom in our little beach cottage is very small. That never bothered us, because with our nice big living room, we figured we'd only ever sleep and store clothes in the bedroom anyway. As long as there was room for a bed, dressers and a little closet, we'd be set.

Well, it turned out that the space I assigned to house Steve's dresser resulted in said dresser blocking the door to the bathroom. We lived with it like that for a year while we contemplated solutions. When my parents visited back in September, the brain trust discussed the problem:

Design ideas in mind, Steve and I embarked on a little building project.

Last bit of framing going into place ("walls" partially sheathed... the sheathing adds stability... you can jump up and down on this thing and it moves not a bit):

We had decided to paint the finished bedframe. So, while I was away spending time with my Grandma, Steve took the initiative to give everything a light sanding to prepare for the paint. Well, at least that's how things started out.

Upon doing an initial sand, Steve found that he thought the formerly unremarkable, rough, construction-grade wood looked quite nice. So he sanded it again. And again. And again.

Crazy as he is, I admit that the end result was beautiful. Obviously we couldn't just paint over such a lovely sanding job.

Steve begins to stain (he used two different colors, a lighter one to blend more closely with the floor and a darker one for a little more drama):

That done, we snugged Steve's dresser underneath:

Steve stapled some inexpensive indoor/outdoor carpet to the plywood base. This places a barrier between the mattress and plywood for cleanliness as well as just creating a nicer look.

Final(ish) product:

I add the "ish" because, as we all know, projects are never truly done. We plan to install a padded headboard after we pick out fabric. You can see the pictures leaning underneath and near the bed, so there's definitely a lot of decorating things still to do.

We currently use a small ladder to climb into bed. Eventually we plan to build a nicer fold-out ladder or something of that sort. It only takes a few steps to get up, so it really doesn't end up being a problem at this point in our lives. Steve can actually get up there without the ladder, but I don't have the arm-strength to vault onto the bed like he does. Something to work toward, I suppose.

We've been sleeping up there for a couple weeks now, and have found it very cozy. The additional height makes it more comfortable temperature-wise than before. With our 10 foot ceilings, the higher you can get in the room, the warmer you are. We'll see how it is this summer, but really our summers are mild, so the bonus of staying warmer in the winter is more valuable than any issues we'll have in warmer months.

Having the unblocked bathroom door has been wonderful and now we have a ton more storage behind the dresser to utilize as well. Things like Steve's dive gear and computer parts will fit nicely down there. We're planning to build some sort of door(s) to close that compartment eventually.

This weekend, it's back to working in the garden.

Yes, a rug in the kitchen...

Our little house has a lot of character, including some really lovely wood floors in the living room and bedroom. There are other things about this house that don't have quite so much appeal. One of my least favorite features is the kitchen floor.

The kitchen floor is real wood, sure. And I can definitely see beyond damage and glimpse the potential in many things. I cannot, however, seem to appreciate that floor. Thin, short planks with bland grain pattern and uninteresting color is all I can see.  Sure, I could change the color, but the best remedy for this floor would be to rip it all out. Having about a thousand things on the to-do list more pressing than this, Steve and I settled on a stopgap measure: a rug.

Yes, I know a rug in the kitchen is dangerous. High probability of spills. However, Steve is a neat cook, so I'm not too worried. Also, we focused on finding a rug that didn't cost a fortune, just in case.

We had been watching for a large, affordable, not-ugly rug for a long time. Eventually, woot.com came through for us. 

I'm sure it's a bit bold for many tastes, but I am thrilled with it. The more pattern, the better as far as I'm concerned. And I love not having to see (most of) that darn floor. As an added bonus, it provides great traction for the bunnies to get around. Rabbits don't have pads on the bottom of their feet like dogs and cats do (just fur), so they slip around on most hard-surface flooring and don't care for it. Interestingly (possibly only to me, but here goes...) there are exceptions. I've found that occasionally a rabbit is able to figure out graceful slick-surface maneuvering. Of all the rabbits I've had over the years, only Kuipo and Kiwi have figured out how to get around proficiently on slippery floors, so it seems to be a relatively rare trait. 

At any rate, before Steve and I rolled out the new rug, Steve deep-cleaned the kitchen floor. I snapped a picture of his cleanser-mixing technique, because it amused me. 

You can take the chemist out of the lab, but you can't take the lab (glass) out of the chemist.

Great Wall of Steve

Steve has completed his masterpiece. Behold!

The dirt area in front of the wall is going to be filled with more of the square pavers you can see in the pictures. The spaces between the pavers will be planted with moss to hopefully assist in absorbing rain water, as well as just making the whole look softer and greener. 

It's remarkable how much this project has opened up a very small yard. Progress continues!