Charlotte's room renovation - Part 2

So what prompted the moment of actual action on the room front?  Well half of our little family headed to Coffs Harbour for a week's holiday.

Given Rowan gets migraines from nail polish and baby Evan is only a few months old, I thought having them out of the house while I painted was probably a good idea.  It also happened to line up on a week when the kids were with their Dad.  The timing couldn't have been more perfect.

My Dad tells me that when you have big plans the Universe will send something to test your commitment to them.  This time the Universe sent the plague.  Since I wasn't going to get another opportunity like this for a good long while, plans had to go ahead.  A one-day job turned into three and suddenly I was heading up the ladder in between head spins and chewing pseudoephidrine the way some people knock back Skittles.  I kind of felt like if the Universe was testing me I should have passed after the first day and the sickness would give way but no such luck.

First up I cleaned out all the furniture and went through all her stuff.  I only took one photo to record the horror of this particular process.  Behold, under Madam's bed...

Bleugh.  Way, way, way past the time when this should have been done.  Next up was prep lock for the ceiling.  Here's what it looked like after two coats of paint;

Two coats of ceiling paint went over the top of that.  You can still see some of the worst bits very faintly if you know where to look but otherwise it looks like a perfectly normal ceiling.

Next came patching the walls and cutting in around the edges with the paint.  

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The colour, in case you're wondering, is Taubman's purplicious.  I was worried it might be too dark but the room has enough windows to make it light enough to pull it off.  Here's the end result;

So I mentioned in Part 1 of the room renovation blog that the carpet had some issues.  I hadn't been planning to do anything about it but when the room was painted it quickly became obvious that I couldn't put everything back on top of the feral carpet, I just couldn't.  So I called a carpet cleaning guy who came and took one look...

...and was immediately like, "Lady, no, I am not cleaning that."  First of all he wasn't sure the cleaning process would do much about the worst of the coloured stuff.  Second, he was pretty sure that ominous large waxy stain we've been hiding under a bed for five years would "melt and spread" and finally, because the carpet is wool he said the amount of water needed to clean it would make the whole lot turn brown and smell bad.  "I don't know what your finances are like," he shrugged, "But I think we'll both sleep better tonight if we agree I'm not going to clean this carpet and you're going to find a few extra dollars to buy a new one instead."

This takes place at four o'clock on a Thursday afternoon.  I have an hour to try and find someone who can sell me carpet and lay it the next day because Kat and Rowan are due back Saturday and I'm guessing they'd rather all their bedrooms weren't filled up with Charlotte's furniture and belongings.  Long story short I managed it. J & M flooring solutions in Weston agreed to supply and fit 100% pure wool Berber carpet the very next morning for $300 - roughly double what cleaning it would have cost.  Oh.  My.  God.   It's beautiful.

So this takes place on Friday morning and I'm still completely trashed with the plague.

Thursday nights I always have the kids and so they've seen the new room and were present while the carpet was laid.

It's also school holidays.  As soon as the carpet was down I planned to take them over to their grandparents' house for the day so I could die a quiet death in bed but Charlotte was desperate for her room to be finished.  Please Mama, please, please can we finish it?  I'll even help you with the furniture...

How do you say no to that?  You can't unless you're dead.  True to their word they helped.  Little man carting books back to the bookshelf and Madam powering up her little arms for some quality furniture moving.  So here you go.  Some shots of her new room with all the revamped furniture back in place;

There are a few more loose ends to go.  The money for her blinds went on the new carpet instead so, for now, we're stuck with the crappy aluminium ones.  I also need to make her a name plate for her door and a valance to hide the base of her bed (a job for this weekend).  But I did manage to buy her some new manchester on sale and she is the happiest little girl, spending all her time in there and cleaning it before bed every night.  

A run down of the renovation costs for those interested;

Premixed plaster repair - $15
1L Zinsser 1 * 2 * 3 prep lock - $25
4L British Paints Ceiling White - $31
Taubman's low sheen Endure in Purplicious - $70
Taubman's semi gloss in Soft Velvet - $80
Berber carpet supplied and installed - $300
Coffee table from tip shop - $5
Bedside table from tip shop - $10

Brass handles for bedside table $12
Quilt cover set - $14 from Kmart
King Single fitted sheet - $4.20 from Best and Less

All up, just under $600.  Stay tuned for the finishing touches when I get there.