We made it to the second floor, friends. It felt nearly impossible, but the first floor is (mostly) finished and we’re working on the upstairs overhaul.
The second floor is slightly smaller than the first, measuring just over 1,200 square feet. It’s home to four bedrooms and two bathrooms. Closest to the stairs is the original primary suite, which has an incredibly questionable configuration. The bedroom itself is large, but the remainder of the suite is chopped up into four small spaces: a vanity area, a small bathroom, a walk-in closet, and a reach-in closet. Down the hall is a full bath and three spacious bedrooms, plus a couple of linen closets.
If you’ve been following along since we bought the house, then you’ll remember its stunning 70s finishes. The upstairs wasn’t lacking any of that groovy charm, complete with popcorn ceilings, bright red carpet, an intercom system, and more wallpaper than should ever exist in one house—and the curtains to match!
Here’s the original floorplan and a handful of before photos.
Last summer we did some demo upstairs while concurrently working on the first floor. We removed all of the carpet, scraped the popcorn ceilings and steamed wallpaper. Dan did the hard work of demolishing both bathrooms because, as luck would have it, the plumbing was the culprit of our seven-foot kitchen ceiling. After moving the plumbing around, we shut the doors and turned off the lights, leaving the upstairs untouched until this spring.
Thankfully, the majority of the rooms only needed cosmetic updates—paint, flooring and lighting.
As much as I wanted to take a nice long break from home projects, I put on my big girl pants and painted three bedrooms in April. My dad helped install flooring along the way, as well as build bookshelves in my office. Each of the rooms is inhabitable, but I’m not ready to call them done just yet. We still have lots of punch list items on our to-do list—ceiling spots to touch up, closet doors to paint, door hardware to change out, etc.
Here’s our game plan for the remodeled upstairs.
We’re currently working on the hall bathroom, which has been much more labor intensive. I promised friends they could stay with us in early August, which means we’re racing to get it done in time, but I’m confident it’ll be ready for their visit. The primary suite sits untouched, housing all of our tools and supplies. That space will eventually be Dan’s studio, but we’re still trying to nail down a specific game plan.
As you can tell, the upstairs has been a little anticlimactic. We haven’t made nearly as many changes as we made downstairs—and thank goodness! We’re still trying to nail down some details, but we’re excited to be nearing the finish line on this remodel.
Stay tuned for an update on the bathroom progress, as well as a download on some of the other downstairs spaces that recently received their finishing touches!
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