we have an extra room in our house – it’s in the basement and we never really used it that often. before claire was born, it was a “home gym” but mostly used for storage. while i was on maternity leave, i realized that we have a ton of people who want to see claire and with only one guest room, we didn’t have enough room for people to stay!
b e f o r e :
here you can see our embarrassing before pictures. the wood panelling had to go, so i followed a combination of tutorials on line to paint the walls a generic white from lowe’s. basically, i primed the walls with two coats low VOC killz primer. i used a paint brush to paint the lines of the wood paneling and trim, and a foam roller to go over the rest. then, i painted two coats of white paint + primer over top. i did this for three days during claire’s naps and bedtimes!
d u r i n g :
painting is no joke, y’all! it was a huge leap of faith to paint over the paneling. once i started, there was no looking back!
a f t e r :
my biggest tips for completing a renovation like this:
- enlist help! my mom and sister watched claire so that my husband and i could paint
- let some things come together organically! there’s no rush to go out and buy #allthethings. almost everything in this room was pulled from other areas of my house or found at the thrift store / craigslist
- don’t be afraid to put quirky, conversation pieces out – this is what makes your home unique!
do you have any tips for completing a reno? drop a comment below!
girl gang + co 