The Evolution of my Attic

"Before"

Remember this?  

This is the back wall view of the attic before I pronounced last fall that I would reclaim The Garden Palace from the furry beast and flying creatures.

"after"

 Here is the "after" with a few word to document the evolution of my Garden Palace attic. 

"before" front wall

"after"

 Dear sweet son came in early June.

He and I installed the floor. 

The truth is, I never really really thought this would happen. 

 Nearly done.

Taking a break.

 When the floor was finished, I started closing in the end walls. 

After a few days, I enlisted the help of D.J. who uses a bigger hammer than me.

Pipe Hand Rail

 On July 1st, we installed the hand rail. 

What a glorious day!

Maybe you can see how steep the stairs are.

You can't imagine how excited I was about this project. 

It couldn't be done until the wall was closed in.

 The thing to notice here is how little shelves were created in a "make it work" design moment.

 I placed jars on the shelves so they would show in the photo. 

By this time is was well into July and the Texas heat was not bearable in this tin roofed attic.

 Late September, I started back at it and finished installing the front wall. 

Now is when I should tell you that the wall material was any and every kind of board you can imagine. 

I used hundred year old floor boards, new floor boards, old garage door facing boards, old shelving boards, old bead board, new and old lumber bits and pieces.

Some had been painted, some had not, some was obviously new wood and some had an aged patina. 

The width nor the thickness mattered not to me. 

The point was first, to clear out a couple of hoards of such material and secondly, cheap.

 The first layer was a whitewash effect with just watered down white paint. 

 Then, I went back in with some paint colors on random places.

I really wanted to love this but when I realized the huge job I had created for myself in order to get the final finish that I wanted, I just knew that no matter what, I wasn't going to love it. 

 I also realized or rather remembered that my intention is to cover the walls with framed art and photos. 

That fact cinched it.

I had to paint the walls white. 

When I got the left side painted white, the conflict was over.

I loved it!

 On October 9th, the first painting was hung. 

It just felt like I needed to have this here while I continued the work. 

 Then the back wall. 

The Bridge

 To reach the wall and rafters above the stairwell, a bridge and ladder is used. 

Yes.

It's a little scary up there.

The Floor

 Even though I knew, I'm not crazy about gray paint, I still started out with it because it is a ready-mix color easy and quick to get. 

The color was light gray.

That is the light gray on the left.

It seemed too dark.

So I mixed it with a white to see if I might be happier.

Not really. 

 I went back to the store and had this light color mixed.

After using it, I saw that I could go a little darker without making the room dark, so I got another gallon mixed for the second coat. 

"after"

"after"
Stay tuned for more projects.
♥