The Great Switcheroo

I love me a makeover. Nothing beats a good "before and after" and I bet you would agree with me. There is just something about drastic change that gets me excited.

Mark and I constantly toss around ideas of what we want to do with our house. We had never formally written the list down so I attempted to do so recently. It's only been in black-and-white for a week and yet items have been finished, added and removed. I will get to the completed items in a second but here is the newly amended list:

Build a shed
Landscape with mulch and a tree or two
Install a pantry
Install double sinks in the master bath
Frame the mirror in the master bath
Replace the mirror in the hall bath
Add a fan in the kitchen
Move the office into "bedroom 3"
Move the guest room upstairs to make a "guest suite"
Move the 'man room' to "bedroom 2"
Create a second closet in new office
Build better closet organization in office and "future nursery"
Install a back splash in the kitchen
Build outdoor planter boxes/benches to line the patio

As I am sure you can tell, the new/tweaked items are in blue. There are a couple items missing  that had to do with opening up a wall in the living room (and subsequently adjusting our hardwoods). We went up in the attic on Saturday and realized that the wall is very much load-bearing. We know we could add a header and fix the opening structurally but it's just not worth it. We may add it back to the list later but, as of right now, our monies and time are better spent elsewhere. The ones dealing with the mirrors and fan were on the list 'in our head' and I simply forgot to add them. I didn't realize it until after the list was published.

The Great Switcheroo actually began on Thursday night. (Leave it to me to start a huge project on a work night .. poor Mark.) The original plan was to simply flip the old office and guest room. They are right across the hall from each other so I figured it would be easy. I should have known better.

We spent Thursday night swapping all the furniture and I quickly realized that making the old office the new guest room was just not going to work. The furniture was just too big and the room felt cramped. I had to rethink the situation. On Friday night, while organizing the new office, I contemplated how to remedy the guest room conundrum.

Upstairs we have a bedroom, full bath and walk-in closet.  When we moved in, since the room is separated from the main part of the house, we deemed this the "man room".  Over the years it has become a catch-all for Mark's various projects and not the 'getaway' originally planned.  When thinking about the guest room situation, it dawned on me that upstairs would make a fantastic "guest suite" because guests would have complete privacy and quiet.

I wanted to be fair to Mark and so I approached the subject carefully.  Once I explained my idea to him he agreed.  So on Saturday, the guest room furniture moved upstairs and the beer fridge and lounge chair moved downstairs.  By Saturday night we were exhausted and thrilled.  I just can't get over the changes.  I feel like we have doubled our square footage and the flow is so much better.  I just wish we had done this four years ago.

All of the rooms are in various stages of progress and it will be a long time until they are totally finished.  I will post "before and after" pictures based on the original switch.  We spent $10 on sheer window panels for the new office and that was it.  So for $10 we got three brand new rooms.  Not too shabby :)

Each room will get its own post (the better for referencing) so keep an eye out.  First up is the new office....

Have you done any room switching lately?  Do you start projects on weeknights knowing you have to get up early in the morning?  Do you love makeovers as much as I do?