I am so grateful for all the input this week on the details of our bedroom. I am very pleased to tell you that after reading all your comments and thinking about the possibilities presented, I have a very clear plan for the hallway and bedroom. And after meeting with the contractor yesterday, I know that my plans are actually feasible.
First, I’ll start with the bad so we can end on a good note. The bad thing has to do with the hallway floor. Yesterday morning, while the contractor was here, I asked him about the floor under the hall closet.
He was the one who took out the floor and subfloor after the bathroom and hallway flooded (you can read about that horrible situation here) and replaced the subfloor for me. I was the one who installed the new hardwood floor. But if I remove that cabinet (actually, not if, but when), the floor under the cabinet will not match the rest of the hallway because the new subfloor and flooring were installed around the cabinet, not under the cabinet.
I asked him if I could remove the cut pieces of flooring and put down new pieces of flooring, and he laughed a little and said no. I understand. I’ve done it before and it’s not easy. Making repairs to tongue-and-groove wood floors where specific old floorboards need to be removed without destroying the surrounding ones, and then new ones need to be added to blend in with the old boards, is a task best left to the professionals. . I’m not saying it’s impossible for a DIYer to do it. Again, I’ve done this before, but I’ve never done it in an area as large as the one under the hallway cabinet.
He said that, in his opinion, it would be easier and faster to replace the entire hallway floor. And you know what? I had already been thinking that, so it was interesting to hear him (a professional, although not a hardwood flooring professional) say what I (just a DIYer) had been thinking. Considering the amount of time it would take me to carefully remove those cut floor boards without damaging the rest and install the new boards, I really think it would be easier, faster, and a lot less frustrating to just replace them all. Installing new floors is very easy, simple and much less frustrating than trying to repair them. If we were talking about a large room, the story would be different. But this is a pretty small hallway, so I think you might be right. I’ll re-evaluate it after removing the cabinet.
Now let’s get to the good stuff. I have decided to open the bedroom door completely. It will open up to the side walls and up to the ceiling.
Not only will there be no door there, but there will be no opening either. He confirmed that there’s nothing load-bearing there, so it should be a no-brainer. The frame of the sliding door makes it a little more difficult than if it were a normal door, but it will still work fine.
However, I have decided that I want the two areas to be visually separated. I wasn’t crazy about bringing the blanket and wainscoting into the hallway. Not only did that seem like too much of a good thing, but it would also be a challenge since, for now, I would have to wallpaper around the bathroom doors, and then I would have to fill in the wallpaper. once that door is covered with drywall. I didn’t love that idea.
So how will I separate the two areas? Well, someone commented on yesterday’s post and left a link to this DIY arch these people added to their previously nondescript hallway.
I don’t want an arch in our bedroom because, to me, it looks out of place in our house. We have no other arches and have no plans to add other arches. So a random arc would seem strange to me.
But that got the wheels turning and I found some similar ideas on Pinterest that I think would complement the decorating work I’ve already done in our house. Basically, in that little “hallway” leading into the bedroom, I’ll be doing a version of the walls I did in the toilet area of our bathroom…
But in this situation, I’ll also add that treatment to the roof. Imagine something similar to this arched doorway from Hambels Get Real, but without the arch in the ceiling…
That will give the two areas visual separation and add about four inches of width to the bedroom entrance. It will open the two areas to each other, without needing to carry the grass cloth and wainscoting into the hallway. And the molding will be cohesive with other areas of the house. I’m so excited to have a plan in place! Now I feel like I can start.
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 upper that my husband Matt and I purchased in 2013. Matt has MS and can’t do physical labor, so I do most of the work in the house alone. You can learn more about me here.
