Inside the Little House
😀
The Back Bedroom
(it used to be very blue)
The Back Bedroom Finished Finally!
well, almost, anyways
Sometimes it's too depressing to start out with the 'before' pictures, so here's a finished picture for starters and we'll go back to the beginning to see how we got here.
The back bedroom doesn't seem to have been a popular photo op so there's not a whole lot of pictures of it in it's 'before' state. When we first bought the little house, the back bedroom was a very bright blue with stickers of Spiderman and other kid's type of decals here and there. The floor had graffiti and painted handprints all over it, there was a huge hole in the wall between the bedroom and the bath due to water damage from the tub, there was an odd light fixture, etc., etc. It was too depressing to list all the things to fix so we just started fixing without lists.
Actually, starting in this room, there was at least a light fixture. There had been squatters in the house for about four months and when they finally got chased out (they'd told everyone they were buying it from the bank which is why it took so long to get rid of them), anyway, when they finally got chased out they took all the interior doors, most of the light fixtures, a lot of the light switches, the kitchen cabinet doors and basically everything that wasn't nailed down and some stuff that was.
Anyway, here's the the journey to get from being Very Blue to something less alarming. Clicking on the pictures will make them bigger, but you'll need your 'back' button to get back here. Hmm, maybe I should have them open in a new window? I'll try that.
If we were going to be living in the Little House instead of it being a rental, I would have taken out the louvered windows and replaced them with a matching double hung sash window like the original. Making a double hung sash window would have been a fun project, but it would have taken a month, no doubt.
At some point, the whole side wall of the house had been replaced which is why the windows don't match. That is the weather side of the house and is also why back in the '50's when this house was built, it was pretty popular to put three tab asphalt shingles on at least the weather side of houses. Since this house didn't get the shingles, the wall deteriorated from weather and at some point, the whole wall was replace.
I'm not sure what criteria was used to select where to place the replacement windows, nor the choice in type of window. I'm sure it made sense to someone at least at the time. But, asthetically speaking, the louver window size, type and placement annoys me. If we were to live there, I'd at least put matching curtains to the ones over the sash window to sorta get the windows to match, however "it's a rental" so I didn't replace the louvers and I don't know if we're gonna install curtains.
There's been so much work to do on this Little House that we haven't been able to do all the projects we would have done if it was a house we were going to live in. I'm sure the renters, whoever they turn out to be, won't notice the projects we didn't choose to do.
Long term water damage from the tub next door
damage removed, but used as a storage room
The hole in the wall was a semi-major repair, although when there's so many repairs and so much, what would otherwise be sort of a major repair just becomes another thing in the process.
The original damage was done by the tub surround on the other side of the wall leaking water behind the tub which rotted out the wall. Since this is a 'single wall' construction type house there's only one inch of wood between each room. The whole house - except for the replaced exterior wall on the weather side - is made of vertical 1" thick T & G fir boards. It's a very typical construction method in Hawaii for older houses.
As part of the bath renovation, the damaged part of the wall was removed and replaced with a big chunk of 1" thick plywood. The wall sheathing on either side holds it in place.
Due to the extensive surface damage to the interior and exterior of the walls, both sides were surfaced. The exterior gets three tab asphalt shingles and the interior gets 1/4" plywood everywhere.
Considering the depth of color in that blue, if we had tried to use paint to cover it, it would have taken most likely quite a few coats of paint. Even with Kilz paint, which is a great cover up paint, it still would have taken massive patch and repair and then multiple coats of paint. Had we done that, it still would have more than likely ended up with a marginal result. Resurfacing in quarter inch ply gives it a perfect surface to work with and saves tons of time in trying to patch and match.
The walls are probably considered to be 'float & finish flat' which is a much more expensive wall finish option when building houses. But, since we are starting with plywood instead of drywall and we don't factor in employee costs, we can take the extra time to do the float & finish flat type of finish. Most contractors hire drywall folks to drywall everything and then a textured surface is put on it to cover up any irregularities.
The front bedroom is still missing the wall between the front bedroom and the living room that was hacked out by the squatters. The wall will be eventually replaced before the project is done, but having it still open makes for a great construction site. We've been priming and painting the wall and ceiling boards there in the front bedroom before installation so after installation they just need one finish coat.
The original closet door managed to survive the squatters, but it didn't survive the termites very well. Maybe that's why the squatters didn't take it. So the old door was removed and a new mirror closet door was installed.
It looks like a pocket door, but it's actually a barn door type installation done on the inside of the closet. Much less expensive installation method and since the house is a single wall construction, there's only a 1" installaion inset. Not sure what it would look like if it was traditional double wall construcion. Perhaps if the 2x4 studs were set flat for the closet area it would work. We may try that in our next new construction project.
Laminate flooring really isn't my flooring of choice. If we were going to live here, the original T & G fir flooring would have been refinished. However, that's a pretty massive project and there were patches of damage which would have complicated the process. Laminate flooring is good enough for a rental and maybe sometime later - if we ever move into the Little House, the laminate can be taken up and the existing floor can be repaired and refinished.
It was a fairly quick installation, though. With laminate flooring, the plastic boards come with preprinted 'wood grain' on them. The various patterns were sorted into piles and each long strip across the room was done with the same pattern of board. The patterns match up from end to end. Of course, this was something that was noticed partway through the project so the first section is a random pattern. But it's a back bedroom and that will be covered by a bed most likely.
We did happen to have a fairly large carpet handy, so I put that in the back bedroom to start flattening out. If we rent the house furnished, it will go into the living room. If we don't rent it furnished, we may put it in our own living room.
Because this is a '50's house, we're trying to keep it somewhat true to it's origins. Making it all contemporary and 'modern' would sort of be like, IMHO, putting lipstick on a pig. We're going for 'Mid-Century' modern which is actually somewhat similar to the current 'modern & contemporary' style. It's sort of a clean and contemporary look but has colors instead of all neutrals.
As of August 24th, 2020, the back bedroom of the Little House still isn't officially finished. We still need to put in the trim around the floor and install the bedroom door. That will finish it off, once those two things are done. It's nice to be getting to the point to where we can actually make a 'to do' list. When we started there were way too many things to fix and it would have taken too long and been seriously depressing to list everything to be done.
If you like, you can send us an email and ask about bunnies, yarn, Hawaii things, what we should have on our webpage or just about anything else.
Mail to: Hillside Farm Hawaii