Schoolroom transformation, part 1

This house has an amazing room that the previous occupants called The Den. My sister calls it The Rumpus Room. I call it The Inappropriate Schoolroom. Note the bar, hence the inappropriate. Also? That light fixture above the bar? It is ugly. And the light, when illuminated, casts an orange hue that can only be described as murder scene lighting.

So, before we had chaos. My sister says that my brand of chaos is not the average persons brand of chaos, but it is chaos nonetheless.

This red chair is my decorating kryptonite. We bought it in North Carolina, but it only worked well as a functioning piece of furniture in the FROG (family room over garage) in North Carolina. I keep it for purely sentimental reasons. It was, literally, the elephant in the room when it was placed there in the schoolroom as a last resort. You could not get around it and it is afraid of mice. It is crazy. Currently it is taking up 98% of the floor space in the family room. Something need done with it, as my favorite North Carolina pal used to say.

More of my brand of chaos. And a random child.

I should have closed the door to the bathroom. Tres tacky. Readers, meet the toilet. That behemoth of a coat rack was left by the previous occupants. I think they left it to drive me crazy because every place that I put it, I accidentally walk into it. I hate that stupid thing.

Oh! This was the water that I used to wash the paneling. Um, ew. That was one wall. The paneling is going to be painted. I don't mind painted paneling, in fact, I really like it as it adds some architectural character to a room. The brown paneling and trim in this room though, make me feel like I am sitting in a cave. In 1970. With Marcia Brady. And we are saying things like, "Dancing with Davy Jones is so groovy."

That's better. I call this the art corner. I am original with my titles, admire me. The boys painted those abstract art canvases in North Carolina. I love the bold pops of color. That magazine rack belonged to my grandma. It makes me happy to have a part of her near me. Also? Classical music playing softly in the schoolroom? Must have.


This was our first day. Notice the red chair is absent. In its place is the white chair that I slip covered my mother worked on tirelessly. This chair is a much better fit.

The, finally(!), organized shelves.


How adorable are those jars from Ikea? Love. I am going to go back and purchase a few more.

To be or not to be sign courtesy of Primitives by Kathy. I have this one and this one on my wish list.


Outside is the patio. I cannot wait until the humidity disperses and we can commence with outside reading.


I plan on painting the paneling on our six week break. I can't wait to cheer this room up with some color.

More afters to follow!