Unveiling the Girls' Dormitory

After months of work, we have moved the girls into the Hogwarts style girls' dormitory.  Our goal was to use limited space efficiently to create private and shared spaces that girls can use to rest and to play.  We've done most of the work ourselves, but have had **lots** of advice and instruction.  Here are some pics.

Before:  small, leaky window, no heat, active wasp nest, dusty, stinky, full of spiderwebs and dust.

 Nearly ready for move in:  new sheetrock, insulation, window, flooring, lighting, heating.

We still  need to build the door for the access hole on the left.  The storage space is also insulated and provides some needed room to put things like the Christmas tree.

After move in: still some work to do. 

Each of the four girls has her own corner of the room.   Each girl has two can lights in the ceiling, one over the head of her bed and one over the dresser.  She has her own switch to control her lights.  She also has two outlets.  We wired plenty of circuits to make sure that multiple hair dryers can be used at once.    

A different perspective to show a room divider mounted from the ceiling. 

There is a wooden wall divider mounted on the left and the right side of the room.  Where the dressers are now will have freestanding closets added.  The dressers will be scooted over toward the walls, in front of the room dividers.  Each girl will have a ceiling-to-floor curtain hung in the "doorway" of her space, so that she can have complete privacy and the ability to escape into her own personal world.

.

The other side of the room.

The girls chose their own wall colors.  Kathleen has a bright cheery yellow.  Constance chose a lovely shade of lavender.  The two little girls went with a soothing shade of blue.  The ceiling and trim are white.  My mom says they are "Easter Egg" colors.

The flooring is the cheapest laminate from Lowes.  It was chosen to blend with the rustic hardwood in the rest of the upstairs.  There is one step up to get into this bedroom, so while the flooring doesn't match exactly, it goes well enough to blend nicely.

We still need to add legs to the beds (which my dad made.)  We will also add underbed storage bins to hold the girls' assorted stuff.  

Across the hall is the room that they have been sleeping in. It has a full height ceiling and will be used as a play room.  We call the two upstairs rooms the "children's suite."