A whole new room

A few months ago, we decided it was time to remove the old carpet from the playroom and replace it with tile. As with any remodel project, it is never as simple as you think it is going to be. We ended up replacing one whole side of wall board and most of the trim in the room, and re-painting the walls and trim.

Here is a before picture of the room on a regular day.

Here it is after cleaning most of the toys out.

Here we have pulled out the carpet and now in the middle of putting in the subfloor. Just in case you are wondering what is involved in the process of installing tile there is one layer of mortar, a layer of concrete backerboard (screwed in with 50 screws for each 3x5 piece), then mortar and tape over all the seams of the backerboard, then another layer of mortar, then the tile, and finally the grout and sealer.

Here the floor is done and we've installed the new wall board on that back wall. That wall had been bothering us since it looked like a previous owner had taken out a window unit (air conditioner) and put a piece of ply wood in the spot. It had been painted to match the rest of the walls but it never looked very good. Daniel tried to replace just that one section, but the big box stores don't carry the exact board that we needed so we had to replace the whole wall to make sure it all matched.

I'm not quite sure what I was thinking when I painted the playroom that gold color a couple of years ago. I thought it was going to turn out a little more neutral but I never liked it and always felt like we were surrounded by school bus yellow. So I went back to a very safe color. The girls helped throughout the process. They learned how to rip up carpet, spread a few feet of mortar, and caulk. They also painted a few parts that they could reach.

I have a little experience tiling since I have done 2 small bathrooms, but I'd never attempted a job as big as the playroom (around 250 sq. ft.). Daniel and I spent several years remodeling, renting, and selling houses when we lived in NC so neither one of us are afraid to tackle renovation projects. This project did prove to be challenging in many ways as we ran into a few unexpected delays/problems. It was hard enough to fit all of that work in during our free time. Remember Daniel is still teaching 2 classes a semester during summer school and working on his dissertation, and the girls and I are still homeschooling and dancing--oh, and there's the garden too. Somehow, we managed to find the time to get it done. I am so pleased with the results. It is not complete as we will be adding some more furniture including a couch and tv area and a large desk for our homeschool corner.

As I said, we started the project a few months ago. Besides the fact that we worked on it only on weekends (when not traveling or celebrating a holiday) and in the evenings, Daniel also replaced a toilet in the bathroom and a drain pipe for the washing machine. So, a few plumbing emergencies over the past few months held up the tile process too. Isn't it beautiful now? It feels so fresh, clean, and indestructible.