Lofty Responses
There's this thing happening with the post about the loft that I didn't anticipate--there are questions coming up in the comments. I absolutely LOVE that they are, but the Review page isn't really built for responding. There are a zillion reasons I have it set up that way, and I don't want to change it. So, I figured I would address those questions here publicly.
First, though, I want to address the people who were all OMG! NEUTRAL COLORS! WAAAAAH! I'm totally on your team. I'm all about bright and vivid and even crazy colors. However, I'm in resale mode with this house. We bought it because it was a crazy good deal of a foreclosure, but I don't actually like the house. I like things about it, but not enough to be all, "We're staying here FOREVER!" We probably won't. Thus, I'm trying to be smart about the number of rooms that are outside of the neutral spectrum. Of course, white walls make me twitchy, so I wound up painting the ceiling, but whatever. Oh, and there's still an element missing to the wall paint that will spice things up a bit. When I get around to finishing that part, I'll post the results.
OK, so, the questions....
Do you think she will stay in this room once she is moved in? (megrcam51): I gave in on the whole "You already have a bedroom" thing once the weekend rolled around. I was cool with letting Alexis sleep up in the loft, but didn't want middle-of-the-night-oh-my-goodness-heeeeeelp-meeeeee-moooommmmy drama depriving me of sleep. So, she slept in the loft the first available Saturday night and . . . well, nothing. She stayed there all night, slept soundly, and didn't need her mommy at all.
Now let's take a moment to wrap our brains around that. My kid. Slept through the night. Without bothering me. ALL HAIL LOFT MAGIC!
She has slept there every night since (two weeks and counting) without ending up in our bed even once. (!!!!!!!!!!!!) She ain't never moving back. In fact, if she tries to go back to her bedroom, I might have to threaten tan Hello Kitty's life. Alexis is sleeping in that room whether she likes it or not. FOREVER.
A suggestion from bizzymom on how to deal with the blank walls "...Paint a beautiful mural on the wall...": Hahahahahahahaha! ::gasp:: Hahahahahahahaha! Um, NOOOOOOO. I've done the mural thing twice now and I. AM. DONE.
Actually, no I'm not.
I never finished the murals I started in Alexis' bedroom when we very first moved into this house. Two years ago. There are fairies without faces and flowers without petals in there. I honestly don't even know what I want to do about it at this point because in some ways, Alexis has already outgrown the theme in there. It's crazy how big of a difference there is between what 3-year olds like and what 5-year olds like. I've been debating the whole "Finish it or scrap it" thing for months. Right now I'm leaning towards "Just pretend it's not an issue and do nothing."
I love the idea of lofts, but they scare me in practice. I have a clumsy kid, so I envision him crashing to the floor while trying to get down to go to the bathroom. (Jen): Y'know, me too. I mean, Alexis is that kid who frequently gets attacked by walls and who never met a floor she didn't want to smash her head on. And, yet, I know for a fact that she climbed down and went to the bathroom in the middle of the night earlier this week and she didn't have any problems at all. It probably helps that she sleeps with a light on. It also probably helps that there is a good 18" between the edge of her mattress and the fall-to-the-floor side of the loft. If she were to roll off of the mattress, she'd have to keep rolling over her giant pile of crap before she would fall. Considering that pile of crap includes a box of tissue (I asked why she needed tissue up there and her answer made my brain feel like it had been replaced with glitter), two shoeboxes (again, don't ask because I have no clue why), and several other pointy jabby things, she's probably OK. Oh, and there is an edge all around the loft. I'll show what I mean when I post the loft how-to stuff because it probably makes sense once you see a photo.
Were the bookcases part of the loft or just something you added? (Mimi): The whole point of the room re-do was to have bookcases in that room, so they were going in there no matter what. The first draft of the plans for in there included floor-to-ceiling shelves on the same wall, but the air vent would have been in the way. Once I realized that, I started thinking about built-in window seats or some alternative, but then remembered that we are in resale mode. Whatever was built in there needed to be something that would still allow the room to be used as a bedroom so that potential future buyers didn't freak out. A loft fit the bill.
I originally drew up a loft plan that used bookshelves as supports in the front, but then Mr. Husband got all "I don't do bookshelves" on me. He was perfectly content to build the loft, but not bookshelves, so I went on an extensive hunt to find some the right size. I never did find them, but I was able to piece together a few different things from Target. The critical part was that they had to be 5' tall since I had decided that was the ideal height for a loft in that room (the ceiling is standard height). I have plans to add some trim so that the bookshelves and loft all look like one piece. I'll post photos once that part gets done.
Anyway, the short answer is that the bookshelves were added, but they are intended to be part of the loft. They'll get there soon.
Is it childish that I now want a loft bed?? (Ali): Ummmmm . . . NO. If the mattress up there were big enough (we're temporarily using the toddler bed mattress), I'd be up there right now. It's freakin cozy and awesome up there.
Last thing. Remember this photo?
Obviously, it was taken when Alexis was climbing up into the loft and I was already up there. When I went in to take photographs for the review posts, Alexis decided it was a FANTASTIC time to start relocating every stuffed animal she owns. She went up and down that ladder 5206 times, which made it really hard to take a decent photograph. What should have taken less than five minutes took more like an hour.
I'm pretty sure that's further proof that the kid is trying to destroy me.
Her "I'm innocent" shrug does nothing to convince me otherwise.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Reader Comments (13)
I had a loft bed in college and didn't even fall out while drunk. High fives to me.
(Not showing this post to my kids. Until we buy our next house. Then maybe.)
Leave it to me to ask another question, but I'm a bit shocked. You don't like the house?! Why?
@Jen--There's a looooooooong list. It starts out like this:
1. It's too big.
2. 5 1/2 bathrooms is stupid.
3. I hate how the dining room/entry is configured.
4. It's too big.
5. The master bathroom is worse than stupid. There's a bathtub in a hallway, the shower is so small humans can't lift their arms, and it's basically just configured really badly. It would be around $20K to remodel it and have it make sense.
6. The way the heating and cooling are installed is beyond disastrous.
7. It's too big.
8. I loathe that the garage is in the back.
9. The back yard is too small.
10. IT'S TOO BIG.
I could go on and on and on . . .
Loved the "I don't do bookcases" comment! I really like the clean lines of the loft/bookcases.
Hahaha......gasp....wheeze....High fives to Firemom (we must have gone to the same college cause I did lofts all 4 years- more room to put the keg that way!) Ahhhh the good ol' days - they banned alcohol on campus primarily due to the graduating classes of the early '80's - go us!
I could never paint a mural, but wall decals are the bomb! We put one in our nursery and it looks amazing. There are several sites and lots of fun designs. They're wicked easy to put up! So if you're looking to do something to the walls, you could try that!
I am sad that you aren't painting all of the walls in the house in Care Bear Blood.
"Alexis is that kid who frequently gets attacked by walls and who never met a floor she didn't want to smash her head on"
This made me snort coffee out of my nose.
Good. I'm glad it's not childish because I reallllllly want one, but one big enough for a Queen mattress! :)
ME, TOO: "Alexis is that kid who frequently gets attacked by walls and who never met a floor she didn't want to smash her head on"
i really liked this post. fun getting your back story to a finished product. very cool.
and i agree that 5 1/2 bathrooms for two and a half people is quite stupid.
@hello haha narf--Especially when every one of those bathrooms are too small. Why the builders didn't merge a few of them, I have no idea (my genius plan for fixing the master bath involves eliminating the bathroom that's in the guest room--it's an obvious merge point).
I really like how that turned out. I also think it would be awesome to sleep in a loft. It would be like your own little world up there and would definitely be good for day dreaming.
OH! Now I just have to find the loft bed that matches the twin beds that my mother bought for the girls, even though I said we should get a full size or double bed because My Younger Daughter hates -- with the passion of stinkbugs in September -- to sleep alone. And then I'll have a twin bed to store or sell. Thanks!
Great post! Thanks for answering the question about the bookshelves, I was wondering the exact same thing. I can't wait for the DIY, my daughter is dying for a bunkbed but her room is too small. I think a loft will be the perfect compromise.