stripes, fabric and guests
When we built the ‘studio’ last year, we kind of built as we went. It really isn’t a ‘studio’, I just call it that so the boys won’t start calling it a man cave and taking it over. If I brainwash them at a young age that it is “Mom’s Studio” maybe I’ll have better luck when they are older and want to take it over with their stuff. Anyway, when we built it we originally planned a little nook up top. It was only going to be big enough for a mattress and we’d use a ladder to get up there. Our neighbor/friend/framer suggested we go ahead and make better use of the space by opening it up. So we did.
We are turning the loft area into a space for guests. It is amazing how many times we’ve already been able to use it to host others – even when it was far from ‘ready’. Thankfully our guests never minded the in-construction look. I painted the floors white last spring, but was not able to seal them before we had a guest come stay. After months of wear and tear with no top coat they were not so white and pretty.
I finally got a new white coat on and decided to add some stripes.
I got the first coat for the strips on and decided they were way too dark. So, I mixed the white and grey (more parts white) and added another coat.
The mattress and box springs have been on the floor for a couple months while I’ve been searching for an affordable bed frame. Queen bed frames are really hard to find! I found one on Craigslist and decided to paint it pale yellow.
Once I got it inside, I realized I didn’t do a very good job with the paint and had to come up with another plan. I’ve been purging every room of our home and had lots of fabric on hand, so fabric wrapping the bed it was.
I cut the strips about 1 inch wide and just started wrapping. I used hot glue to glue the fabrics on top of eachother as I went and tied it tightly to the bed. I didn’t seal or glue the fabric to the bed that way I can remove it easily when I want a change. Which I will. I’m always changing my mind. I’ve already changed plans in this post 6 times (white floor, stripes, dark grey, light grey, yellow bed, fabric bed). Putting the fabric on it permanently is not wise for me.
Here’s the view from laying in the bed…you can wake up to see the chickens.
And the view looking over the railing.
And the view from downstairs looking up.
We didn’t need this space to be able to host others in our home. But, I sure am grateful we have it and we hope to use it LOTS for others. We started a guest book in January. My hope is that over time that guest book will be filled with the names of old friends and new friends. I think it will be a beautiful account in the years to come for our family. One day we’ll look back and remember all the times we were given the gift of getting to welcome others in our home.