A Peek Upstairs

Who's ready for a little peek upstairs? Yesterday, I went upstairs to "de-clutter". Well, it lasted about 30 minutes tops due to no air conditioning. And, because the green shag carpet was closing in on me.

A little back story on why the upstairs is so cluttered. When we moved in, we literally just threw things up here because we had no idea what else to do with all the "stuff".  All that's upstairs is stuff that we don't use on a daily basis - books, DVDs, office supplies, etc. Plus, we were in the process of finishing up with the sanding/staining/polyurethane-ing the floors downstairs.   My goal for de-cluttering upstairs was basically just to put some of the things in those big black contractor bags into storage containers. While this did not get accomplished in the full sense of the term (hey, I got two packed up), I did manage to get some pictures.

Okay I'll give you the grand tour. So when you first walk up the stairs, you make a right turn and you're in the room. You can only see a piece of it in this picture, but there is a big built in shelf along the wall. Obviously there is wood paneled walls upstairs. Plans for that - I think we're simply going to paint it a cream color. I think the space upstairs just needs to be brighter. Plans for the floors - neutral carpet. Nothing fancy. This room upstairs is pretty big - I don't know the exact dimensions but right now it is home to two queen size beds, two desks, a bunch of junk, and 3 closets. 

Yep, the fixture is hanging down off the ceiling. So there is no light up here at the moment.  Can you see my vision of light carpet and cream walls? I think that'll make a huge difference. 

Oh, and if you're wondering where those two beds came from. They were left with the house. And the beds are made. Anyone wanna come sleep over? :)

There's a nook on either side of the room where there is a desk (left behind again) that fits right in. And that hole in the wall is open because Josh goes through it into the attic for electrical work. 

Okay, so if you can make it past all that - side note - when we first came to see the house, I poked my head upstairs and then ran back downstairs. It's scary in the pitch black and in winter when its freezing cold and there are creepy beds looking at you. Oh yeah, I live here now :) Okay so we've made it this far. To your right, there are 8 built in dresser drawers along the wall followed by two of the closets.

Then to your left, there is a bathroom... SURPRISE! It's BLUE! The shower, toilet, vanity, closet doors, AND the closet shelves are blue. And you thought the obsession with blue stopped at the downstairs carpeting. 

Everyone who comes over and sees the upstairs says "Oh my gosh, this reminds me of my grandmothers house!" Oddly enough, one of my grandmothers had a blue bathroom. But she didn't have green shag carpet inside it, right Mom? 

The blue tiled shower actually doesn't bother me all that much. Close your eyes and imagine the toilet, vanity, carpet, blue closet doors, etc. all gone. Makes the blue shower more appealing. I've heard some tricks about painting tile. Maybe I'll give that a try. As for other plans, I'm thinking a white toilet, basic vanity, and new closet doors, and some plain tile floors. All topped off with a fresh coat of paint. 

Nice touch that they left us a cup, washcloth, and bar of soap, right? 

If I haven't scarred you enough, there's one not-so-scary thing left to see. Remember when you first walked into the room, you had to take a right. Well if you had gone left, you would have walked into a large walk in closet. It's more like a walk in storage closet. Great for storing Christmas decorations and that sort of thing. 

I have a feeling the "finished" upstairs won't be for quite some time. We really don't have plans to put anything up there for the time being. We picture it more as like bonus space. A less creepy bonus space. What would you do with it?