When we built this house 16 years ago, we had to cut many of the extras that were included in the plans. One of those was a finished bonus room over the garage. Over time Mitch put sheet rock up and had it wired, but for all those years it was just an overflow from the attic. Particle board floors, bare bulb lights, untrimmed window... bare bones.
The only access to the room was by pull down attic stairs in the garage.
I won't go into the details of how Alyssa's marriage ended, it's not my story to tell. But as a mom, I didn't want my child to stay in an unhappy situation because she felt she had nowhere else to go, no other options. Without thought as to how we would make it work, I told her we would turn the bonus room into an apartment for her and Bayleigh. A little to my surprise and much to my relief she accepted the offer.
We began work last summer. It was slow going as we did most of the work ourselves. We hired a carpenter to build the stairs and frame in a bathroom and a friend of Mitch's helped him with the electrical work. My nephews helped with some of the painting and a friend of Alyssa's did some sheet rock work.
We didn't have a very big budget to work with. The biggest chunk went to getting the stairs built. Alyssa chipped in on much of the expense, but ultimately, finishing the room will add to the value of our home, so we covered the structural stuff.
Mitch built this book shelf that serves as a divider between the room and the stairway.
And now
He also did the plumbing on a small powder room that is at the base of the stairs and this little kitchen area. We found the cabinets at the Habitat Re-Store for 15 bucks each. We saved our old counters when we installed butcher-block and one section fit perfectly on the cabinets. Alyssa purchased a sink and faucet from O.com, and a friend gave her a fridge. A couple of shelves and some pretty dishes and they have a little kitchen.
Alyssa purchased the Hemnes daybed from IKEA because it has three huge drawers for storage, can serve as seating during the day and also pulls out to become a king-size bed. Yes, I said a king-size.
Here it is during the day,
and at night.
Surprisingly , the room doesn't feel claustrophobic, even with the bed pulled out.
The "built-ins" on either side of the bed started out as this
Two laminate cabinets from Lowes.
I added some trim and beadboard wallpaper.
Left over stair treads were used for the tops.
A little more trim to bridge the gap between the cabinet and the wall, and a little white paint to finish it off.
They provide quite a bit of storage and don't take up much floor space.
The dandelion wall art was made from leftover wall planks, painted by Mitch. It was inspired by Bayleigh's love for dandelions and the design on our matching tattoos. I knew we needed something large for that wall and I wanted it to tie in with the plank wall opposite. When I came across this on pinterest, by DIY Diva I knew that's what I wanted.
You can read about the wood plank wall here.
Lighting is from Lowes.
Flooring is Allure vinyl planks in hickory from Home Depot.
There you have it, our journey from an unfinished bonus room to a little attic apartment.
If you see anything I didn't cover, just ask. I'll be glad to answer any questions.
I'll be linking to some of these parties.
