A Teenager's Dream Bedroom: A Loft Bed with a lot of Closet Space Underneath

This bedroom may be the most dramatic room update at our camp. All rooms underwent a huge transformation, but this room would make me cringe when I entered it. Now, even though it is not my bedroom, I find myself lounging in my daughter's chaise looking out the door onto the lake and I feel relaxation take over.

The mess of a room that we started with!

We called it the blueberry room... among other names.

In order to replace windows in all of the camp we had to remove the sheet rock around the sill. This room was no exception, however in this room we resized one of the three windows and changed out another one for a glass door.

We built a frame using 2x4s to create a raised bed.

There was a lot of holes in the wall that we had to fill in with joint compound including the section where we made a window smaller.

I sanded and painted before we fully attached the bed frame.

For character my husband and I put up at least one pallet wall in every room in the camp. This room is finished with three.

I stained the pallet wall with Early American Minwax and used three coats of Polyurethane since I wanted the sleeping area to be nice and smooth for a variety of reasons.

We had our electrician add a light and an outlet that also has an USB charger built in. 

We removed the window and framed out a space for a door.

A view from the outside.

We followed the manufacturer's instructions for installing the door.

Until we built steps, we had to board in the door. We also began to tile the floor and cover the bed frame with pallet wood.

We trimmed out the windows and doors with 1x4s and built a ladder with 2x4s.

We built a closet underneath the raised bed since this room did not come with a closet. This section is to hang clothes from. We used 2x4s, galvanized piping, 1x? boards at the correct width, pallet wood, and 6 casters.

As we built the sections I stained and added pulls to them.

We made the middle section into a book shelf.

I am extremely proud of this project! 

Building a Room in the Basement for Under $1K; Part 2

It is so rewarding to have a project finished! Below is the photo journal describing how we finished the closet in the basement bonus room plus all of the finishing touches. If you did not get the chance to read Part 1 of Building a Room in the Basement, click here.

We added sheetrock plus mud and taped the seams to close in the wall next to the stairs.

Believe it or not the space underneath the stairs will become a nice closet...

After I sanded the joint compound, I primed the wall.

We then trimmed the doorway with pine boards that I would later prime and paint. I usually prime lumber before we put it up using a primer that seals the knots from bleeding. However, since the adjoining walls are white as well, I didn't bother this time.

I also trimmed out the window. In this case I should of primed and painted first, but I wasn't in the mood for painting. So I had to be more careful when I did paint the trim around this window.

Since there was a 2x4 going across the stair supports we decided to elevate the floor in the closet. A frame made with 2x4s was placed on the floor. Then when my husband attached the plywood he was able to attach it to the 2x4s that were drilled into the concrete. We then insulated the closet walls and put up sheet rock.

Next came the flooring. Each stick on square was only 25¢ at Marden's. We figured it wasn't a huge investment so we could change our mind any time.

I primed and painted the walls and then started laying down the tiles. They were quite easy to cut and shape for a space that was not very square.

I carefully primed and painted the window trim.

We purchased a wall heater on-line from Home Depot. This item is not sold at our local Home Depot. It heats a room without drying it out, however you do have to turn it off when the room reaches the desired temperature.

After all of the messy work was done, I was able to put the final coat of paint on the floor. I used paint that is made for cement floors. 

After all of the painting was done it was time for us to attach the baseboard trim. We purchased waterproof trim just in case the floor was to ever get wet in the basement.

We used liquid nails along with the self stick backing that is part of this baseboard trim to attach the trim to the walls. So far it has remained attached well to all of the walls.

We built a sliding barn door just like the ones that we built for our camp. This is our third door so far and it gets easier with each one that we make. For more information on building your own barn door visit my article, Sliding Barn Doors Rock!

The home stretch! We trimmed out the closet and added shelving.

This is what the room looks like now from the outside.