Hick House Makeover: Master Bedroom

Perhaps the saddest room of the original, untouched Hick House was the master bedroom. It might have been used for something else before, but Hick and HOS (Hick's Oldest Son) decreed that it was going to become the master bedroom, which meant closing an opening to the living room.

Here's the first picture, taken while standing in the living room archway:

The door leads to where Hick eventually built a hallway between the kitchen and new bathroom. Below is a picture taken while standing in that doorway:

HOS kept that desk, which is now in his living room. I guess. Last picture I saw from a few days ago, it was piled in the entryway with tools on it. I'm pretty sure he threw away the clothes. That's the old front door, which Hick replaced with a metal door, because This Guy said the house was always being broken into. The white door is an interior door leading to the entryway. The boarded up window it the one Hick replaced with glass panels from a door, looking out onto the front porch.

Here's another view from that doorway, once Hick and HOS set up their tools, and after Hick had walled in the hallway:

Yes. The ceiling was problematic. Not sure I would have wanted to be working under it!

Hick said the ceiling damage was from a fire. Not mold. The opening from the living room, shown below, was covered with plastic to keep the sawdust in and the heat out. March was pretty cold, with no furnace, working with a kerosene heater brought over by Hick.

Since his glass-paneled double doors wouldn't fit without replacing a beam on the load-bearing wall, Hick framed in a normal door, which he already had, and cost nothing but the drywall.

Nothing fancy. I'm pretty sure they painted it white. The master bedroom is the last room Hick and HOS renovated. That's because it was their workshop. Also because Hick had to build a closet, and run the electric through it. And because it needed a lot of work, from walls to windows to ceiling.

HOS at first wanted to put in an accent wall using rough boards from wooden pallets. He was busy and never got his pallet boards pulled apart. Hick remembered that he had some bundles of thin mahogany that my grandma gave him when he cleaned out her barn after my step-grandpa died. That was 21 years ago, but Hick never throws anything away. So he offered them to HOS for use on this project. HOS cut the boards, and Mrs. HOS went to work on the wall:

You can also see Hick's door-panel window (which does not open) to the front porch, and HOS's drywall on the ceiling.

The accent wall was almost complete. You can also see the other window Hick replaced. Don't worry about the rough state of that ceiling, because rather than use drywall tape and mud, HOS put up the mahogany strips to match the accent wall. Hick had planned on using some nice board trim (meaning he'd go to Lowe's and buy them, not pull from his hoard), but HOS chose this route.

That's a light Hick picked up at Goodwill. It was $15, but Hick was there on half-price day, and got it for $7.50. Hick has a nose for bargains. The last part to finish was the wall to the living room.

There's Hick's closet. More painting still to go, and the scaffolding there for putting up the ceiling slats. Don't you worry, though. It's done now. I asked Hick for a picture, but he tends to go all close-uppy when not necessary.

You'll have to take my word that the wall is done, and so is the closet. HOS needed the hinges for another project, so I think these doors don't fold like you might imagine, but swing out to open. HOS has some magnets that he was putting on to hold them closed.

Hold the presses! Hick got a picture of that wall!

Unfortunately, lighting is not his strong point. This is after HOS installed some shades given to him by the old lady next door.

Are you exhausted from the tour? Sorry, there is no seating for you to take a load off. The bedroom trifecta ends this week's tour. Maybe next week I'll recap the rooms you've already seen, just to show before and after for the kitchen, living room, and bathroom. Or maybe not. Depends on what else is going on. You might not even want the recap.