Ah, this vanilla house is slowly gaining more character! When we bought it, I thought the alcoves in the front room (and more in the back room that I'll address soon) were just odd.
I built bookshelves in the first one. Soon, I will make and install barn door sliders over them. The other alcove is where I decided my bed to bench project would go. I did that months ago but saved part 2 until now. Here's a picture of the bench in it's place. If you'd like to read more about it, here's the link.
The bench is beautiful on its own but the alcove swallowed it. Also, I knew it would be the perfect spot for hanging guest's coats. When my awesome sister was visiting this summer, she threw together a cushion as a surprise for me. I bought some pillows to cover and threw those on top. A little money saver that I learned is to buy the $4 pillows from Target, cut them in half and then sew each side back up. Two pillow inserts for $2 a piece. My favorite way to cover them is an envelope style pillow case. Luckily, I can sew a little too.
Now for some background fun! I bought corrugated metal sheets and trim board for well under $100. I should have also bought nice gloves and metal cutting shears but I didn't and my fingers are suffering for it. I don't think I'll be trying to cut metal with scissors and my bare hands ever again! *I did understand how wrong I was for doing it, but I'm super stubborn* Most of the wall is empty but there is a cold air return and one outlet that I had to cut around. Also, the sheets were longer than the height of the alcove. Cutting was necessary. Of course, removing the old baseboards was also necessary.
I had some troubleshooting moments that were tough to solve. I couldn't get the outlet cover back on properly so there's some overlapping. I plan on shopping around to see if I can find a different type of cover that will work better.
Also, once I got to the part when I started adding trim, I realized that it would have been much better if I had purchased baseboards with a bigger depth and installed the metal just above them. As it is, this will be quite a dust collector.
Too late now! I just pushed forward and installed the rest of the trim anyway.
Next up, I had to come up with a way to install hooks for coats. Thankfully, I kept all of the leftover scraps of wood when I cut the bed apart and I found some pieces that worked perfectly for a shelf and a background for the hooks.
I love the way it turned out! However, once I pushed the bench into place, the white of the trim did not look very good around the silver of the metal.
I figured I could either paint the drywall inside the alcove a darker color or I could paint the trim a darker color. The trim seemed like an easier idea and I had an awesome olive color so I painted away and I cannot believe how much better it looks!
I can't wait to get started on making the barn door sliders. I'm sure I will match them up in some way with this alcove.
Now where are my bandaids?
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