My sister, Cori, is moving in with us this weekend. This will be the fourth state that she has moved to and lived with us at least part of the time. She's a lot of fun to be around and shares my "make do" attitude when it comes to silly things like extra bedrooms, and we decided to convert part of the pool house into a bedroom. First, let me say that building up there in the photo can be an oven inside. It's nothing but a metal shed with a plywood floor. There is a decent chance that Cori could wake up with a gecko in her bed. We're doing what we can to avoid that though. There is no insulation in there, so this would be impossible to do in the summer time without major interior renovation. Fortunately, the weather is mild now and will be for a few months at least. I imagine pretty soon it will be getting quite cold at night and that could be a problem as well, but if you think of it like summer camp, or a beach side cabin, you can make it work. I think. And yes, if worst comes to worse, we can make room for her in the house, but this is where she'd prefer to stay. This is what it looked like to start. (forgive the foggy "before" photos. They were done with my cell phone)
Like I said, a metal shed with plywood floor. And a lot of stuff stored in there and more likely to come (as we are still unpacking). There's pretty doors in the front, and sliding glass doors in the back that can be opened for ventilation (still working on getting some sort of screening up). We decided to consolidate most of the stuff at the back end of the pool house and do the best we could with extra stuff and stuff stored in there already to at least make it look more like a living space. This is what we came up with.
We started with a couple of area rugs that we weren't using anymore, and some off-color green carpet squares (indoor/outdoor) that were in the pool house. We used the extra fencing and paneling as "walls" that could be decorated in various ways.
For the sitting area, we used our Albany porch furniture. It's a little faded, but that makes it "distressed", right?
I got that little green table out of the trash in Albany one day, and I was almost embarrassed that I had the movers bring it. I love it though and am glad there's still a use for it. The bedding is actually Cori's from when she lived in Albany with us. I think it would be cute to clothespin some photos or something to the makeshift "headboard". I don't know. There's a lot you could do there, and I'm sure Cori will want to change things to make it her own.
Mazzy decorated with paper butterflies and flowers. The two "shutter" doors on the right actually go to the kitchen, and Dax and I have already talked about hanging them back up. I'm not sure when that will happen though, so in the meantime I used them to hide an ugly corner. I also placed them upside down so the slats go upward. I thought maybe it would be a good place to hang earrings, jewelry, photos, etc.
I hung the calla lily photo by tying an polka dot scarf (again, Cori's from when she lived in Albany), through the hook in the back and then hanging it from the fence panel.
Another view of Cori's bed. It's an air mattress for now, but it has layers of sheets, sleeping bags, and the nice blanket on top. The shelves there were the kids' changing table (there's an extra piece that you attach to the top). I have no idea where the curtain thing came from, but I found it in the garage. It's pretty shabby looking, but it does the job of camouflaging the metal shelves with the the pool supplies).
And finally, one last look. It may not be year-round livable, but for not spending a penny, it's pretty cute.
