A Commencing Suite
Justin was available for a few days so I had to find some projects for him!
It was raining today so the work had to be inside. What to do? What to do?
Oh! I know! I know!
Scroll way down…

The only issue was that the wall, because of the radiator, had to butt up against the pocket door trim, which I removed.

The sheetrock was finished off with a J-bead, and the horizontal trim neatly dies into the wall. However…

…the trim which was removed will be buried in the new wall so that it can be rediscovered. I wish everybody did this.
While the Octagon Room is now about half its size, the resulting space is quite compelling. It is a wonderful bedroom, and the new furniture seems so perfect in the space.
Ross excited!
NOTE: Social distancing was in effect all day.
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Hey, that’s what I’ve been doing, building walls today.
Only problem? No sheetrock at the Home Depot.
First no toilet paper and now this. WOW!
Just a thought:
You should “refinish” the trim to be stored away before you seal it into the wall – that way it will at least have matched in color at the time you stored it. Someone else less inclined, further down the road, might not have the wherewithal and skill set to clean it up properly, and decide to [hiss] paint it so that it all “matches”!
That thought makes my skin crawl…
Or someone might think that the piece in the wall is actually the “corect, original colour” and stain everything else dark to match.
Yikes! I hadn’t thought about that! I’ll add a note inside the wall!
Your care for historical preservation is most comendable, and the final shape of the room seems quite elegant. Bravo!
Ross darling, check your email spam folder. I sent something to you that you might be interested in.
Wow, that really does work well, especially with the lovely new bedroom set you chose.
Almost as though you have extensive experience with such things. 😉
Any pic of what the other half of the room looks like, now that it’s partitioned?
Wow. Justin did amazingly fast and immaculate work! Years from now a new buyer may never realize that the alteration had been done! Next rainy day, Ross, you gotta start working on your SHOWER so you can M-O-V-E in this year. My room is looking super…but I can’t move in for quite awhile yet. Lol.
Storing the trim inside the wall is a clever idea! I like it!
I think your idea to divide the space this way was great, and hiding the trim inside the wall is pure genius! We found some of the original trim from our house that had been removed in the 1980s…under the side porch, on the ground and dry-rotted. If houses could think and communicate with one another, I would bet that the Cross House is the envy of every old house in Emporia! “She’s so lucky, her human loves her, and did you see how he restored her shingles? I wish MY human was more like hers…” 🙂
Ross!
The octagon shape for the temporary wall is genius, as is trim hidden in the temporary wall as well!
I am so thankful Justin was able to help you inside.
The bedroom set looks great in this room!
What a wonderful thing and it must be a tremendous sense of accomplishment that this is coming to fruition.
Yay!
I am so happy for you Ross!
Oh, the layout of the new wall deeply satisfies my love of a tower room – now even more tower-y as the existing octagon is enhanced. Yay! I am intrigued by the idea of hiding the extra trim in the wall — and also worried some future owner might actually drill into it or demolish it by accident. Could there be a little glass insert in the new wall, like a window, a glimpse that there is something hidden inside the wall- and a deterrent to drilling in that location. ? xo
Have you considered making a log with pictures of your restoration and details of changes for future owners? You could leave a copy with the house and one with your local historical society.
Hi, Dan!
This blog is that log.
One day it will rest in the Internet Archives and could still be read.
The Web Archive stores few, if any pictures. I’d still try to convert the whole journey into a PDF that can be printed and handed over to a future owner both as a file and a printout.
The wall looks great Ross. It was indeed a genius idea to have the wall continue the octagon shape. I know you will be tempted to carry on with work on the suite, but I really hope the rain stops and you allow Justin to help you outside. I feel so bad for you trying to do all of that work by yourself.
I was an early critic of the plan to divide the room, but I’m happy to see how it turned out because of the mirrored/continued ocatagon shape (brilliant!) and because you continued the angled wall behind the bed’s headboard–that was bothering me in an earlier photo!
The only thing that worries me about hiding that in the wall is if the future person takes down sheet rock like my husband and destroys it in the process
Are you going to put in wide baseboard trim? Perhaps not as ornate to clearly show the wall is an addition.