Our Bonus Room Phase TWO {The Before}
Any time I mention our upstairs bonus room on Instagram, I get flooded with questions of, “wait, what is this room and why have I never seen it?!”
In actuality, I’ve shared this room on the blog, it’s just been a while. Back in 2020, shortly after we moved into this house, we gave this room a “phase one” makeover. It desperately needed some organization to make it a functional space. But, even in that post I mentioned that the long-term plan was to add some wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling built in shelving in this space. Adding new furniture to the room made a huge difference, though!
Of course, it hasn’t actually looked like that for a while now. We ditched the coffee table about a year back because the kids were always shoving it off to the side to build forts. The cabinet doors on the media center broke and are no longer on there (thanks, Grant). The toy situation has gotten slightly out of hand and now overflows into the room.
Basically, you never see it because it’s a hot mess at all times.
We need this room to serve many functions. It’s a play room, it’s a movie room, it’s a guest room when my mother in law stays over, and I’d love to make it a makeshift office on occasion. Because of that, I need it to have tons of storage and be easy for the kids to clean. And, while we have some pretty solid storage in there now, we’ve been dreaming of the day when we can really take it up a notch.
And that day has finally arrived!
So, today we’re going to take a little look at what our bonus room actually looks like right now, and what the plan is going forward. I’m getting started on this space this week (be sure to follow along on Instagram for the behind-the-scenes!), and soon it’s going to be totally transformed. But for now? It looks like this:
Cute, right? This room currently is exceptionally utilitarian. My mother in law sleeps over with some regularity, and this is the only place we have for her to sleep. The boys play up here pretty much daily, and often leave it a wreck. It holds some office supplies and a desktop computer, but none of it gets really utilized properly since the room is always a wreck.
Basically, it’s not working and it’s time for a change.
So, what’s the plan? ALL THE SHELVING.
What you see in the image above is a rendering of what our shelving system will look like. We’re working with The Container Store to add a full ELFA system to the television wall in this room. We originally debated going with one of their pricier, more built-in options, but in the end we decided that the more budget (and DIY) friendly option was right for us.
I’m really excited about tackling the challenge of making this system that is typically reserved for closets and pantries work for our bonus room. I’ve been really pleasantly surprised by all of the customization options and ways to really elevate it, and I think it’s going to be incredible.
Plus, any project feels a little more satisfying when the before looks like this, you know?
So much more to come on this space! I have a ton of plans percolating in my mind for once the shelving is done, so hopefully this is only the beginning of our phase two makeover. I’ll be sharing all of the details over here once it’s done, but if you want to see it come together in real time, be sure to follow along on Instagram!