The "Problem Child"

Ever since I had purchased the home, one room in particular, made me cringe-- so much in fact, that it earned the nickname "Problem Child". It was dark, dingy, and if that wasn't enough, it had a giant storage cabinet attached, the length of one wall. I procrastinated with this room, because it seemed so overwhelming. Luckily, I had a wonderful roommate that was moving in, and I had a deadline. So here's the story of the "Problem Child"...

First things first, we needed to remove the giant storage cabinet pictured here:

I was lucky enough to find someone that actually wanted to PURCHASE the bottom half of the cabinets for their garage. The shelving units and hanging cabinets were thrown out. After a lot of lifting, moving, and tearing down, the wall was finally clear!

Unfortunately, where the cabinet once stood, there was missing carpet... Since one section of flooring was missing the tiles, I decided to remove all of the carpet, and try to clean and restore the original hard tiles underneath. Once all of the carpet tiles had been removed, I found that there was a section (on the opposite side of the room) that was missing the hard tiles. AH! Frustrating.

So I decided to let the flooring situation wait, as I was going to begin painting. I painted one wall with a color the previous owners had left and DID NOT LIKE IT. Only because it made the room feel even more dingy. I decided that stark white was the only way to make it truly feel clean. The following picture is after the first coat of KILZ. Oh, there was so much surface area..

After finishing the walls, I proceeded to paint the ceiling to help finish off the fresh look. After removal of the carpet tiles, I searched a local carpet store, and decided on a remnant that was on clearance. Since it was just down the street, the salesman was nice enough to have it delivered free of charge. After it was delivered, I measured, cut, and installed it myself (saved $39 dollars!). 

Not sure why there were outlet covers missing when I took this, but they're definitely on there now. 

The roommate is ready to move in!

Approximate cost of this room: 

Carpet Remnant: $130

KILZ: $20

Painting Supplies: $20

Profit from selling cabinet: $20

New Outlet Plates: $10

Net Cost for Room: $ 160!

BASEMENT BEDROOM AFTER:

After the roomie moved in!

This room is now functional, and CLEAN! A little hard work and time can go a long way!