the secret room

if you frequent our blog and happened to catch our little feature in ink magazine earlier this month, (the same one that reappeared sunday in the kansas city star), you may have noticed several projects around the house that we have yet to highlight.  because of the timing of things, the reveal on many of these projects happened before we had a chance to detail them for you... so we thought we would go back in time a little and talk about a few of them.

first up:   alex's secret room.  we started talking about the facelift that was happening in this post, but didn't go into a lot of details.  if you caught that post and guessed that we were working on the little closet under the stairs - you were correct!

now, let's get one thing out of the way:  we feel really bad about how long it took us to get to this project.  mainly because we eyed this little nook as the perfect playroom/secret hideaway nearly three years ago when we bought the house and alex was quite a bit shorter.  we knew that with a few hours work we could turn it into a pretty kick-ass clubhouse for people under 4 foot tall.

since then, it has mainly served as the space in the house where all vacuums, outdoor toys, winter coats and other cold weather paraphernalia go to hibernate.  but we finally got our act together and made something happen in this virtually unused-for-anything-awesome space.

here is a quick look at the before:

and the difference a little paint, some fluffy carpet, some repurposed paper decor and a few adorbs details can make:

i mean, winter coats and roller skates, you're cool and all, but you do not deserve a space this rad.  i would have eaten every last vegetable on my plate and thought twice about cutting down the neighbor's rose bush to make a parade float - had there been any chance of attaining a secret hideout like this when i was seven. 

it's the perfect spot for reading, chalk-boarding and dreaming up all the things we want to be when we grow up.  it's also another testament to the simplicity and power of a little paint.  paint people - you gotta try it.  it is the easiest and most affordable way to transform a room, a space or a piece of furniture.  

the secret is out.  she loves it.  we love it.  and we're glad we finally got around to making it complete.

did you have a secret hideout when you were a kid?  tell us about it...