Loft Remodel Reveal: Before and After

We closed in our open loft to make it much more functional as a bonus room. Now I have a beautiful office space and family room. The best part is, we did it all on a budget.

In this post, I’m sharing the details and loft remodel before and after photos. Adding two walls and a door made all the difference!

Loft Space Before

Our house was built in 1980. It has some great features and some areas that I just can’t figure out.

Loft wall being built
Loft wall before we removed the railing.

The loft above the living room was one of those areas that made me just scratch my head. What did the original designer and builder of this house think that room would be good for?

Credit where credit is due, it is a spacious, light filled room with a vaulted ceiling. Since we moved in many years ago, it has been used as a bedroom, office, playroom, family room, and “throw junk in there” room. But nothing ever stuck!

Although, it was valuable space in our smallish house, it never quite functioned well because of the openness to the living room. If there was a tv on or kids playing in the loft, it carried all through the house downstairs. On the opposite end, any noise from the living room was amplified up into the loft.

Loft wall built with railing removed
Loft wall after railing is removed.

So, I got it in my head that we needed a wall or two. After all, I was tired of heating and cooling a room that no one was interested in spending time in. It just wasn’t comfortable no matter how cozy and decorated I tried to make it.

If you’re here to skip down to the after photos, I totally get it! If you like what you see, I would so appreciate it if you pin it!

Before the Remodel

I couldn’t find as many before photos as I would have liked. Completion of this project took an embarrassingly long time! We tend to skip around to a long list of projects and this one just kept getting pushed to the bottom. Does that happen at your house?

Anyway, you can see that the space was “pretty” because it felt very open and airy. But unfortunately, it didn’t serve any function for our family.

Loft wall being built view from upstairs
View from upstairs
Loft wall closed in
Beginning to look like progress!

New door to loft

I’m not really interested in having a home where certain rooms are just for looks! Something had to change.

Two Walls and a Door

I’m so excited about the transformation of this room! We added shiplap on the walls facing the living room and stair landing. I think it helps to add some architectural detail. Otherwise it would have been a large, white blob of drywall added to the living room. No beuno in my book!

Shiplap added to exterior of loft wall
Shiplap before paint.

Shiplap and rails after paint

I painted all of the interior walls with Benjamin Moore’s Simply White. It’s what I have throughout the rest of the house. It’s a great shade of white that doesn’t go blue or yellow. Just stays white in any light.

Door to loft before paint

Door to loft after paint

I was going for a bit of a Coastal Boho Farmhouse feel up here. Ok, maybe it’s just eclectic!

Boho chair and chalk painted desk

My plan was to keep it indigo blue, gray, and white. However, my office chair has some pink in it. So a few pink accents really pulled it all together. My secretary desk fits in beautifully here. To see the desk makeover, check out the before and after here.

 

Flamingo prints in white frames and white lamp
The Flamingo art prints are pages from a book that I added to simple white frames.

A picture ledge above the couch will works well because I like to change the artwork occasionally. I won’t have to patch holes. Yay. It had to be hung a little higher than I would like, so no one hits their head.

Sofa with pictures above and throw pillows
Ok so I might have too many throw pillows!

I’ve decided that a weathered wood sign of some kind would look great in the space directly above the sofa. I don’t know if I’ll make it or buy it. But I’ll keep you posted.

Sofa and white chairs

Speaking of sofa, we scored this tufted Chesterfield sofa on Craigslist. It was from Amazon and it was brand new! We got it for a third of the price. It’s really comfortable and has worked perfectly for extra sleeping space when we have a full house.

Two white slipcovered chairs

3 concrete planters with succulents

Two Ikea Ektorp chairs, that used to be in my bedroom, add extra seating by the windows. It’s such a peaceful spot to sit and read or get some work done. The white slipcovers are an easy way to add Coastal decor, along with my favorite seashells. If you’re curious to learn more about Ikea Ektorp furniture, I wrote a review of our Ikea Ektorp sectional that you can read about here.

A lot of our Tropical Plants and Succulents will have to come in for the winter. This is where they usually live. There’s still plenty of space for them and It will be a really green office for me during the cold months.

I tried to tuck my desk in a corner at first. But it just didn’t work with the rest of the furniture. So far, I’m really liking where it’s at kind of floating on one wall. But of course, that could change!

Conclusion

It was well worth the time and money to give this room an upgrade. Our only costs were wood for the framing and shiplap, drywall, a new door, and paint.

What do you think? Leave me a comment and let me know!

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Talk to ya soon.

 

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