Before & After: From Attic to Boys' Bedroom

After a two-week remodel, what was a dark, contractor-grade finished attic is now a shiny, happy spot for playing games, experimenting with crafts and hosting sleepovers. Rather than choosing popular or trendy palettes and/or themes, a fresh, transitional approach was taken by mixing sea-foam green with a grassy shade of green, then combining traditional and modern design styles for something unique and up to date.

Unsure how to best use the 26' X 14' attic space of their new-construction home, the homeowners of this traditional Tennessee two-story Colonial simply filled it with leftover college furniture until deciding to remodel it as a shared spot for their sons to sleep and play. To ensure the space felt light and bright, they'd replace the wall-to-wall carpet with white laminate, paint the walls a cheery shade of sea-foam green, and add custom sleeping and storage solutions.

The biggest splurge and most involved element of the attic's remodel was its custom architectural bunk bed. Created to look more like a permanent structure than a freestanding piece of furniture, the modern masterpiece was made from basic lumber and decorative pine planks. Overall, the bed took four full days to cut, assemble, sand and paint. To ensure longevity, it was painted ultra-white in a semigloss finish using an HVLP paint sprayer. Should the palette eventually change as the boys grow, the ultra-white will work well with any new color combination.

Keeping in mind how important storage is for young boys with massive amounts of toys, steps leading up to the top bunk were installed along the edge of the bed in the form of stacked, open-front cubbies.