Murphy closet

While David was in Omaha this week, the girls and I completely transformed this room.

Until now this room has doubled as a guest bedroom and playroom with a king bed taking up most of the floorspace.

Now it is primarily a playroom with the king bed hidden away behind what I'm calling our "Murphy Closet."  In just a couple of hours I built this tall armoire-type-cabinet that now houses the king bed, box springs, and all the pillows and linens for it.  When company comes to visit, I just open the doors, pull the bed down, and put the linens on.  Every other day, the bed stays hidden behind the cabinet and the girls can play, play, play in the room.  Of course having more floor space meant rearranging the entire room.

Now the toy box wall is located beside the door with the wall of mirrors above.

By hiding the bed, we now have floor space for the girl's picnic table.

I moved Grace's fingerpaintings to other side of the room.

And put the Dora vanity in front of one window beside our Murphy Closet.

I was even able to bring in both the single and double rocking chairs that had been sitting in the garage unused.  I went ahead and made pillow cushions for the seats while I was at it.

Here's a closer look at our newly construction Murphy Closet.  It's pretty big.  8 feet tall big.  This picture doesn't accurately portay its height.  It's the same height as the windows, but just looks taller from this angle.  It's the same viewpoint my girls have. 

I used leftover green glass knobs from a previous project transforming a garage sale dresser.

And I forgot to mention that I painted the doors with hot pink chalkboard paint.

So our Murphy Closet not only hides our king guest bed, it also became an art station.

And wouldn't you know that both girls absolutly love their new playroom.

In fact, the playroom is now the first room Grace and Faith run to in the mornings and afternoons.  In fact, we spend most of our day in there playing, and pretending, coloring, drawing, and using our imaginations. 

All in all, I'm wishing I had thought of this project much sooner.  It only took a few hours of hard work.  I just brought a list of measurements to Home Depot and the kind men there cut my wood to size for me at no charge.  Home Depot is one of my new favorite places to shop.  After bringing all the lumber home, all I had left to do was assemble it.  It only took about an hour to get it put together.  Minus the doors.  I'll admit it took me close to an hour to hang those monstrous doors by myself.  Of course the cabinet is 8 feet tall - a good 2 1/2 feet taller than I am.  After I finished putting it together (with Grace's help -s he handed me all the screws) Grace and I painted it.  It was a lot of fun working together with Grace.  She loves to help and I love having her as my little assistant. 

When David came home "shocked" is an understatement.  Of course, he didn't notice it until he'd been home for a full day.  But his reaction was quite amusing.  I think he was just glad he wasn't here during all the construction and he didn't have to help.  And I think he might be a little worried about the next time he has to travel.  Who knows what he'll come home to then...