Upgrade to Room v3.0 Complete!

The third renovation for my office-slash-bedroom has finally come to a conclusion! A lot thinking, sweat, cash and time has been sacrificed in this once-in-a-blue-moon endeavor, I must say. But what of the first two versions, you ask? The first consisted of transforming the former maid’s quarters to my room after separating from the one I shared with big bro until my late teens. The second focused more on improving the office part of the room. Anyway, here’s the gist!

The office part of the room really didn’t need any kind of refurbishing at all, until the floor started cracking due to rain water seeping down the walls and into the tiles. That, and the previous self-adhesive wallpapers on the tables and cabinets started peeling off, like so:

It’s quite the distraction when working. After tolerating it for awhile, I snapped and peeled off the whole thing.

Then I peeled off the older self-adhesive wallpaper, which took about two agonizing hours.

I thought about winging it DIY style- you know, search the net on how to do things, watch YouTube videos about them, the works. The next day, I headed to Wilcon along Marcos Hi-way to buy a few materials:

Laminate for wood: 650 x 2 = 1,300 PHP
Contact Cement: 300 PHP
Scoring Knife: 170 PHP
Metal Ruler (for guide): 180 PHP

I only bought the mentioned materials because I wanted to start restoring the computer table first. Confident that I can do it by myself, I laid out the materials, did the measurements, and then started cutting the laminate using the scoring knife. The first few cuts went well, And I had my first table piece. On the way to the room to see if it fits, though, the laminate broke into two. I didn’t know the damn thing was fragile as hell. I still brought it to the room to see if it fits, and it didn’t, even though the measurements were right. Weird, no? Still, I decided to carry on. To avoid repeating past mistakes, I took a big enough piece of the laminate, placed it on my table, and outlined the table’s shape with a pencil- in which I used the marks as a guide when cutting.

The next piece perfectly fits! It just needed a little more tweaking so I put it back on the floor. Upon doing the final cuts, I slipped a bit while kneeling on the laminate, and it somehow lightly bumped the wall. And as I looked at it, I saw that the laminate had big chipped edges shaped like monster teeth because of that “light” bump. Frustration took over, and I realized there’s no way I’m going to finish things by myself. I didn’t dare touch the second laminate, seeing how I idiotically mutilated the first. I packed up for the night.

The next day, father was able to find and hire three carpenters to focus on the matters at hand: fix the roof causing leaks that break the tiles, laminate the tables and cabinets, paint the wall, and put self-adhesive wallpaper on the inner part of the cabinets and replace the flooring with new vinyl tiles.

I had to go back to Wilcon a couple of times for more materials, but here’s the gist of the total expense:

Laminate for wood: 650 x 3 = 1,950 PHP
Paint: 600 PHP
Self-adhesive wallpaper: 125 x 10 = 1,250 PHP
Contact cement: 1500 PHP
Vinyl tiles: 18.75 x  130 = 2,500 PHP
Carpenter’s contact for labor = 5,000 PHP

Total estimate of 13,000 PHP. The labor lasted for around three to four days long.

As you can see, the end result is definitely way better than the look it first started with: the orange ‘storage room-ish’ wall is now cream white and the floor now sports a wood finish-ish look. And the cabinets? They’re now smoother due to the laminate and self-adhesive wallpaper. It’s perfect timing I also got the glass casings I ordered from Frameplus. I can now showcase Shiki, the Nendoroids and Nendoroid Petits on my shelf without worrying they’ll get dusty all over.

Behind the toy display I put in some of the framed certificates I received from past seminars I talked at, as well as events I sponsored and judged.

I’ve also put back on the top shelf my favorite business, entrepreneurial, fiction and mystery books.

There goes the recent PS3 games I play. All the others are in my brother’s room.

This empty space is where a desk cabinet I had way back from pre-school is displaced, but I decided to discard it on this upgrade and plan on buying a new one. It will definitely be missed.

My father’s samurai sword stays where it’s last placed, all the while having a Griever necklace attached to it.

Also bought a new ground fan, replacing the old desk fan, to cater to my awesome visitors.

The next upgrade would be replacing the green couch with a more compact and more comfortable one. The wallpapers in the bedroom will also be replaced since it started peeling already due to the rain. The windows will be replaced too with sliding windows with PVC blinds. After that, I guess I’ll be completely content already. ;)

Anyway, that’s about it! Looking forward to working much better in this semi-new environment! If you have your own unique tales of renovating your room or house, post away in the comments section below!

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